The Watcher

  Oh God.

  I never looked at it like that.

  “Put your hand on the table.”

  I whip my head around. “No.”

  “Put it on the table!” She screams, jerking my head back by my hair so hard I feel a chunk dislodge.

  “No!” I scream.

  She releases my hair and raises the knife.

  I take the moment to duck.

  She swings it into nothing.

  I hit the ground on my knees and scurry forward under the table. She moves quickly, reaching down and capturing my ankle. She jerks me backwards, and I fall onto my stomach. Pain. So much pain. Both my hands are on fire, but I don’t let it stop me. I kick and squirm.

  A sharp burning pain drives into my calf.

  She just stabbed me.

  I scream and kick out, connecting with something. A loud crack fills the room and I hear a thump as she hits the floor. Through the burning fire in my hands, I keep pushing myself forward until I get out the other side of the table. I push to my feet, gagging from the incredible agony, and I run towards the back door.

  “No!” Hannah shrieks.

  I shove it open and practically throw myself off the patio. It’s getting dark. The afternoon is about ready to make its exit for the evening to come in. My stomach twists as I hobble-run towards the trees. I trip on a rock, slowing myself down. I can hear Hannah behind me. Her footsteps pounding across the dirt.

  “You want a chase!” she screams. “I’ll hunt you down like the animal you are, Marlie Jacobson.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  KENAI

  “Dammit!” I roar, sending my fist flying into the car door.

  “Calm down, Kenai,” Darcy barks. “We’re moving as fast as we can. We can’t hurry this up. You know we’re trying.”

  “She’s out there, she could be dead, and we’ve got nothing. We can’t find a single piece of information on this girl and where she might be hiding them.”

  “We’ll find her.”

  “It’ll be too late!” I roar.

  We arrive at the hotel and I launch out of the truck, ignoring the pain in my guts as I storm inside. Darcy follows. We’ve been looking all day. Night has fallen. It’s been nearly two days. We have nothing. Not a single fucking thing. We have no idea where Hannah is keeping the girls or what she’s doing to them.

  If we don’t find them soon … God only knows what she’ll do to them.

  I’m the best tracker I know, but I don’t even know where to fucking look.

  I’m so stressed, I can think only of Marlie. I can’t think of anything else. I can’t work. I just keep thinking of her beautiful face, wondering how the hell she’s going to make it through this again.

  It’s my damned fault.

  I should have listened to her.

  “Yeah?”

  I turn to see Darcy pressing the phone to his ear.

  “What did you say?” he yells, about to drop his keys on the table. He doesn’t drop them though. “When?”

  He becomes a blur as he charges back towards the front door. “We’re coming.”

  He hangs up and turns to me. “Marlie’s sister just arrived at the police station with another girl. They escaped.”

  “What?” I yell, rushing towards him. “Marlie?”

  “Not with them. Let’s go.”

  Fuck.

  We run back out to the truck, and Darcy races the entire way to the station. He hasn’t even stopped the car before I am out of it and running inside, pain be damned. “Kenai!” he calls after me, but I don’t stop.

  I move through the front doors and straight to the reception desk. “Where is Kaitlyn Jacobson?”

  “She’s being questioned right now,” the receptionist says. “She—”

  I turn and charge down the hall.

  “Sir!” The girl calls. “You can’t go down there.”

  I find the interrogation room and shove the door open, bursting in. Kaitlyn and another girl are sitting, each wrapped in a towel, being looked at by paramedics. I skid to a stop when I take them in. Kaitlyn is in a bad way. Bruised and battered, she looks exhausted, tired, hungry. Her eyes swing to me when I enter and she whispers, “Are you Kenai?”

  I nod, rushing in.

  I kneel in front of her. “Where’s Marlie?”

  “She … she got us out. She told us to come and get help. I’m scared, Kenai. Hannah will kill her.”

  My girl made sure they got out alive.

  God.

  My beautiful girl.

  “Where are they?”

  “I … I don’t know exactly how to get there, but wh-wh-wh-when we got out and ran, we found a road and a nice woman brought us into the police station. She’s still here. She’ll know the road. If you have her take you back, you’ll see a dirt track, go down it. There is an old shack. They’re in there. Hurry, Kenai. Marlie is hurt.”

  Marlie is hurt.

  My vision swims.

  I cup Kaity’s face. “I’ll find her. I promise you.”

  TWENTY-NINE

  MARLIE

  I fall to my knees, my body exhausted. I can’t run anymore.

  Everything blurs as I try to stop myself from passing out on the spot. My lungs burn as I scramble for air and try to push my body up.

  She’s right behind me.

  Any second she’ll appear.

  Like a rabid dog, she just won’t stop.

  The sun is dropping lower and lower with every passing minute. I’m praying for nightfall. Praying for the darkness to help me escape. To help me hide. If she gets to me before the darkness falls, I know she’ll kill me. She’ll take my life without hesitation now. She’s enraged. She’s desperate. She’ll do whatever it takes.

  “I know you’re out here, Marlie,” she calls through the trees.

  I push my back against a trunk, trying to catch my breath. Praying the tree is big enough to hide me.

  “I’m going to make this painful. I’m going to end you just like Daddy should have. You never gave him the chance. You killed him. Now I’m going to kill you. An eye for an eye. I wanted to honor him, but now I just want you dead. I’ll start over. I’ll honor his legacy.”

  I try to slow down my breathing, so she won’t hear it, but it’s nearly impossible.

  “I know you’re here, nobody can run with knees like yours.”

  I scramble around, looking for something heavy. I find a large, thick branch and I lunge forward, lifting it up with my good hand. Even that one is badly battered, and pain shoots up my arm, but I take a deep breath and work through it. Hannah rounds the tree, a wicked smile on her face.

  I swing.

  The branch hits her right in the knees.

  I swing again.

  Her screams echo through the trees as a sickening crunch fills the quiet space. She drops down to the ground, and the heaviness of the branch weighs on me. I can’t lift it again. So instead I drop it, shoving to my feet and running.

  “I’ll kill you,” she wails in agony. “I’ll kill you.”

  I drag my broken body over a few branches and start trying to fight my way through the trees again. My vision continues to blur as I try to escape.

  I have to end this. Somehow I have to end this.

  Hannah has found her way to her feet again, and is hobbling after me, screeching profanities. If she gets hold of me, she’s going to make me suffer. One of us is going die tonight. If I don’t do something, it’s going to be me. I got away once. Dammit, I’m going to get away again.

  A knife hurtles through the air and catches hold of my shirt, driving it into a tree. Holy shit. She has skill. I guess Clayton did teach her something. Frantically, I try to pull the knife from the tree, or at least dislodge my shirt, but it slows me down too much. A fist curls into my hair and pain explodes in the back of my head.

  She’s trying to scalp me.

  A pain I never thought I’d ever feel again courses through me. It burns in the back of my head and warm blood trickles
down my neck. No.

  No.

  I won’t die like this.

  I drive my elbow backwards, stunning her enough for her to release my hair for a second. Blood soaks my shirt as I spin around, tearing my shirt from the knife and the tree. Hannah lunges at me, bloodied knife in her hands. She hits me and we crash to the ground.

  “You’ll suffer for this. I’ll cut your fucking hair off and hang it above his grave.”

  “What the hell happened to you?” I gasp, trying to fight her off as she waves the knife around. “You were supposed to be my friend.”

  “I was never your friend, you foolish, stupid girl. This was for him. It was all for him.”

  “It’s funny you do so much for him, yet he never once mentioned you,” I scream in her face.

  She freezes for a second, and I know I’ve hit her hard.

  It’s enough of a hesitation.

  I drive my fist up and into her face. The loud crunch her nose makes has my skin crawling, but it works. She rolls off me with a scream and I roll to my left, lunging for the knife. She goes for it too and manages to get it just before I do. I jerk backwards quickly and roll again, tucking in close. I push to my feet and spin around, wanting to get some distance between us before she has the chance to use it.

  She’s on her feet again. Blood runs down her face, her hair is wild, and her knees are swollen and bruised. She holds the knife in her hand, and her eyes are wild. This is the moment, I can feel it in my bones. This is the moment it’ll end for one of us.

  We both stare. Panting.

  “You were my friend,” I say, my voice thick. “I trusted you. You’re nothing but an evil monster, and you will suffer the same fate as your pathetic, useless father. He couldn’t beat me, and neither will you.”

  “Don’t you talk about him like that,” she yells hysterically.

  She’s losing it. So I continue. “It’s the truth. Clayton was pathetic, and so are you. Your game is pathetic. You’re both losers.”

  Her body jerks and her eyes flare.

  “He’d be ashamed that not even you could finish it for him. His precious daughter. The one who was supposed to get justice. Yet look at you. You are lame.”

  She flinches again.

  “Failures. Both of you.”

  She lunges. “I’ll fucking end you, Marlie Jacobson. For Daddy. I’ll end you.”

  As if in slow motion, her body comes hurtling towards me. I lunge backwards but don’t realize there is a log behind me. Panic grips me as I start to fall, and her body comes towards mine. Oh God. No. Fear grips my chest as I flail, trying to stop myself from falling. Hannah has the knife poised, and she’s wearing an incredible smile. A victory smile.

  The second my back hits the ground, I’m dead.

  I know it.

  She knows it.

  She’s going to drive that knife into my body.

  I hit the ground and clench my eyes shut the moment pain radiates through my spine from the hard ground beneath me. A loud gunshot rings out, piercing the still air. A body falls over mine, but the knife doesn’t penetrate. The body is still. Limp. My eyes fly open and Hannah is on top of me, unmoving. It takes me a moment to figure out what’s happened.

  She’s not moving.

  There is blood running from her chest onto mine.

  Someone shot her.

  Someone …

  “Marlie!”

  In a haze, I turn my head slowly, wondering if I’m imagining the voice.

  “Marlie!”

  Kenai?

  My vision blurs.

  Kenai appears from behind a row of trees. He rushes over, flipping Hannah off me before pulling me to my feet. My body sways. My knees tremble. I stare up at him.

  He saved me.

  Kanai saved my life.

  I collapse against his chest, and his arms go around me.

  “Oh fuck. Thank God you’re okay, Marlie. Tell me you’re okay.”

  “She’s gone,” I whisper against his chest, my vision swimming. “You saved me.”

  “I know. I know. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I … she’s gone…”

  “I know, baby. It’s over. It’s all over. You’re safe now.”

  “It’s over,” I murmur into his chest.

  “It’s over.”

  “Kaity?”

  “Safe. You saved her life.”

  I saved her life.

  I saved them.

  And he saved me.

  Like I always knew he would.

  THIRTY

  “Where are they! Where are my daughters?”

  My mother’s frantic voice echoes from outside my hospital room, and I stir awake. My vision is hazy as I listen to Kenai’s voice.

  “They’re okay, but right now they don’t want them to have visitors. They’ve been continually questioned over the last day and they’re tired. Let them rest. Come back later.”

  “They’re my daughters, I need to see them.”

  “No,” Kenai says, his voice firm. “What you need to do is go, leave them be, and sort your own shit out. I don’t know you, ma’am, and I don’t pretend to, but you nearly lost the two best things in your life yesterday. I can tell you something for nothing, no amount of money in the world can ever replace the gift you have in those girls.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Mom shrieks.

  “I’m someone who cares about them. Go. And if you care about them, if you truly love them, get yourself together and realize what you’ve got before it’s too late. Those girls need a mother. Not a money-hungry gold digger.”

  “How dare you! Those are my daughters.”

  “And what have you done for them?”

  Silence.

  “If you love them, even a little fucking bit, go away and come back only when you’re ready to be a mother. To be there for them. To comfort them. To help them heal. That’s what they need. They don’t need reporters. Or books. Or money. They need you. And you’re doing a terrible job at being what they need.”

  More silence.

  “Do them a favor. Fix yourself.”

  “I just…” she begins. “I just wanted to see if they were okay.”

  “They’re okay. But right now, they need to be left alone.”

  A nurse comes in, and I’m cut off from the conversation when she closes the door behind her. “Hi. You’re awake?”

  I nod, shifting uncomfortably. Both my hands are bandaged, and one is in a cast.

  “How are you feeling?” she asks, starting her routine observations.

  “Okay,” I croak. “Where’s my sister?”

  “She’s being treated.”

  “I need to see her. Please.”

  “I’ll speak with a doctor.”

  She finishes up what she’s doing and heads out just as Kenai walks in. “Hi,” he murmurs.

  My heart swells that he defended me, even though he has no idea that I heard it. I love him in that moment. More than anything in my entire world.

  “Hi,” I whisper.

  He stops at my bed and looks down at me, running a thumb over my cheek. “You okay?”

  “She’s gone, Kenai,” I say, my heart aching. “I know she was crazy, but once, she was my friend.”

  Kenai gently climbs into the bed and pulls me close, tucking me into him, right where I need to be. “You escaped another nightmare. Hannah was never your friend. Even if you tried to be hers. You were so brave, Marlie. You saved Kaitlyn and you saved Yasmin. Without you, they might be gone now.”

  “I never wanted her to die, though,” I say softly.

  “No, but sometimes you don’t get to choose how these things end. I know it’s hard, but you’re so damned incredible and brave.”

  “It’s really over?” I say, looking up at him. I love his face. I love everything about him. He stares down at me with a soft expression. His features gentle. Real.

  “It’s really over. You’re safe.”

  My chest exhales with reli
ef. Safe. A word I wondered if I could ever hear and truly believe, but I do. I believe in it now. Not just because Clayton and Hannah are gone, but because I have Kenai. I know with my whole heart he’ll never let anything happen to me again.

  “I want to see Kaity.”

  He nods, tucking me closer. “Just let me hold you for a second more.”

  My heart swells and I nestle into him, feeling a comfort I haven’t felt in such a long time. A warmth. Something so real and beautiful. “Were you afraid?”

  He flinches. “So fucking afraid. I thought I was going to lose you. I’m sorry, Marlie. I should have listened to you.”

  “You mean instead of being a jerk?” I tease.

  He laughs lightly. “Yeah, instead of being a jerk. You forgive me?”

  “That depends?” I say, tilting my head back. “Are you going to be okay with my new haircut?”

  He grins down at me, running his hand through my now short hair. Hannah made a mess of it when she tried to remove it, and they had to cut a bunch off to be able to treat the wound at the back of my head. They cut the rest so it didn’t look uneven.

  “You’d look beautiful no matter what.”

  “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Anyone would think you like me.”

  He presses a kiss to my nose. “I do fucking like you, Marlie Jacobson. Damn, do I like you.”

  My heart swells.

  He likes me.

  Finally.

  * * *

  “I was so afraid,” Kaity whispers, holding me close.

  The doctors finally let us in together. It took a lot of convicing, but they said if we didn’t exert ourselves, we could lie together for a while. I don’t know what it is they think we’re going to do in here. Run a marathon? Skip around the room? Honestly. Still, we managed to shuffle into the bed beside each other, and we haven’t moved since.

  “It’s all over now,” I say. “We’re going to be okay.”

  “Yasmin, is she okay?” Kaity asks.

  “Last I heard she got discharged after her fingers were set and they put some stitches in her arm. You saved her life, Kaity.”