Numbers Never Lie (Crimson Romance) (26 page)

Maybe she just didn’t want to see him. No, he couldn’t think like that. She wasn’t the type to avoid someone. If that were the case, she’d tell him outright. There were too many scenarios to consider and his thoughts ping-ponged randomly from one extreme to another. He shook his head, then concentrated on what he knew and could control.

“See you there,” Trevan said and clicked the end button on his cell. He immediately tried calling Sophie again. Voicemail. He shot her a text and waited.

• • •

Sophie’s sides were burning and her breathing was stilted from the kicks in the ribs. The duct tape over her mouth made it even harder to get oxygen by forcing her to breathe through her nose. She watched Callie move nervously around the kitchen, glancing through the curtain periodically looking for stalker boy’s return. Sophie chided herself — if she ever got out of this alive, she’d be a lot more picky about her friends. And a lot less trusting of everyone. Her mom had tried to shelter her from this, unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, she had no desire to live in a bubble without friends, without people to care about. Besides, if she’d been more careful, she would never have met Trevan. Okay, that was probably not true because he sought her out. But maybe she would have figured it out sooner if she’d been less trusting, and maybe she wouldn’t have been so susceptible to all his grouchy, angry, funny, sexy charm. If that was what it was called. It wasn’t doing her any good right now, though. He was nowhere to be found and didn’t even know she was here. So much for keeping her safe. She was on her own right now and always had been.

“Why is it, Sophie,” Callie started talking to her without even looking her way, “that you have everything handed to you so easily and you do nothing with it? You don’t even appreciate it.” The bitterness dripped from her voice.

What the hell is she talking about? Sophie wondered. I’ve worked since I was fifteen and earned everything I have, except the trust fund, which he only gave me so he could feel better about not being there all those years. She’s crazy. Maybe Dad is a nice guy, who knows. I never really had the chance to find out. If I survive this, maybe I’ll work on that. Maybe.

Bam. Bam. Bam.
Someone was beating on the door in the other room. Callie gave her a frown, placing her finger over her lips to signal Sophie to be quiet. “Just a minute!” she shouted.

“Callie, open the door.” Trevan’s voice.
Thank God.

“Coming,” she called.

Callie opened the door and slipped outside. “Well, hello there, Trevor. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Is Sophie here?” He tried to look past her but Callie closed the door.

“No. I haven’t seen her. What’s up?”

“Where’s your boyfriend?” His voice boomed.

“He left a couple of hours ago. I haven’t seen him since.”

Sophie could hear him from the other room, could feel him. She knew he was out there but this damn tape made it impossible to call him. She tried to scream, just a muffled murmur. She had to get him to notice. Somehow. She rocked the chair back and forth, back and forth. One more time back and forth and she felt it teeter backward. Yes! She crashed to the floor, hitting the shelves behind her, and knocking everything down on top of her. Ouch. She grunted. Surely he heard that!

“What the hell was that?” She heard his growl. She tried again to scream his name. Instead, she kicked and scuffled, hearing the jangle and scrape of broken glass around her. “Sophie?” His voice. Thank God for his voice. She wanted to run to him. She watched the opening as the gun preceded him. His face was scrunched in fury. Callie said something behind him and he flashed a look over his shoulder briefly, then screamed, “Get the fuck back!” as he swung the gun around for a moment to punctuate his words.

As he came around the corner into the kitchen, he looked around. His glazed look softened as his eyes landed on a pile of broken glass over a pile of dark curls and a body taped to a chair — and big, brown, macadamia nut shaped eyes looking at him. She saw a huge burst of relief flow across his face. He checked the remaining rooms. No one else was in the apartment. Callie had heeded his warning and stayed outside as Trev moved back into the kitchen and knelt down to help Sophie. As he ripped the tape from Sophie’s mouth, the stalker eased quietly close behind him. Sophie’s expression changed to fear. She motioned behind him but it was too late.

“Don’t move!” a male voice surprised him. “Put the gun down and don’t move, or I’ll shoot her.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The boyfriend. Trevan looked into Sophie’s eyes and placed his gun in front of her on the floor. He smiled softly and slowly raised his hands up for the man behind him to see.
No … sorry, you’re not going to shoot her. No way.
He hoped she knew what he was thinking and knew what to do. She should. They’d practiced enough. If she had to, he expected her to use the gun. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to. He nodded and once more looked into her eyes at the reflection of the man behind him, holding a gun to Callie’s head.

“Turn around so I can see you.”

Trevan slowly turned around. “Destin James, I’m Trevan Prater. I’m a federal agent. You really don’t want to do this.” He was glad to at least have the guy’s name from his staff before he’d arrived. He didn’t know a lot more but it helped to act as if the guy was an open book. It gave him a sense of command in a completely out of control situation.

“Shut up.” Destin’s eyes darted around as he pointed the gun at Trevan, then back at Callie.

“If you stop now, you’re in pretty good shape,” Trev said softly. “Let’s end this right now, Destin. Let’s just stop it, and everyone’s okay. Don’t do anything stupid. It’ll only make things worse. I don’t know what all this is about but we can work it out.”

“What part of ‘shut up’ did you not understand?” Destin shoved the gun in his face and cocked it sideways. He was off balance, and that was the only opportunity Trevan would get. He lunged forward, pushing the gun up out of his face and ramming his body against both Destin and Callie. The gun went off, a loud boom amongst their scuffle, then one more slam and Trevan broke it free and it fell to the ground. He kicked it away and rammed again to knock Destin down. Trevan’s fist slammed into Destin’s ribs. Once. Twice.

Callie crawled away from them trying to get free from Trevan’s fists and Destin’s boots. She scrambled toward the abandoned firearm Trev had kicked aside. Out of the corner of his eye, Trev glanced sideways at her movements but concentrated on Destin. He had rolled Destin over on his stomach and was yanking his hands out from under him. He had the full weight of his body anchoring the guy down so movement was limited.

Sophie felt a series of sharp tugs and looked down to see a knife cutting tape away from her legs. Callie worked roughly, not concerned about nicking her legs. She rushed to get her free. She had the gun in her hand. The anger glazed in her eyes like a volcano ready to erupt. Her concentration flashed back and forth between Trevan and Sophie. When the tape was hacked away, Callie yanked Sophie from the floor and started dragging her away. Out of the kitchen toward the door. She jammed the gun to Sophie’s temple. Sophie watched the distance to Trevan increase.

“Don’t do it,” Trevan yelled. “Callie, you’re one step away from being in prison for life. Is that what you want?”

“Shut up.”

Trevan still had to cuff Destin and couldn’t move. His weapon was on the floor. He slipped the cuffs on Destin’s hands, shoving his knee in his back as he lifted himself to get his gun. His eyes were locked on Callie and he didn’t glance away as he backed toward his gun on the floor where he’d left it with Sophie.

“Don’t move, Trevor. I have no qualms about using this gun.” As if to punctuate her remarks, Callie waved the gun against Sophie’s head and yanked her arms back as they moved more quickly toward the door.

“Okay, okay.” He held his hands toward them. “I’m not moving, but Callie, you’re not getting out of here. My entire department is outside.”

“Really? Then why did I only hear one siren?” she challenged.

He knew they were on the way and should be onsite in seconds.

As Callie and Sophie backed out of his view, he reached behind for his firearm but didn’t feel it. He patted around on the floor. It wasn’t there. He looked. Nothing. He had to stop Callie, but had no way to do so.
Don’t let her leave, he thought. If she leaves the building, Sophie’s chances are gone.

Trevan lunged toward them, just as a shot rang out. Callie had aimed the gun toward the kitchen entrance, expecting him to follow. A sharp sting pierced his chest He looked down. Damn, she’d got him. Callie used the opportunity to shove Sophie out the door and drag her to the elevator.

Trevan’s vest was on. He didn’t worry about the small hole in his shirt. He kept following them, walking slowly so he didn’t aggravate Callie into firing again. He focused only on the two girls. There was panic in Sophie’s eyes. But there was also Trevan’s handgun tucked into her waistband, out of view from Callie. The sound of sirens was muffled by Callie’s voice as she screamed orders. “Stay back!” The elevator opened and the two of them entered it. “You know I’ll use this. You know I will. Stay out of this and keep your people back.”

“I can’t. I won’t. You’re not getting out of here with her, Callie. Give it up. You’re not getting out.”

“Yes, I am. And if I don’t, she won’t, either.”

She meant it. There was nothing sane left in her expression. She’d kill Sophie if she had to. The elevator doors closed and Trevan was standing alone in the landing. He looked around, panicked, and saw the stairwell. He rammed through the door and flung himself down the stairs. He hit speed dial for Nate.

When Nate picked up, he didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Callie has Sophie in the elevator with a gun to her head. She’s already shot at me so don’t take a chance. She will use the gun.”

Trevan bolted down the stairs. He felt jabbing pain in his shoulder as he moved, but kept going. He leaped over the trashcans and slammed out the door, racing toward the elevator in the entry. Two shots rang out from inside the elevator.
Oh, God, no!

The doors opened. Callie stood over Sophie, sprawled on the floor holding Trevan’s weapon up with two, tape-covered hands. Sophie looked up at Trevan, just as one more shot rang out from the gun in her taped hands.

Nate had arrived. Callie slumped to the floor in the elevator. Sophie scrambled on her back to get away from her. Trev lunged into the elevator and removed the handgun from Callie’s hands. No need. She was dead.

Trev and Sophie both shifted their eyes to the front door of the building, where Nate stood with firearm drawn. “How’d you get here so fast, man?” Nate asked. “I was probably five blocks closer.” He scrunched up his face as he glanced at Trev then down at Trev’s shoulder. “Oh, man.”

“Good Karma, I guess … and driving like a bat out of hell. The guy is upstairs in her apartment. Can you take care of him?”

“Is he dead, too?”

“No. Very much alive. He needs to be taken in.”

Trevan sat down on the floor and dragged Sophie in against him. “You okay?” he said, his voice a little gruff with emotion. She dropped the handgun and collapsed against him.

“I wondered when you’d get here.”

“Sorry I’m late.”

Sophie put her arms around him and he winced slightly at her touch, startling her. She reared back and looked at him. “You’re bleeding.” She touched the spot on his shoulder, a dark wet stain that oozed thick blood.

“Yeah, she missed the damn vest.” He looked down, frowning. “It’s a straight through, should heal okay. You did good there, Henry.” He motioned his head to the elevator. He paused to catch his breath. “But you scared the shit out of me. Anything else I need to know about? You know, maybe another psycho-stalker, angry ex, or something?”

“Not that I know of, but things are changing every day.” She gave him a wry wink and smiled, even though her hands trembled.

Trevan felt a little giddy. No, that wasn’t it, not giddy. Crap! The hole in his shirt was surrounded with an ever-increasing blood stain. He slid down backward on the floor and closed his eyes. “Need to … rest … a … minute,” he whispered.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Four weeks later, Sophie pulled across the cattle guard to Trevan’s ranch house in her blue Dodge, her tires crunched down the gravel trail until she reached the front of the house. She didn’t see his car but there was a Jeep and a Toyota SUV parked in the front of the house. She’d taken a big chance coming here. She worried that she’d made a mistake. Several times during the drive over, fleeting thoughts that she should turn around came into the foggy plan to surprise him, but she quelled them and continued. She had to at least try. As she tapped on the door, she listened for sounds inside. Silence. She decided to walk around the back and check outside.

The yard was greening up from the rain, making it even more beautiful than she remembered. As she walked out to the end of the courtyard to look at the pool, she couldn’t help but feel a little rush of appreciation. He had added on to the pool. On the opposite side of the pool, a lattice wall flanked the far side and circled halfway around the area where the pool chairs sat. It came up about ten feet and a slatted wood and lattice trellis covered the top. The end result shaded the shallow end of the water and blocked the view to the hills from that side, but left the deep end with a spectacular view. Guess he decided he needed a little more privacy. Just as the grin broke free from Sophie’s worried mouth, she heard voices and turned toward the sound.

Her eyes landed on Trevan, tall and lanky, sitting atop Blackie and coming toward her. His faded T-shirt stretched across the muscled arms. He talked to a shapely, dark haired girl. Sophie watched him playfully squirt water on her and she noticed that under the white T-shirt, the woman wore the swimsuit Sophie had used when she was here.
Oh my god. He’s brought someone else here and they’re out riding
. She whirled around and rushed toward the house, grabbing her bag from the chair by the firepit and digging in it for her car keys. She couldn’t look up. Had he seen her? She rushed around the side of the house trying to get to her car and leave.
How stupid! I should not have come. This was a crazy idea. What was I thinking!