An Escape to Love (10 page)

“That’s a lot of assumptions don’t you think?” she said pointedly to the FBI agents, but they looked suspicious. Luckily for her, they dared not tell her she was lying, not yet at least. They needed more proof before they could take out the handcuffs for the Chief Justice’s only daughter.

“How’s Dad? I found out when I reached the airport,” she said to change the topic.

All the people in the room were silent and her younger brother, Josh, stood up to hug her. “Good to see you, sis. Your scared us, really. Dad’s fine now and he’ll probably come home tomorrow. They’re keeping him at the hospital over some security concerns.”

“Okay. I think I better go see him,” Leona said. Trying to act like the agents’ presence didn’t matter to her, she grabbed her bag. “Mom, are you coming?”

“I'll come with you,” Damon said and Leona stiffened, her heart lurching up like a scared child’s.

She got into the driver’s seat of her mother’s white Mercedes and had just pulled out of the driveway when her brother muttered under his breath. “No matter what happens, or what I say to you, do not stop this car.”

“Okay?” Leona said.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“What are you talking about?” Leona said, perfecting a confused expression.

“You idiot. They’re on to you. I’m on to you and I’m not even FBI. You and I both know you were lying in there. So the question is where were you and who were you with?”

“I told you, Damon.”

“Shut the hell up. Tell me so I can do something of this mess you made. Where the fuck were you? You were with Hartford, weren’t you? The police received a tip that Hartford was seen at a phone booth near the Colorado interchange. And you were lost in Colorado!” he said, his words laced with accusation.

“They know he’s in Colorado?” Leona burst out before she could stop herself, and then cursed herself under her breath as her brother clenched his eyes shut. He rubbed his fingers onto them like he would poke them out.

“You stupid girl. Stupid Leona. What the fuck were you thinking lying in there? They’re the FBI, for Christ’s sake!” he hissed angrily and Leona struggle to drive, her legs shaking like jelly.

She refused to reply. She couldn’t bear to look her brother in the eye because for the first time in her perfect life, she had made such a gigantic mess.

“Talk to me!” he said again and Leona saw the sign for the hospital ahead of her.

“We’re here,” she said, and then gasped as her brother clutched her wrist tightly. “Don’t do anything stupid. Christ, I don’t even know if our house is bugged. After what you pulled today I’m pretty sure every car and tree will be bugged at our place. Just shut up and don’t talk to anybody. If they read you your rights, just ask for your lawyer before you open your mouth.”

“I don’t have a lawyer,” she said as she slid out of the car on shaky legs.

“You do now,” he said almost angrily and clutched her to his chest. Leona held onto her brother for a few seconds longer than necessary and her eyes teared up in relief.

She couldn’t think about Jake just yet, or she would crumble up into a million pieces at the pain he had caused her. He and his memories had to wait.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Damon suggested they go for a walk when they returned home, and she couldn’t refuse because she was suddenly very, very unsure and very scared. When they were far from the house along the flower beds that filled a major section of their father’s property, Damon pinned a fake smile on his face for the passersby and began talking.

“Now you tell me what you did. I have to know if I have to do something about it.”

“I was with him. Damon. But the idea that he kidnapped me is ludicrous.”

“So how did you end up being with him? No matter what I do I can’t seem to wrap my head around the situation which would lead you to him other than the idea that he put a gun to your head.”

Leona sighed and ran her hand tiredly through her hair. “I was lost. I went for a ski on my own and I got lost along the way. I ended up at this house which was the only place in four hours I could find on foot, and he was there.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“No!” she cried, her eyes widening at her brother’s attempt to make Jake a villain. “I knocked and he let me in. He gave me warm clothes, coffee, and then he tried to get rid of me but I refused to leave.”

“Are you crazy? That man is a … where were your senses?”

Leona chuckled at his shortsightedness. “Do you actually think I’d have stayed if I had known who he was? I didn’t know. I didn’t know until a couple of days later but by then I didn’t want to get out of the warm house and freeze my ass to death, thank you very much!”

“He didn’t force you to stay with him?”

“Of course not!” she said instantly and then tensed because she was lying. Jake had kind of forced her, but he didn’t really have a choice. It was the man’s survival at stake and one couldn’t really blame him. “Listen. He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t do anything wrong. He let me go, didn’t he? And I’m alive, see?” she said, pointing towards herself.

“Okay. We have to talk to the agents now. We can claim you were in shock…that you were scared of him because he threatened you. Just tell them where he is, alright?” he said, turning towards the house.

Leona grabbed his sleeve, her knuckles white. “What are you talking about?” she hissed.

“I’m trying to save your ass from being dragged to court, you little freak!” he said and Leona shook her head.

“I’m not telling anyone anything, Damon. I won’t do it,” she said calmly.

Damon stared at her with disbelief written all over his face. “Are you out of your mind? You…” and then he understood, and his expression became ferocious, “You slept with the bastard, didn’t you?”

“Damon, that’s nobody’s business but my own. Just leave everything and see how it goes, alright?”

“Leona, you have to turn him in!” His expression was incredulous.

“I…won’t…do…it!” she said, enunciating each word. “I would never turn him in. He said he’d rather die than go back. I won’t turn him in, even if they hanged me for it.”

Damon’s jaw tightened and he shook his head, “The man’s a murderer, Leona.”

“I don’t believe that. He’s a wonderful, kind man. If only you knew him.”

Damon chuckled sarcastically, “That’s perfect. That’s just perfect!”

Leona refused to say anything else. She had said enough. They stood sizing each other up and Leona knew Damon was on her side but he was approaching the side differently than she was.

“Look Damon, I won’t betray him. I don’t care if he doesn’t feel the same way about me as I feel about him,” she said with tears clogging her throat. “But I love him. I love him unlike I’ve ever loved anyone in my life and I won’t turn my back on him.”

Damon turned away from her and her heart flipped over at the look of disgust and anger on his face. He walked back to the house and she stood there in the setting sun, clutching herself fiercely.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jake zipped up the tent he had been living in for the past two days and lay on his back to gather his strength. Tomorrow, he would move on from here. He was headed south and so far, everything he had paid for to his shady prison pal had come through.

He closed his eyes and as expected, Leona’s beautiful face crossed his mind. He could almost smell her scent in the air as he relived the time he had spent with her. It had been a week since he had let her go and her memories were fading already.

He wanted to keep exercising his mind, keep her thoughts alive lest he forget all about her. He wanted to remember her for whatever time he had left in life.

Jake recalled how Leona had asked if he was planning to find out on his own about Jessica’s killer, and he had shut her out because he didn’t want to think about it. For two years after he went to prison, he had been obsessed with finding out the truth. Finally, he knew he had to let the matter rest if he wanted to keep his sanity.

He had no wish to go through the effort of finding out anything anymore. Fate had dealt him this hand and he was going to make the most of it. What mattered now was staying alive and never forgetting Leona.

The painful look in her eyes at the last moment made him double up in guilt. He didn’t want her to hate him anymore. He wished he could talk to her somehow, one last time, and let her know that he loved her.

Several hundred miles away from him, Leona awoke feeling disoriented and her eyes were swollen. She had gotten used to it over the week, crying herself to sleep and then waking with eyes that wouldn’t open completely.

Her mother would’ve noticed but Leona had begun wearing her glasses again, the ones she hadn’t touched in the four years since they were prescribed.

Memories of Jake and his warm caresses kept her awake, until the pain became too much to bear and she began crying with heart-wrenching sobs that seemed to take over her being. She wanted to be with him, near him, see his endearing, handsome face.

Not knowing what he was doing or even if he was safe was difficult, way more difficult than she could manage. Knowing that he didn’t care for her, that he had thought their wonderful days and nights naked in each other’s arms had just been sex, didn’t reduce her pain or her longing.

She watched the news every hour, praying fervently that they wouldn’t have found him and taken him back to the place he hated. Her whole routine was tiring her out, the stress, the worry, the crying.

She jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, her chest heaving as she retched. She felt dizzy and her fingers were tingling, and the only thing she could think was that she was exhausting herself, making herself sick with tiredness.

Her chest heaved again and her meager dinner came out of her mouth. She shakily got up and washed her face, pushing her hair out of her teary eyes. The moment she looked in the mirror though, her heart stopped beating.

She was tired, dizzy, and now vomiting, not to mention three days late on her period. Fear--cold, crippling fear--enveloped her and she collapsed onto the tiled floor, pulling her knees against her chest as she began hyperventilating. Her chest rose and fell in rapid breaths and tears flowed down her cheeks.

She had forgotten to go to the doctor. She had been so wrapped up in worry and self pity that she hadn’t done the one thing Jake had asked her to do repeatedly, and now she was pregnant.

Her head fell forward onto her knees and she began crying with the fear in her heart. Her tears spilled over her cheeks and slowly, her fear turned to happiness. She laughed between her sobs and wrapped her arms around her still flat stomach.

She washed up and went to her room on legs that made her feel like she was floating. She felt incredibly light, and wanted to dance around the house. The fact that Jake was a fugitive and was likely to remain so for the rest of his life didn’t matter. She was pregnant and wanted to have the baby with an intensity that she didn’t know she was capable of.

Leone knew she had to confide in her brother. He knew about Jake and was the only person whose support she could rely on.

“Oh my God!” he hissed and covered his face with his palms when she broke the good news.

Her mind was still in the blissful stage of finding out she was pregnant, and she hadn’t begun to worry about the complications. She was thinking of no one --not her father or her mother--all she knew was that she was going to have Jake’s baby.

“How can you be so stupid?” Damon grunted and clutched her shoulders, shaking her out of her reverie.

“I’m happy, Damon. I don’t regret it. Not at all.”

Damon gritted his teeth in frustration at her innocent idea of love and loyalty, and his mind fumed at the jerk who had seduced his little sister.

“Just please do me a favor and don’t break the happy news to Mom just yet,” he said sarcastically. “Let’s figure something out alright? Think it over. I’ll be with you. This can all be taken care of within moments. It’s not that big a deal.”

Leona’s smile faded and she jerked free of her brother’s grip, “If you’re suggesting I abort Jake’s baby, you’ve clearly lost it. I told you because I need your support. I obviously can’t do this alone and Jake won’t be here to help me, but thanks for letting me know your views on
this
!” she cried, using his own term for her pregnancy.

Damon slid his hand over her arm reassuringly, “Look, no matter what you decide I’ll be right here holding your hand and trust me, I’m trying to help you. I’m thinking of what’s best for you right now. Going through pregnancy and raising a kid you’ll have for eighteen years is hard enough. And you won’t have the baby’s father…ever!” he added pointedly, and her heart clenched painfully at his words. “I’m not trying to hurt you, sweetheart. I’m just trying to make you see the truth but still, at the end, I’ll be here no matter what you decide. All I’m saying is, you have to think this through.”

He left and Leona stood rooted to the spot, her heart aching at Damon’s words. She knew he was right, and she knew him enough to know that he was just worried about her. But no matter what he said, there was no way in hell she would let go of Jake’s baby.