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Evelyn
Fear seized my mind in a vise grip before I stirred to full consciousness. Disjointed, horrific memories flickered through my thoughts in a nauseating film reel.
Darkness. Terror. Pain. Hands groping at my body, violating me while I was bound and helpless. Unable to move or scream for help.
George. They wanted to kill my fiancé. They were using me as bait to lure him into a trap.
I jolted upright with a gasp, and pain knifed through my skull. The overly bright world swirled around me, and I fell back onto the pillow.
I was laying on something soft, not damp concrete. My head pounded, but no further agony was inflicted as punishment for my struggles. My hands twitched at my sides, jerking against the phantom restraints that no longer bound me.
“George.” I moaned his name, fear for him saturating my thoughts.
“I’m right here.” His warm, familiar hand settled gently over mine, the barest brush of his palm against my knuckles.
“George.” This time, his name was a harsh sob. I turned my hand so that I could clutch at him, holding on like he was my lifeline.
“You’re safe now,” he promised, his voice tight with suppressed anger.
I blinked hard, forcing my heavy lids to open so that I could find his steady blue gaze. His soft navy eyes filled my world, and I quickly dashed away the sting of tears before my vision blurred. I couldn’t lose sight of him.
My wrist ached as I moved to wipe the wetness from my cheeks, and I noted the thick white bandage that encircled it. I glanced down at our entwined hands and saw that both wrists had been similarly dressed; the wounds inflicted by the cruel cable ties had been treated.
The bright, clinical lighting and slightly harsh, sterile scent in the air told me that I was in a hospital. Not a dank basement.
“You saved me,” I rasped, my throat still hoarse from screaming.
Fine lines of strain tightened around George’s mouth, his expression turning stony. “You’re safe now,” he repeated.
“How did you find me? Those men. They wanted to kill you.” I jolted upright again, wincing at the sudden stab of pain through my skull. I breathed through it and frantically appraised him, searching for signs of injury. “Are you hurt?”
“No, baby. I’m fine.” He reassured me, but he remained tense. I sensed an intangible distance between us, the one that separated our hearts when he was in one of his particularly prickly moods.
“But how…?” I clutched at his hand more tightly, desperate to pull him closer and bridge the invisible barrier between us. “What happened? The last thing I remember…”
I trailed off on a shudder, not wanting to think about the awful ordeal. The phantom taint of the man’s hands pawing at my breasts made my stomach twist, and nausea rolled through me.
George’s long fingers finally gripped mine with equal force. “I need you to tell me what happened,” he said, voice still tight with barely leashed, volatile emotion. “You were late coming home to make dinner, and the next thing I knew, I was getting a phone call saying you’re in the hospital.” He raked a hand through his sandy blond hair. “They told me they found you in a basement with two dead men. Someone put in an anonymous emergency call to get an ambulance to your location. What the hell happened?”
My heart pounded with remembered terror, but I forced my mind to focus on the fear-drenched memories in order to puzzle out my situation. George needed the information so that he could go after the men who’d taken me. He just wanted to protect me.
I reached out and traced the line of his granite jaw, trying to soothe away his tension. “I’m okay,” I promised. “I’m with you now.”
He blew out a long breath and turned his face into my touch, so he could brush a kiss over my palm. “I didn’t know where you were,” he admitted, his voice shaking slightly. “You scared me, baby.”
“I’m okay,” I repeated, drawn to comfort him. I hated the thorny mood that’d created a painful gulf between us. I needed him now more than ever. “Hold me?” I asked, my voice small and embarrassingly weak.
He sighed again and wrapped his arms around me, drawing me into a careful embrace. I shuddered as the residual horror of my ordeal washed through me, and my tears wet his shirt. I buried my face in his chest and clutched at him, weaving my fingers through his thick, wavy hair to hold him close.
His heartbeat was strong and steady beneath my ear, the beat reassuring me.
Alive. George was alive, and so was I.
“What happened, Evie?” he asked, more gently this time.
“I…” I swallowed the acid tang on my tongue and forced myself to remember. “I was on my way home from the university after I finished my classes for the day.”
George’s hand tightened around mine. “I told you not to walk on your own,” he reprimanded.
