Page 20
Chapter
Ten
Lizzy had a hard time settling down that night.
Every time she closed her eyes, she was transported back to Chase’s arms and kissing him in the hot tub.
Bliss. Sheer bliss. Lizzy was a dreamer, a happy light, but life had knocked her down and ruined her trust. Chase had restored that trust in mankind and her visions of a joyful future.
The longer she lay there, the more she wondered if she was being overly optimistic like she used to be before Darren’s belittlement and Grady’s attack.
It wasn’t as if Chase had talked about their future, and they didn’t live near each other.
What kind of impressive former special ops hero who had traveled the world would want to live in Eudora, Kansas?
What if he asked her to relocate and leave her mom, Janie, and her children?
Yet Jade Valley, Arizona wasn’t his hometown, and he had no family to root him anywhere.
She was racing ahead. They’d shared a series of off-the-charts kisses, but Chase hadn’t pledged his love or asked her to marry him or even to date him seriously.
It had also been a week of fantasy life.
The abuse and degradation hadn’t started until weeks or even months later with her other boyfriends.
It was easy to be happy and nice in the fairy tale land that was the Austrian Alps.
Chase seemed incredible, but she needed to ‘calm down’, as Janie would say when she started flipping out or got overly excited.
Finally, after what felt like hours, she started to drift off.
Footsteps approached her door, and instantly she was alert again. Her heartbeat picked up. Was it Chase? Could he be coming for more kisses?
Who else could it be? Their guards only followed them on adventures. They didn’t come inside their house.
Unless something was wrong.
Her pulse raced for a different reason now.
What if Grady Worthen had found her and the guards were coming to protect her?
Would that man really follow her across the ocean when he hadn’t done more than send threatening notes for weeks?
Could there be different dangers here in this idyllic paradise?
Her door handle twisted and then the door swung open. She tried not to give away that she was awake, but everything felt wrong. No way would Chase just walk into her bedroom at night. She knew he wouldn’t. And one of the guards would only come in if she was in danger.
She watched the man between half-open lids as he crept toward her bed. Panic made the world feel dark. This man definitely wasn’t Chase, nor was he one of the guards. He was large, almost as large as Tony.
Maybe it was the wrong move, but she wasn’t about to lie here and be attacked. That wasn’t her personality at all.
“Help!” she cried out as she scrambled off the opposite side of the bed and yanked the lamp off the table. The cord ripped out of the wall, and she flung the entire lamp at the man. “Chase!”
The man dodged the lamp and lunged around the bed.
“Chase! Help!” she screamed as she raced for the bathroom.
Her knees bowed in, and she tripped on her own feet, going down in a heap.
“No!” she cried out.
The man leaped on top of her, flipping her over and slapping his palm over her mouth. “Stop screaming,” he commanded.
He smelled of a strong cologne that made her want to gag. His huge body pressed her into the floor, and she couldn’t catch a breath.
Help, she prayed. Please let Chase have heard my cries.
Footsteps pounded their direction, and a light flicked on in the hallway.
“Lizzy?” Chase called.
The man leaped to his feet and spun to face Chase. He pulled out a knife. The metal glinted in the light from the hallway.
“Chase,” she cried out, scrambling to her feet, unsteady. “Kn-knife!”
“Stay back,” he instructed.
The huge attacker rushed around the bed and faced Chase. He flourished the knife, doing a fancy spin that showed he was used to handling the weapon.
Where were the security guards? Chase had experience as a soldier and a police officer, but that just meant he was used to bringing a gun to a knife fight, and a Taser and pepper spray and probably a baton. Being unarmed had to be unfamiliar ground for him.
The wound in Lizzy’s chest burned as she remembered the horror of being stabbed in the chest. All the blood. Not being able to breathe as one of her lungs collapsed. Now Chase was going to suffer as she had, if not worse.
She screamed in horror as the man swung the knife in a swipe aimed at Chase’s throat.
Chase dodged under it and brought one fist up into the man’s abdomen.
The man bowed forward. Chase spun in a feat of choreography around behind the man and grabbed his arm.
The man grunted in pain as Chase whipped his knife hand behind his back in an unnatural-looking position.
The invader struggled, and the knife ripped Chase’s shirt. Lizzy cried out. Chase didn’t so much as grunt. He only tightened his grip.
Was he bleeding? Dying?
The man yelped and released the knife. It clattered to the ground. He tried to throw his head back against Chase’s, but Chase dodged the hit as easily as one of Lizzy’s staff would dodge the tantrum of a small child on their lap.
Lizzy wished she could help. Did she dare dodge in and grab the knife? It really didn’t look like her hero needed any help.
Chase yanked harder on the arm he had pinned and shoved the man forward, sweeping his feet out from underneath him. Both men crashed to the hardwood floor, Chase on top, the attacker face first. A sickening crunch and a whimper of pain made her stomach turn over.
Thankfully, it wasn’t Chase in pain but the man. His arm was now bent at a very unnatural angle.
“Lizzy,” Chase said calmly. “Grab my phone off my dresser and call Captain Macon.”
“Okay,” she replied shakily, grateful to do something.
Who was Captain Macon? Her brain was foggy and confused.
She scurried around the men. The attacker was still struggling under Chase, even with that painful-looking broken arm.
Yikes the man was tough; she had to give him that. Why had he come after her?
Racing on unsteady legs out of her bedroom and across the hall, she stumbled but luckily didn’t go down.
She grabbed Chase’s phone off the nightstand where it was plugged in, pressed on the side button and commanded, “Call Captain Macon,” as she turned and hurried back out of Chase’s room, across the hall, and into her own room.
The phone rang once, twice …
Chase was still in the same position. “Stop struggling and I’ll move positions and release the pressure.”
The man continued to fight. His face was twisted in agony, but he didn’t look close to giving up. Lizzy didn’t think she’d ever seen him before.
“Chase?” a man’s voice came on the phone.
Captain Macon … oh, it was Peter’s voice.
“Peter,” she exclaimed. “A man attacked me. Chase has him pinned.”
“Lizzy? I’m on my way. Is the attacker secured?”
“I think that’s what Chase is doing to him.”
Chase glanced up at her. “Tell the captain we have a mole and to be careful.”
What did that mean?
“We have a mole,” she repeated. “That’s what Chase says. And be careful.”
Peter cursed, and she blinked in surprise. But maybe it made sense because a mole was bad. A mole meant somebody had betrayed them in military lingo, or something like that.
Wait. Is that why no guard came when the men watching them should’ve seen movement or heard alarms or something? How did this guy bypass the security? Because of the mole?
“I’ll be right there,” Peter told her. “Stay on the line.”
Lizzy clung to the phone and leaned into the wall for stability. She watched Chase control the huge, still-writhing man underneath him. How was the attacker still fighting with a broken arm?
She felt hot and cold and terrified. The only thing that felt real and safe was Chase.
“Lizzy,” Chase said in a steady voice, ignoring the man bucking underneath him and trying to kick at him and hit him with his free hand. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I’m here.”
Lizzy wanted to run to him and hug him tight. What a man. He was protecting her from the bad guy and reassuring her.
There was a beep and then a loud thump that sounded like the front door flinging open.
“Go into the bathroom,” Chase instructed. “Lock the door.”
Lizzy scurried around Chase and the attacker.
“It’s me,” Peter said on the phone to her ear. She could hear his voice and his footsteps pounding up the stairs.
She paused at the bathroom door and pushed end on the phone, clinging to it as Peter burst into the room.
“Macon,” Chase said in a clipped voice. “Somehow he got past security. Who’s on duty right now?”
“Joshua should be monitoring the cameras. Tony was patrolling.”
Chase studied him. “You’ve got a mole, and you’d better deal with it.”
“I will.” Peter’s voice was hard, his jaw tight. “If one of my men allowed this to happen …”
He didn’t finish, but he looked to Lizzy and away.
“It’s over,” he told the attacker, kneeling beside Chase. “You’ll never overpower both of us, especially with a broken arm. The police are on their way. Do you want to keep fighting and injuring yourself? Or Chase will help you roll over and we’ll brace that arm.”
“Fine,” the man bit out, sagging into the ground as if he’d given his best efforts to injure her and Chase and now all his energy was depleted.
Lizzy leaned into the wall behind her. Her legs were weak, and she was exhausted and terrified.
How had this man gotten in? Who was the ‘mole’?
She didn’t know any of the security guards well, but they’d all followed them during their day trips and seemed observant and nice.
Who would’ve hired this man or made one of their guards a ‘mole’?
She didn’t think Grady Worthen had the financial means, but what did she know?
Darren would have the financial means, but would he came after her?
“Lizzy.” Chase glanced up at her as they finished binding the man’s arm. Blood stained his shirt from where the man had slashed at him with the knife. He looked tough and brave, and she prayed he was all right.
The unique European ‘whir, whir, whir’ police sound came from seemingly far away. Like a tunnel.
“Chase,” she whispered.
“I’ve got him,” Peter said.
“Thank you.” Chase leaped to his feet and took the two steps to her. She collapsed against his strength, whimpering and clinging to him. He held her close, murmuring, “It’s all right. I’m here. It’ll all be okay now.”
It felt more than ‘all right’ in his arms. He was safe and warm and strong.
Yet a man had gotten through security, past cameras, and maybe paid a guard off to kidnap her or hurt her. He’d been smothering her when Chase came to rescue her. Had the nightmare of being attacked really followed her across the ocean?
All she wanted was to be safe, to feel safe. It seemed the only way that might happen was if Chase never left her side.
But that likely wouldn’t be her future, no matter how badly she wanted it to be.