Page 48 of Guarded Knight (Echo Valley #3)

“I gave you life in those pills… when you smiled at me, I knew it, I saw it… You need me.” He smiles with the hollow eyes of someone delusional.

“I was there. Every time you filled your prescription. Every time you walked those sterile halls like a goddamn angel with your little cough and that brave smile. We’re made for each other.

You don’t have to worry about being sick anymore. ”

This man is the one who’s sick. He thinks he can heal me? My chest tightens with every word he speaks.

“I watched. I learned. I know your dosages, your side effects, and your needs. Better than anyone. You’ll be safe with me.”

I can’t believe this is happening. I close my eyes and send telepathic messages to Gabriel. Find me… I’m here. Waiting for our life to begin.

But when I open them, I’m still alone in this. And I’m all I’ve got. I need to fight for this. I need to stay alive.

“You…” my voice is hoarse, “…left all the notes, the money… the photos…”

“You were naughty. You shouldn’t have ever been with Cameron. I had to punish you for being such a bad girl.” He speaks to me with conviction.

It was all actually Trent… lashing out… holy shit. How long has he been following me?

“How did you get into my Santa Fe house?” I demand.

“When you were in the changing room at the hospital. I snapped a pic of your key. Photokeys dot com.”

You can get a key made from a photo? What the fuck? “But I locked my belongings.”

“Oh, Angel…” He tilts his head. “Your brother’s birthday isn’t a good secret code now, is it? Pretty easy to figure that out from socials and a little deduction.”

How long has he been obsessed? How much does he know?

“I needed to watch you closely, Lara. To keep you safe from that douchebag and all the others who want your body.” He sits on the edge of my bed and puts his hand on my leg like it belongs there.

I recoil in instant disgust.

“You cheated on me, Angel. I’m sorry I had to punish you, but what were you thinking? Cameron didn’t love you. He didn’t care. He just wanted to f—”

“Shut up,” I snap, voice raw.

Something dark flickers in his eyes. “See, that’s the sickness in you. That fire. I love that fire, but it’s what’s hurting you. Burning you out. The stress, the recklessness. You keep trying to pretend you’re normal. But I can fix that.”

“You’re insane. You followed me across state lines… how did you do it?” Part of me wants to know, part of me needs to keep him talking. Buy Gabriel time. “You got a job in Echo Valley? Got into my apartment…”

He touches my hair, slowly. Reverently. “You didn’t make it easy, did you?

I had to offer to work for free as an intern at the pharmacy to get in there quickly.

And this place? It’s all I could find in a short time.

I needed to act, get you away from him. It’s not as nice as the place I had set up back in New Mexico, but it will do until I can get us back there. I need to get you better first.”

My gaze flicks back to his ancient apothecary. What is he going to do with me? Drug me, then take me back to New Mexico? I need to stay alert. More… more talking.

“How? How did you get into the apartment here at Echo Valley? It wasn’t broken into. You only had minutes to set up that smoke bomb.”

He steps away and grabs a bottle of water. He twists it open and comes back to lift it to my mouth. I refuse and start to splutter, but he holds my head in place.

“Keep your strength up.” He keeps pouring, and the water spills onto my dress. “So stubborn, Angel.”

I splutter more, but it tastes of ordinary water. Pills, medicine, it’s rarely tasteless. I comply, but as soon as he turns to set the bottle back down, I let the water drain out of the side of my mouth.

When he turns, he crosses his arms and considers me like he’s ready to move on to part B of his plan.

I hurry out my last question again. “How did you get into my Echo Valley apartment?”

He joins me on the edge of the bed, and being this close to this monster makes me want to wretch.

“People are trusting in small towns.” He laughs to himself, and the sound skates down my spine.

“It was so easy. That little shopkeeper left a ring of keys under the register while stocking books. Didn’t know which key was yours so I snapped them all.

I have a key to the bookstore and that sex shop behind, too. ”

He strokes my cheek and grits his teeth, holding back what looks like lust. “Maybe when you’re better, we can use those keys.”

I spin my head quickly and snap at him, but he pulls his hand off my skin. I want to bite his fucking hand off.

“Don’t make this difficult, Lara. You want to be with men who want your body? Who don’t love you? They just want to fuck you and leave you?” Anger rises in his blue eyes. “Or be with me who will heal you. I have medicines that can make you better. Allow us to have babies.”

Horror overcomes every cell in my body. He’s going to use me, take it all… “You’re fucking sick.”

“No, you’re sick. I know what you don’t. We’re meant to be. No more pretending. No more lies. No more playing brave for those men who donate money just because you’re beautiful or for that ex-military creep who parades you around like some kind of broken doll. They don’t love you like I do.”

“Gabriel…” I clench my jaw. “He’s loved me since long before you came around. And he’ll come find me.”

Trent laughs, not even an evil laugh, but one like I said something genuinely funny.

“Oh, pretty girl.” He calms down from his laughter with a few last breaths, then his mouth twists.

“Men like that only show up for the glory. They don’t understand the maintenance of a woman like you.

The caretaking. The work. He might come, but what can he do for you? ”

He stands, and it’s a relief to have some distance, but only for a moment, because he heads to the corner, where the evil-looking cabinet stands. He opens it. Inside are pill bottles, syringes, bandages...

“Is Gabriel prepared with all of this? Did he think ahead like I have? This…” He points to the medicine. “…Is what love really looks like. Not sex. Not you opening your legs for them…”

He grinds his teeth, containing some sort of rage that the mental image conjures up.

I’d better not mention Gabriel again.

My throat tightens. “I don’t need all that. If you know me, you know I only need Artelin.”

“That’s poison.” He says it like it’s obvious. “We can start you on a new regimen. No more of those expensive compounds. I’ve been making my own blends. Natural solutions.”

“I won’t take anything you give me.”

“You will,” he says softly, almost lovingly. “You’re going to need your strength. We have to get back to our home.”

I can’t let him take me from here. My throat fills with dread.

“You’ll see…” He spreads his arms like a preacher. “Finally, we can be alone. I have plans for us, Angel. And our family.”

My gasp is silent but sharp, and the air scrapes through me painfully. My heart pounds with equal parts fear and heartbreak. I was so close to the happiness I always wanted.

“You can’t keep me here.” For the first time, my voice cracks and my strength wavers.

All I can think of is Gabriel.

“You’re already here, Lara. And this time, no one’s coming to ruin it.”

He opens the cabinet, and terror explodes up my spine when he picks up a syringe and fills it with a solution, then heads back to me.

He looks every bit of a deranged, psychotic doctor as he holds an ominous needle toward the sky.

“This is my special formula. Don’t worry if it stings. That’s a sign that it’s working.”

I shimmy myself backward as he approaches but I’m met only with the cold, hard, concrete wall.

He sits on the edge of the bed. I twist, squirm, writhe away from his touch in every direction, but I’m no match for him.

He easily overpowers me with his size and shoves up my dress, exposing my thighs and panties.

He stares at me between my legs.

“This will be fun later. When you’re calm… I don’t want it to hurt…”

I let out a powerful, blood-curdling scream—raw, ripping, desperate.

Please. I hope there’s someone near…

When the needle plunges into my thigh, I’m silenced by the stinging pain, and it sharpens my thoughts. I need him out of this room if I’m ever to escape.

No matter what’s in this syringe, I’ll play possum. Go limp. Whatever he’s injected, potent or not, I’ll make it work for me. If I can’t fight him now, I’ll fake the fall and bide my time.

The liquid he’s injected does nothing, not immediately anyway, but I close my eyes and fall onto the mattress like a ragdoll, praying he leaves me here alone.