“Ready to get in? Have a color preference?” Aaron laughs, the bastard. “Want to ride a pink one or a green one?”
“I don’t care,” I mumble, but he shakes his head, waving the gun again.
“Pick a color, Katie. Yellow? Blue? Red? How about orange?”
A different voice sounds over the speaker, one I recognize. My entire body lights up with hope when I realize who it is.
“Dad. Dad, it’s me.”
Aaron halts in his movements, the gun going still. He doesn’t joke, doesn’t smile, doesn’t say a word.
“Please don’t hurt her, Dad. You don’t need any more trouble. Just . . . surrender to the police and let this be over with. Please.”
I’m crying, tears streaming down my face at the sound of his voice, how he’s pleading for my life. I’m not going to make it. I can feel it. This is the end. My head is empty, my body is light, almost as if the angels have already grabbed hold of me and are preparing me to go with them.
“Get in the car,” Aaron says, his voice flat. He points his gun at the cars that keep swinging by, one after the other, and he steps closer to me. “We’re riding one together. That way they can’t shoot my ass if there’s a sniper anywhere. You’re my shield. I’m not as stupid as you all think I am.”
I never thought he was stupid. The man is crafty. Shady. Horrible. A monster. But he’s not stupid.
“I’m begging you, Dad. You’ve done enough damage to her. Just . . . let Katie go. Exchange her for me. I’ll take her place. Please. Please, don’t hurt her.”
I close my eyes against his heart-wrenching words. He can’t exchange himself for me. What if his father kills him instead? How is that any better?
How could I ever survive without him?
“Meet us at the other end of the Sky Glider and then we can do the exchange!” Aaron yells toward the sky. “Did you hear that, Willy? Did you?”
My eyes slowly open to find he’s crying, too. Tears fill his eyes and his cheeks are red. Does he even realize what he’s doing?
There’s a delay, and finally Will’s voice comes over the speaker again, firm and strong. “I got it. I heard you. You’ll exchange Katie for me at the other side of the Sky Glider. Deal?”
“Deal.” Aaron smiles, baring his teeth at me, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. “And while we’re on the Glider together, you get to watch, Willy. You have to watch.”
The one word triggers what Will told me about his past. How his father used to make Will watch him have sex with women. He wants to do something to me on that Glider when we’re riding together, something horrible, and he’ll make Will watch the entire thing unfold.
I can’t allow it to happen.
I just . . .
I can’t.
Numb, my mind spinning, I start toward the cars, standing in the area where everyone in line is supposed to wait until they’re called over. A car leaves and I step in front of the next one, ready to fall into it and pull the bar down so that it can take me over the boardwalk, high in the sky.
“Wait for me,” Aaron starts to say but I turn on him, fast and quick. Like a whirlwind. I don’t even think, I just bend my leg and kick him, making direct contact in the balls. I wish I had shoes on. That would have done more damage, but it was enough. Just enough.
Howling, he bends forward, covering his crotch, and I fall into the moving car, pulling the bar over my lap and watching him scream at me as the car takes off and up into the air, moving slowly over the park so I can get a perfect view of everything below me, spread out before me.
But I don’t care about the view. I need the car to move faster. I need to get away from Aaron and make my way to Will. I glance over my shoulder to see the car right behind me is empty. Aaron’s in the next car, arms straight, the gun clutched in his hand, aimed directly at me.
I duck at the precise moment the bullet goes whizzing by, and I almost slip out of the car. I cling to the metal bar in front of me, practically hanging from it, my butt almost all the way off the slick car, legs dangling toward the ground. I scramble to get back up, my hands slipping, and a scream escapes me when I hear another bullet fly by.
The ground below is a long way down. If I fall, I’m going to die. Sobbing uncontrollably, I muster all the strength I can find and somehow manage to hoist myself up, back into the seat. I drape myself across the cold hard plastic, keeping my head low so I don’t give Aaron anything to aim at.
“Stay low, Katherine!” a voice shouts over the loudspeaker, startling me, and I grip the metal bar, my sweaty fingers barely holding on. “Stay down!” the voice yells just as a hail of gunfire erupts.
I close my eyes and duck lower, as low as I can get. I’m half hanging off the Glider car and it rocks back and forth, the wire and wheel creaking above my head. I’m shaking so bad my teeth chatter and then I can tell . . . we’re going lower. And lower.
Cracking open my eyes, I see we’re at the other end of the ride.
And there’s Will, waiting for me just like he said he would be. He’s running toward me, his arms outstretched, his expression full of hope and love and fear. I fall apart in his arms, clutching him so close, like I’ll never let him go.
I made it.
I survived.
We’re at the hospital. The authorities insisted Katie get checked out before they release her. They also want to question her—even though one of the FBI agents already did while we rode in the ambulance to the hospital. General questions, trying to get the timeline right, trying to figure out exactly what happened when she was in my father’s captivity.
When she starts to cry in earnest I stop the questioning. She’s been through too much. They could ask her questions later. We have time.
We have nothing but time.
“What happened to him?” she asks, her voice thin.
She sounds so tired, so . . . sad. We’re in a private room. She’s wearing a hospital gown, and there’s a monitor hooked up to her as well as an IV as she lies in the bed. They didn’t want to take any chances on her, ensuring that she was well hydrated and mentally stable—their words—before they let her go.
I’m dying to get out of here. I think she is, too.
“Your father,” she adds. When I don’t say anything she clutches my hand, her fingers tight as they curl around mine. “Tell me.”
I take a deep breath and exhale roughly, my gaze meeting hers. I’m in a chair, pulled up as close as I can get it to her bed. “They shot him. He fell out of the Glider car but he was already dead before he hit the ground.”
She squeezes her eyes shut, grimacing. “It sounds awful, but . . . I’m glad he’s dead. He was going to kill me, Will.” She starts to cry again. “I should be dead right now. I was fully prepared for it. It’s like I found peace within myself that it was my time.”
Her tears, her words, they break my heart. I get up from the chair and climb into the bed with her, holding her close, letting her sob into my shirt. I run my hand over her hair and breathe in her familiar scent, closing my eyes against the tears that want to fall from my eyes.
But I’m done crying for what I might have lost. She’s here. Alive and in my arms. We’re together. My father is dead.
He’s gone.
“You’re not dead, baby,” I whisper close to her ear, kissing her there. My arms tighten around her and she snuggles closer. “You’re alive. You’re fine. You’re with me. And I’m never going to let you go. Never again.”
The nightmare is finally over.
I believe Will. I know he’ll never let me go, and when I tell him the news I discovered during the series of tests they performed on me when I first arrived at the hospital, he’s really going to want to keep me close by his side. His overprotective nature will kick into high gear.
Taking a deep breath, I decide to just admit everything.
“When I was with your father, I—I lied to him,” I murmur against Will’s chest.
He pulls away so he can look down at me
. “You lied to him about what?”
“I was desperate. I came up with an idea, hoping that he wouldn’t kill me once he knew.” I’m shaking, so nervous to tell Will the truth. What if this isn’t what he wants? I’m scared, too. What if we’re both not ready? We’re so young, and we’ve been through so much.
“What did you tell him?” His voice is soft, his gaze warm and full of so much love, I know in that instant that he won’t react poorly. He’ll be happy. So happy.
“I told him I was pregnant with your baby.” The words rush out of me and I bend my head, not wanting to look at him. “It didn’t matter. I could’ve had his future grandchild inside of me and it wouldn’t have mattered. He wanted to kill me. That was his plan all along. I think if you’d been there, he would’ve wanted to kill you, too. He wanted to take all of us down along with him.”
Will mutters a curse beneath his breath, but otherwise he says nothing. Just tugs me close and presses his face against my hair, kissing the top of my head. I try to fight the shivering that’s taking over my body. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything else. We’ve been through enough today. What if he totally freaks out?
“When I first got here they ran a series of tests on me,” I admit quietly, my voice muffled by his chest. “I really am pregnant, Will. I don’t know how it happened, but I am.” I go completely still, waiting for his response, my chest aching as I hold my breath, my tears.
He’s quiet for a moment, brushing my hair away from my face, his mouth at my temple. “I think you know how it happened, Katie.” The quiet amusement in his voice is completely unexpected.
And the relief that rushes through me leaves me weak. He’s not mad. But did I really think he’d be mad? Upset maybe, but he’s already joking. “I know. I just . . . I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“It’s a blessing.” He slips his fingers beneath my chin and tilts my face up so our gazes meet. “We’ll figure this out. As long as the two of us are together, we’ll always figure it out. I have faith in us.”
“I have faith in us, too,” I admit, blinking away my tears.
But he sees them. He leans in and kisses them away, my eyes shuttering closed at the feel of his lips feathering my skin. The relief, the pure joy that I feel at being safe and in Will’s arms, is so overwhelming, it threatens to take my breath away. We’re going to be okay.
“I love you,” he whispers, his hand moving down to slip over my very flat stomach. “You’re giving me a gift. Never think otherwise.”
I won’t. I swear.
“We should get married.” I look up at him, see the determination written all over his face. “It’s the right thing to do and we’ll just be postponing the inevitable if we don’t. Marry me, Katie.”
I gape at him. I go from thinking I’m going to die to surviving yet another ordeal and finding out I’m pregnant and getting a marriage proposal, all in one day? I feel like I’m dreaming.
“We’ll take our time. Whenever you’re ready. We’ll probably need to let the media speculation settle down first because everyone is already talking. You know they are.” He kisses me, his mouth soft and warm. He feels like home. He feels like love. “We’re in love. We’re going to have a baby. Let’s get married. I want you to be my wife.”
Giddiness rises inside of me at hearing him call me his wife. In spite of everything that’s happened, what I just went through, what I just witnessed, so much death and destruction and pure, unadulterated terror, I’m excited. My life is going to change, all for the better. All because of this man lying by my side in my hospital bed, his gaze tender and his mouth curved in the sweetest smile.
“Yes,” I whisper, smiling in return when he kisses me again. “Yes, let’s get married.”
“You look beautiful.” Mrs. Anderson—excuse me, Viv—pulls me in for a hug, her arms tight as she clamps me close. “So radiant! That dress is gorgeous. Ah, to be so young and in love. You’re a lucky girl.”
I pull away from her and smile, my hand going to my big belly when I feel a kick. It’s amazing, how I told Aaron Monroe that I was pregnant with his grandchild and it turned out to be true. When I said it, I didn’t really believe I was. More like I was pulling out all the stops to try and save myself.
Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously I knew. How, I don’t know, but it’s just too coincidental. And I’m not one to believe in coincidences. Not anymore.
Another kick nudges against my palm and I smile. I’m seven months along. Oh, and a married woman as of approximately ten minutes ago.
“Thank you,” I tell her, leaning in to kiss her dry, wrinkled cheek. She became ordained, got certified online just so she could marry us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. “For everything.”
She’s become a part of my family, like the grandmother I lost when I was small. She’s done so much for us, especially these last few months. Helping me out, taking care of Molly and giving her walks as I’ve become larger and so incredibly tired all the time. Will works a lot, too, sometimes going out of town, and Viv is my backup when he’s not around.
The pregnancy hasn’t always been easy. I’m exhausted a lot of the time and they discovered I was anemic. I dealt with a lot of nausea in the beginning, so the little booger was giving me trouble from the very start. But I’m close to the end now. I can’t wait to hold our baby in my arms.
“My dear, you are worth it all. Every last bit.” She pats my face and withdraws from my embrace, smiling. “Now go to your husband. He’s waiting for you.”
I turn to find he is indeed waiting for me, a patient smile on his face, his eyes filled with love, looking so handsome in black trousers and a white button-down shirt, a silver tie around his neck. I’ve never seen him so dressed up. My heart pangs and I think for the thousandth time today alone—I can’t believe he’s mine.
I go to him and he wraps me up in his arms, holding me close, his mouth against my temple. I feel him exhale, almost in relief, and I close my eyes, savoring his scent, the feel of him, warm and strong, his heartbeat steady and true. “You’re beautiful,” he murmurs into my hair.
“I’m wearing a tent of white lace,” I joke.
“Stop. You’re making fun of my bride.” He kisses me, his lips lingering. “And trust me, you’re gorgeous.”
“So are you,” I say with a happy little sigh.
“You need to get back in the house. Get some rest.” His words douse out some of my happiness, just a little bit. His worry for my health touches me but also drives me a little crazy sometimes. He’s beyond overprotective.
I guess after everything we’ve been through, I can’t blame him.
“A few more minutes?” I pull back to look at him, smiling. “Please?”
He leans in and kisses the tip of my nose. “Five. Tops.”
We’re in Viv’s backyard. That’s where we had the small ceremony, with only my mom and Brenna present, as well as Viv and Molly, who has a ring of roses around her neck, made by Viv from the flowers in her yard. A few of Will’s musician friends, including Jay, showed up as well, and we’re all moving over to our house for a very small reception dinner put together by my mom, who brought her widower friend, Len, as her date.
They’ve been seeing each other since Thanksgiving and she’s happy. Brenna’s back in the dating game and though she loves to complain to me about the guys she meets, I think she secretly likes it. She’s much more carefree, lighter. Therapy seems to have helped, too.
We are surrounded by the people who love us, and though our circle is small, we’re okay with it. We don’t need much. Really, as long as we have one another, that’s enough.
And soon, we’ll have a baby to love, too. A sweet little girl. Poor Will has nothing but females in his life, but I know he doesn’t mind. He’s excited. We’re both excited.
For once, there’s no shadow hanging over us, no ominous presence from our past chasing me, chasing him. I feel light. Happy. Free. I’m sorry that Lisa Swanson was killed, though the ratings on
her show went sky high, her celebrity status firmly solidified. She’ll be forever remembered as the woman who died for the story, and I like to think that would have pleased her.
But there’s really no glory in that. She died alone on the street where I live. A little memorial was set up for her on the sidewalk for a while, until kids tore it apart late one night, destroying it completely. In the morning someone cleaned up the mess and it was gone.
Just like she is.
I’m lucky. So lucky. Somehow I survived. Aaron William Monroe is no longer a threat to us. He can’t get me. He haunted my every thought from the time I met him, when I was twelve years old, almost thirteen, until his death. All those years, wasted. All those years, living in fear.
Life is different now. He may be a part of my husband, he will be a part of our daughter, but never again can he hurt me.
In the end, I realize Aaron Monroe did bring something positive into my life. He gave me Will. And for that, as crazy as it sounds . . . I will be forever grateful to the man who kidnapped me.
I am strong.
I am loved.
I am a wife.
A mother.
I am Katherine Monroe.
And I’m not afraid anymore.
Playlist
I went on a ’90s music listening binge while writing this book so there are a lot of songs from that decade making an appearance. Here’s my list:
“A Sorta Fairytale” by Tori Amos (Because clearly Will and Katie’s story is a rather warped fairy tale).
“No Ordinary Love” by the Deftones (This was originally sung by Sade, who I adore. Again, the title is fitting because the love between Will and Katie is far from ordinary).
“#1 Crush” by Garbage (I felt like a demented weirdo loving this song in the ’90s because clearly it’s about someone who’s obsessed with another to the point of stalker-like behavior but . . . it works for the story).