December 19^th

 

 

10:52 A.M.

 

This was the worst part of her job.

Hayley Hood loved being a social worker. She loved being able to make a difference in the lives of children who were unfortunate enough to not get the start in life they deserved. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else with her life.

Except on days like today.

On days like today when she was going to remove a five-year-old girl from the only home she had ever known, her job really sucked.

You’re doing the right thing.

There were some days when she needed that reminder.

Just because she knew she was doing the right thing—the only thing she could do under these circumstances—it didn't make it any easier.

Kinsley Turner would be traumatized. She wouldn’t understand, she would cry, and beg for her mommy and daddy even if they had been hurting her. But Kinsley had to be removed from her home, after what they suspected her father had done, she couldn’t remain there. They had to take her somewhere she would be safe.

Hayley would make it as easy as possible for the child, and maybe one day Kinsley would accept that it had been for the best.

But that day wouldn’t be today.

Today, she would mourn the loss of her family.

She pulled her car to the curb outside a small, dilapidated two-story house. The yard was a mess as was the car parked in the drive. The house was rented to Jay and Maria Turner. Jay had been in and out of prison on a myriad of domestic violence and alcohol-related charges and was currently unemployed and living on welfare. Maria hadn't held a job for longer than a couple of weeks, mostly due to constantly having to take time off to heal from the injuries inflicted on her by her husband.

A police cruiser pulled in behind her car, and a little reluctantly, Hayley climbed out of her own car. Taking a child from their home was bad enough, but doing it just a few days before Christmas was so much worse. Right now, Kinsley should be getting excited about the impending visit from Santa Claus. She should be thinking of flying reindeer, twinkling Christmas trees, and opening presents on Christmas morning.

Instead, she would be spending the holidays in a foster home.

If she was lucky a good one, if she wasn't then possibly a place worse than the one they were about to remove her from.

“You ready to do this, Hayley?” Detective Adam Abram asked as he and his partner climbed out of the car. Adam was a couple of years older than her, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was a good cop and a nice guy, and they had worked together a few times before. Adam’s partner was Jessica Spears, a year older than her, she had frizzy red hair and large green eyes, and while Hayley didn't have a lot of friends, she definitely counted Jessica amongst them.

“I guess so,” she answered Adam’s question.

“You know this is for the best,” Jessica said, shrugging into her coat as she rounded the car.

“I know. Kinsley can't stay here, she’s in danger, but that doesn’t make this any easier to do.”

Both detectives gave her sympathetic looks. They knew her past, everyone knew about her past and why she had decided to become a social worker. She knew better than most people did what it was like to be a child in a bad home. She had been one of the lucky ones, she’d been adopted and grown up in a wonderful home with amazing parents and a fabulous extended family.

Hayley prayed that Kinsley would be as lucky.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she muttered as she shrugged into her coat and followed the cops up the concrete path to the front of the Turner’s house.

This wasn't the first time she had removed a child from their home, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last, but she hadn't gotten used to doing it. She probably never would. There had been some children she’d had to drag away kicking and screaming and crying for their parents, the cuts and bruises from being beaten by those very same parents still fresh on their little bodies.

Jessica rapped on the door, and the three of them waited in silence.

The wait amped up her agitation, and by the time the door was finally opened, her hands were shaking so much she had to clutch them together so nobody noticed.

“Mr. Turner, I’m Detective Abram, and this is my partner Detective Spears. This is Hayley Hood, she’s a social worker, we’re here to take Kinsley,” Adam announced.

Jay Turner just stared at them but even from a couple of feet away Hayley could feel his anger.

Not just anger.

Fury.

They already knew what this man was capable of. He wasn't to be underestimated. Adam and Jessica knew that, and she noticed that both of them had their hands hovering over their weapons.

“You can’t take my kid,” Jay snarled at them. He was drunk, she could see it in his face, hear it in his voice, and smell it on his breath.

“We can, sir,” Jessica informed him, holding out the paperwork. “Based on your daughter’s statement, the bruises that were seen on her body, and the suspicious nature of your older daughter’s death, we are removing Kinsley from your custody at least until the conclusion of this investigation.”

“You can’t take my kid,” Jay repeated, making no move to take the paperwork she offered.

“Please step back, sir,” Adam said. “Don’t make this worse for Kinsley than it’s already going to be.”

“We will handcuff you, Mr. Turner, if you don’t step back, and if necessary, we will arrest you,” Jessica warned.

With another glower, Jay Turner finally snatched the papers from her hand and took a step back allowing the three of them to enter the house. Inside, the house wasn't any cleaner or tidier than the outside had been. Ripped carpet, peeling wallpaper, piles of garbage littered about, dirty laundry scattered on the floor and the table, filthy dishes piled high in the kitchen sink.

There was a small, tattered Christmas tree in the corner, and Maria Turner stood beside it, Kinsley in her arms.

Jessica nodded at her. “You get Kinsley,” the cop directed.

Shooting Jay Turner a wary look, she walked further into the house and over to the mother and daughter. “Hey, sweetie.” She gave the little girl what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “My name is Hayley. You're going to come with me for a little while, okay?”

“How come?” the child asked. Although too thin for her age, Kinsley was a pretty little girl. She had long brown hair that had been pulled into two messy braids and large, long-lashed, blue eyes, and a light smattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks.

“Well, my friends, Detective Abram and Detective Spears have to sort things out with your daddy and your mommy, and it’s better if you're not here while they do that.”

“Oh,” Kinsley said.

“Hey, I have a great big, cuddly teddy bear in the car waiting for you,” she told the little girl. She always brought along something for the children she removed from their homes. It wasn't something she had to do for her job, just something she wanted to do for these kids.

“Can I keep him?” Kinsley asked, all excited.

“Sure can, that’s why I brought him. Come here.” She reached out to take the child, and Maria Turner took a step back. Leaning in close she whispered in the woman’s ear, “Don’t make her see you handcuffed with a gun pointed at you.” Reluctantly, the girl’s mother released her grip on her daughter, and Hayley took the child, balancing her on her hip and heading for the door.

“Right behind you,” Adam told her as she stepped outside.

Hayley nodded and hurried for the car. Kinsley wasn't wearing a coat, and she wanted to get the child out of the cold as quickly as she could. “So, what are you going to name your teddy bear?”

“What color is he?” Kinsley asked.

“He’s brown.”

“Is he a boy or a girl?”

“Whatever you want?”

“I think it’s a …” Kinsley trailed off, obviously deciding. “A boy.”

“Okay,” Hayley said as she put the little girl into the car seat and began to buckle her in.

“I think his name should be Brownie because Leah and I used to make brownies sometimes,” she said as she picked up the bear and held him in her lap.

“That’s a great name.” She smiled at the child, who was holding up extremely well considering she had just been taken from her parents. “I’m just going to close your door and get into the driver’s seat, then I’m going to take you to the house you’ll stay in for the next few days, okay? Once we get there we can play for a bit, and there’ll be lots of other kids for you to play with too.”

“Will I have my own bed?” Kinsley asked.

“Yep, you sure will.”

“Leah and I used to share a bed.”

“At this house you and Brownie will be able to share a bed, just the two of you.”

Kinsley nodded, and Hayley straightened and closed the door. She was just walking around the car when she heard footsteps pounding toward her. Just as she turned to see what it was, a large body slammed into her, knocking her backward, then landing on top of her as they both went sprawling onto the pavement.

It was Jay Turner, screaming obscenities as he swung a fist at her, connecting with the side of her head hard enough that she saw stars.

He raised his fist again, but before he could deliver a second blow, he was knocked sideways by Adam. Jessica knelt at her side, helping her up. Maria Turner stood in the doorway of her house, crying. Kinsley Turner sat in the backseat of her car, crying, and as the cold wind blew and her cheeks stung Hayley realized that she was crying too.

She had certainly been right when she thought this visit would end in tears.

 

* * * * *

 

1:04 P.M.

 

Brian Xander paced nervously up and down Hayley’s front porch.

When he’d heard what had happened at the Turner house, he dropped everything and came straight here. Hayley was a great kid, and he hated that she had been hurt.

No.

Not a kid.

She was no longer the quiet, shy little girl who cried a lot. The little girl who was like an old woman in a small child’s body was gone. In her place was a beautiful young woman who was smart, compassionate, and adored her job.

A job that could have gotten her killed.

That terrified him.

The two of them had been friends for so long. He’d been eleven and Hayley five when she was adopted by close family friends, so they had pretty much grown up together. Their families had gone on vacation together several times, and they’d spent holidays together—Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July. She had always been a part of his life, and he didn't want anything to ever change that.

Good friends could be hard to find and once you had found one you wanted to hold onto them and never let them go.

“Where is she?” he muttered aloud.

With a grandfather who was a cop, and two uncles who had also joined the police force, Brian couldn’t deny that he had been tempted to follow in their footsteps. His father was a doctor, and there had also been the temptation to follow him into the medical field.

Instead, he had found a compromise between cop and doctor. He had completed medical school and come to work with his Uncle Ryan and Hayley’s mother Paige Hood who were three-way partners, along with Brady Crowley, in a private security firm. They had thought that having a doctor as part of their team would be good for when they had to deal with clients who had been injured, but because they were in danger and in need of a bodyguard, it wasn't safe for them to go to a hospital.

Since he often worked in dangerous situations, he was a trained bodyguard. He knew how to shoot a gun and hit his target, he was trained in self-defense and martial arts. He worked on a case-to-case basis so because he sometimes had stretches of free time, he also volunteered his services at a free clinic and at the center for abused women and children that his aunt and some family friends ran together. It made for a busy life and a lot of patients with a range of different physical and psychological conditions.

Right now, there was one patient in particular he wanted to see.

Hayley.

Brian yanked his phone from his pocket and punched in Hayley’s name. He was just about to press call when her car pulled into the driveway.

He had crossed the yard in five steps and was pulling open her door before she had even turned off the engine. “Are you okay?” he demanded, perhaps a little more forcefully than he should have but his heart hadn't stopped hammering in his chest since he’d heard what had happened.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I asked first,” he snapped.

Hayley laughed. “Okay then, well if we’re still nine and we’re still doing that then, yes, I'm okay. Now, your turn.”

“I'm here to see you,” he replied like it was obvious. Why else would he have stopped what he was doing and come right over?

“Why?” Hayley reached over and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat, then gently nudged him out of the way so she could get out of the car.

“Why?” he spluttered. “Because I can see a lump on the side of your head from here.”

“Didn't my mom tell you I went to the hospital?”

He trailed her back to the front porch, so close on her heels he was practically attached to her.

“I didn't think I needed to go,” Hayley continued, unlocking the door. “But Adam and Jessica insisted. They called another social worker to take Kinsley Turner to a group home, then they took Jay Turner down to the station and booked him while I went to the hospital. You know that I don’t have a concussion or anything.” She turned to look at him. “I wanted to go back to work and check on Kinsley, but my boss made me take the rest of the day off.”

That should have reassured him.

But it didn't.

The only thing that was going to reassure him was checking Hayley out himself.

“Go and sit down,” he ordered.

“What?” Her large blue eyes widened even further at his sharp tone.

Great. He was scaring her. Last thing he wanted to do after the day she’d had. Brian forced himself to calm down. “Please,” he said deliberately gentling his voice. “I just want to examine you.”

“The doctor at the hospital already did,” she reminded him.

That wasn't enough for him right now. “Please.”

Obviously reading his desperation, she shot him a reassuring smile. “Okay, if it will make you feel better.”

“It will.” He took her elbow, closed and locked the door behind them, and guided her into the living room and down onto the couch. He sat beside her and picked up her wrist to take her pulse. Which was normal. Pulling a stethoscope from his bag he pressed it to Hayley’s chest. Her breathing and heart rate were also normal.

Taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger he tilted her face to the side so that he could examine the lump on her head. Looking at it gave him a lump in his throat. Hayley was lucky that she hadn't been knocked out when that lunatic had attacked her for simply doing her job. He probed the bump as gently as he could. When Hayley winced, he let his fingertips trail down the side of her cheek.

“You were lucky,” he murmured.

“I was,” she agreed, her voice soft and a little distant.

“Were you hurt anywhere else?” Brian asked, his gaze still locked on the lump on the side of Hayley’s head.

“A couple of bruises from hitting the ground when he knocked me down. Really, it’s nothing. I'm fine.”

“Fine,” he echoed.

Slowly his eyes moved from the bump up to meet Hayley’s eyes that were watching his every move.

For some reason his gaze dropped to her lips.

Kiss.

The word flew into his mind.

That was the last thing he’d been expecting.

You didn't kiss the friend you’d had since you were eleven.

It was wrong.

Wrong.

Definitely wrong.

And yet it didn't stop him from wanting to do it.

“Brian? Is something wrong?”

The words startled him, and he jerked away from her, dropping his hands to his sides.

Hurt flashed momentarily through Hayley’s eyes, but she masked it well. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said briskly, shoving the stethoscope back into his bag. “I was just thinking how glad I was that Adam and Jessica were there and Adam was able to get Jay Turner off you as quickly as he did before he could inflict any more damage.”

“That’s why they were there, in case anything goes wrong. It was the first time I've ever needed the help,” Hayley said, her own tone brisk. “Are you convinced that I'm all right now?”

“Yes.” He offered her a small smile. “Sorry, I just got a scare when I heard what happened. It’s not that I don’t trust the doctors at the hospital, it’s just that when it’s your friend you kind of want to be sure.”

“Don’t worry I won't tell your dad you didn't trust him to do his job,” she smiled, but it seemed strained.

“Dad? Why was my dad the trauma surgeon treating you in the ER?”

“Because it’s Mark and he likes to be in control, kind of like you do,” she teased.

“I guess I can be kind of a control freak sometimes,” he agreed a little sheepishly. Bossiness kind of ran in his family. While his Uncle Jack was well known as the bossy one of the three Xander brothers, they had definitely all been painted with the same brush. As the oldest, not just of his siblings, but the oldest of all the cousins as well, he had received the biggest dose. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, it’s kind of sweet, and I guess friends just worry about friends.” She shot him another strained smile then stood. “Not to push you out the door or anything, but I have a headache, and your dad said I should try to get some rest so I’m going to go lie down for a while.”

“If you have a concussion you shouldn’t go to sleep here alone.”

“Then it’s lucky I don’t have a concussion. Really, Brian, there is no need to worry.” She unlocked the door and held it open.

Gathering his bag, he stood and walked out the door, pausing on the porch. “I’m going to call in an hour to check on you.”

“It’s really not necessary.”

“Necessary or not, I’m going to call in an hour to check on you. Sweet dreams, Hayley.”

He could feel her eyes on him as he walked down the garden path and to his car parked on the street outside her house. It wasn't until he had driven off down the road that he realized his heart was still hammering in his chest.

Only now it was for a whole other reason.

Wrong thing to do or not, he still wanted to kiss Hayley Hood.

 

* * * * *

 

4:19 P.M.

 

“Are you okay?” Sophie Xander asked without preamble as she rapped on the door, and her best friend Hayley opened it.

“I wish people would stop asking me that.” Hayley sighed.

“I think when you’re attacked at work and get taken to the hospital in an ambulance it’s a reasonable question,” she said wryly. She and Hayley had been friends since they were five years old, making it twenty years next year. In some ways it felt like just yesterday that they were two little girls and she had made it her mission in life to help Hayley adjust to a normal life and a normal family after the horrible start in life she’d had. In other ways, it felt like they had already lived a lifetime in those twenty years.

“I suppose,” Hayley conceded.

“Who else has been asking you that? I mean, besides the doctors.”

“Are you going to stand out there on the porch in the cold all afternoon?” Hayley asked, ushering her inside.

Sophie smirked. “I bet I can guess who.”

“Oh yeah?” Hayley asked all innocent as she went and sat on the couch where she had obviously been curled up with a book until Sophie had arrived.

“Don’t play that innocent act with me.” Sophie went and joined her on the couch. Picking up a cookie from the plate, she nibbled on the corner of the gingerbread man’s arm. “From the way your cheeks went all bright pink the second I mentioned who else had been asking how you were it is a dead giveaway that Brian was here earlier.”

“He dropped by for a moment,” Hayley acknowledged, refusing to meet her eye.

“I knew it.” Sophie clapped her hands delightedly. Her best friend had had a crush on Sophie’s oldest cousin for the last decade at least. Brian was her Uncle Mark’s oldest son and was six years older than her and Hayley. Her friend thought that Brian saw her as nothing but a kid, a friend and nothing more. Sophie wasn't so sure though. She saw a spark between them. All Brian needed to do was take off his friends glasses and see Hayley for the beautiful, smart woman she was. Not a kid any longer.

“It’s nothing to be so excited about.”

“Are you kidding?” Sophie exclaimed. “Brian drops whatever he was doing to rush straight over here to make sure you were okay, that is totally romantic.”

“It might have been,” Hayley said slowly, “if he hadn't made a point of saying that he was only here to check on a friend.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?” That was crazy, both of them were crazy. Hayley should just tell Brian how she feels, and Brian should just open his eyes and see that Hayley wasn't a kid anymore and that they would be perfect for one another.

“It’s what he said.”

“It might be what he said but how did he say it?”

Hayley’s blue eyes went far away, and her friend didn't need to say anything to answer that question.

“He said it like there was something more to it, didn't he?” Sophie asked.

“Not exactly.”

“But,” she prompted when Hayley didn't continue. Her tone said there was more she wanted to say but hadn't. They were best friends, they told each other everything, always, no holding back, no secrets. Over the years, they had shared everything from their fears and anxieties to their crushes and their highest highs and lowest lows.

“He said he came because he wanted to check me out. He took my pulse, then listened to my chest, then he looked at the lump on my head, and I don’t know, his face, it looked like he felt something. And then our eyes, they kind of locked, and I was sure he was thinking about kissing me. But he didn't. He just said that he was glad Adam and Jessica had been there and that he was here to check on me because that was what friends did.”

“You thought he wanted to kiss you though?” So many times she had wanted to just tell her cousin that Hayley liked him, but she had promised her friend she wouldn’t, and they always kept their promises to each other.

“I thought so,” Hayley hedged. “But it’s not like I’m an expert in men.”

“And I am?” Sophie huffed a mirthless chuckle.

“At least you’ve been in love before.”

“Yeah, and that worked out so well.” She had been in love—or at least thought she had been—twice before, and both times the boys had turned out to be killers. After the second time, she had sworn off relationships. That was nearly ten years ago, and she hadn't dated since.

Nor did she ever see herself dating.

Her heart just couldn’t take another beating like that again.

Being single might be lonely, but at least it was safe.

After some of the things she’d been through, safe was nothing to be sneezed at.

“I’m sorry, Soph.” Hayley reached out for her hand. “That wasn't nice of me to bring that up.”

“It’s okay.”

“No. It’s not. I know you’re still not over it, but I hope that one day you will be. I don’t want to see you end up alone because of two guys who didn't deserve you. They didn't even deserve to live.”

And one of them hadn't.

One of them was dead now, the other in prison, but the scars they had left behind were still fresh and raw, and Sophie wasn't sure they would ever fade enough for her to be able to move forward with her life.

“I love you, Soph, you know that. You know I’m always here for you,” Hayley said.

“I know you are, but I want you to be happy. Just because I can't move on doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. You should tell Brian how you feel.”

“I can't.” Hayley dropped her gaze to her lap.

“You can,” she contradicted.

Hayley just shook her head.

They were still holding hands, and Sophie lifted them up so Hayley could see the small stump on each of their hands where their pinkie fingers had been before they’d been chopped off by a psychopath out for revenge against their parents. “If you’re strong enough to survive this then you’re strong enough to do anything. Even take a giant leap of faith and find out if you and Brian could work out.”

“That was different,” Hayley protested. “That was survival. When we were in that basement, we did what we had to do. Just like before I was adopted, my sisters and I did what we had to to survive. This isn’t the same.”

“Yes, it is. This is survival too, just a different kind of surviving. You deserve all the happiness in the world, Hayley. You were abducted as an infant, grew up in a house with a monster who abused his other victims, and would have done the same to you when you were older. You want what your parents have, and if Brian is the one then you should do something about it. Do you want to let fear hold you back and watch him fall in love with someone else? Do you want to miss out on your chance? Your family and mine are friends. Can you spend the rest of your life watching him with someone else knowing that maybe you two could have been together?”

“No,” Hayley said softly.

“Then do something about it.”

“I’ll think about it if you do the same. If I can overcome the messed-up stuff that’s happened to me then you can too. You were right there with me in that basement, and you survived. You’ve survived every horrible thing life has thrown at you, which means you're strong enough to find a way to put it behind you and find happiness. We’ll do it together. Deal?”

Hayley was wrong.

She wasn't strong.

What life had thrown at her had cut too deep.

Sophie didn't know how to move on.

She wasn't even sure it was possible.

But if Hayley needed to hear her say that she would so she could give herself permission to be happy then she’d agree to the deal.

“Deal,” Sophie said, lying to her best friend for the very first time. “So, tell me about the case that started this mess.” She pulled her hand from Hayley’s and gestured at the large lump on the side of her friend’s face.

“Thirteen-year-old Leah Turner was found dead under suspicious circumstances. Then her five-year-old sister drew a picture at school that made her teachers concerned. They spoke with her and found bruises on her back. We were called in, and I was the one assigned to the case. There was definitely cause to remove the child from the home, and with the father’s violent history we were worried that it wouldn’t go smoothly. And it didn't.”

“Understatement of the century,” Sophie said with a small laugh. She’d had enough of talking about the deep stuff for one day. Hayley stood a chance at having happiness if she would just tell Brian that she liked him, that was all that mattered. “How’s the little girl doing?”

As she listened to Hayley talk about Kinsley Turner, she felt herself relax.

Safe really wasn't so bad.

Really.

It wasn't.

 

* * * * *

 

7:32 P.M.

 

Something woke her.

Hayley blinked and groggily opened her eyes.

It was dark, and she couldn’t remember where she was.

She wasn't lying in her bed, and from the shadows surrounding her it looked like she had fallen asleep on one of the couches in the living room. After Sophie had left, she’d intended to just rest her tired eyes for a couple of minutes then go and cook something to eat, take a long, hot shower, and go to bed. Exhaustion from the day’s events must have gotten the best of her, and she’d fallen asleep.

Yawning, she reached over to the coffee table and fumbled about for her cell phone. When her fingers brushed against it, she picked it up and glanced at the time. Seven thirty, she’d been asleep for almost two hours. It was really too early to go to bed, but she was tired, and she had a headache, so may as well head upstairs.

There was a missed call on her phone.

Brian.

He’d called once already—just like he’d told her he would—while Sophie was still here which had started up round two of her friend’s lecture about telling Brian how she felt about him. She must have slept right through the second call. It was a wonder he hadn't driven back over here and battered down her door to check up on her.

It had been almost fifteen minutes since his call. If she called him back now, she’d probably preempt another visit. It wasn’t that she didn't want to see Brian it was just that she was too tired right now to deal with that.

Hayley was just about to dial when she heard a thump, then the sound of shattering glass.

Startled, she staggered to her feet.

What was going on?

Was it one of her windows that had just broken?

A bird flying into it?

No, it was winter, already well past dark, and the birds had already settled for the night.

Something else had broken her window.

Cell phone still in hand, Hayley was running toward the back of the house where it sounded like the window had broken when her front window shattered.

Whatever had been thrown through the window was on fire.

Flames danced about and quickly latched onto her carpet.

She looked down in the direction the other window had broken and saw the orange glow of fire.

Someone was throwing rocks wrapped in material soaked in something flammable and set alight into her house.

Twice.

This wasn't an accident.

Another rock shattered her other front window, and Hayley ran upstairs. Flames were consuming the downstairs of her house far too quickly, and someone was out there who was trying to kill her, so even if she got out the door, she wasn't safe. At least upstairs she could hide out until help arrived.

Help.

She had her phone and quickly dialed 911 reporting the fire and that the cops were needed as well.

“Hayley.”

Someone called her name, but it wasn't a voice she recognized. Hayley moved to her bedroom window, and when she looked out her heart dropped.

Jay Turner stood in her front yard.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why he was here and what he wanted.

He was here to kill her.

She had taken his daughter away, and now he was going to take her life away. The cops and fire department would be on their way, but it would be a few minutes at least before they arrived.

She might not make it out of this house alive.

Brian.

Her mind immediately flew to Brian and a need to tell him goodbye filled her. As much as she loved her parents, her little sister, her best friend, and the rest of her family, there was only one person she couldn’t die without talking to one last time.

“Not such a tough girl now, are you,” Jay Turner mocked. Even from up here, she could see the smirk on his face and the malevolent glint in his eyes.

Determined not to give him what he wanted, Hayley stepped away from the window so he couldn’t see her anymore. Quickly she dialed Brian’s number.

“You missed my call,” he said as soon as he answered.

“Brian,” she whimpered, it was all she could get out. Smoke was slowly starting to infiltrate the upstairs, and as much as she tried to keep it together, she could feel herself starting to unravel.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, reading the fear in her voice.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she fought them back. Just a couple of hours ago she and Sophie had been talking about her past. She had survived more in her twenty-four years than most people would in an entire lifetime, and she wanted to believe she could survive this too, but she wasn't sure.

“Hayley? What’s going on?”

“Jay Turner is here,” she murmured. It was silly, she knew he couldn’t hear her, he was outside in her front yard, but still she felt the need to be quiet.

“What do you mean? Where? At your house?”

“In my yard.”

“Call the cops,” he said, sounding more panicked than she felt.

“I did. He’s—” she broke off as her bedroom window shattered when another rock came through it.

“What was that?” Brian asked, having obviously heard the breaking glass.

“He’s throwing rocks wrapped in material that he set on fire into my house,” she said, backing away from the burning rock that had landed on her bed and set it on fire.

“There’s nowhere to hide, Hayley,” Jay shouted from outside.

“Get out of there. Now,” Brian ordered in her ear.

“There’s nowhere to go,” she said. “The downstairs is already alight. I came upstairs to wait for the fire department, but now it’s burning too. Even if I get outside, he’s out there.”

Brian muttered what sounded like a curse. “The garage,” he said.

“What about it?”

“If you go out the spare bedroom window you can get onto the garage roof. Is Jay Turner in your front yard or back yard?”

“Front.”

“Jump off the garage down into the back yard. If you can distract him somehow, make him think you’re still in the house then he won't even notice. He should run as soon as he hears sirens. He’s already in a lot of trouble, he’s not going to want to get caught setting fire to your house.”

“How do I distract him?” she asked. Her mom was the cop, not her, she didn't know what to do in a situation like this.

“Do you still have the mannequin?”

“Yes.”

“Put it in the window in the bathroom, he’ll think you're in there, then get out the spare bedroom window as quickly as you can.”

“Okay,” she agreed. There was so much she wanted to say, but she felt overwhelmed. She’d had a crush on Brian Xander since she was nine years old. So many times she had wanted to tell him how she felt but had been afraid because she knew he thought of her as just a kid, then as they’d gotten older just a friend.

Just as she was about to say something she heard the sound of another window being broken.

It had to be the other bedroom window.

The one in the room she wanted to escape through.

She didn't have any time left.

“Goodbye, Brian,” she said, and hung up before he could say anything else. Then she shoved her phone into her pocket, grabbed the mannequin from the hallway closet and carried it into the bedroom.

The smoke was getting thicker, and she was sure it was affecting her breathing, but adrenalin was flooding through her system, and she was too busy trying to survive to worry about it.

With the distraction in place, she ran to the spare bedroom, the rock had landed on the floor near the window it had come through, and the flames hadn't spread far yet so she could easily make it to the other window.

Ripping a pillowcase off one of the pillows on the bed she wrapped it around her fist then slammed it through the glass.

Without pausing, she scrambled through, and just as she dropped down onto the garage roof, she heard another window breaking. Jay must have fallen for the mannequin in the window trick and thought she was in there.

Taking advantage of his distraction, she crawled to the edge of the roof and jumped down. Landing awkwardly, Hayley rolled a few times before coming to rest under her favorite tree. It was tall, the tallest in the area, and in the fall it was a blaze of autumnal glory. In the summer it was so leafy and a perfect place to sit in the shade and read a book and drink a glass of homemade lemonade. Right now, its bare branches reached way up into the dark winter night sky, snow was falling thick and fast and had already piled up on the branches.

Hayley pushed herself up into a sitting position and rested wearily against the sturdy trunk.

Then she heard it.

The best sound in the world.

Sirens.

 

* * * * *

 

8:00 P.M.

 

“Where is she?” Brian demanded as he parked his car down the block and ran through the maze of police cars and fire trucks that filled Hayley’s street.

“We have people going in to look for her,” the closest firefighter said, indicating the people heading toward the door.

Brian shook his head. “She should be out.”

“How do you know that?” the man asked sharply, looking at him suspiciously now.

“I was on the phone with her. I told her to go out the window and onto the garage roof because the man who did this,” he waved a hand at the burning house, “was still outside. She set up a diversion so she could get out.” At least he hoped it had worked, but she’d hung up on him.

After telling him goodbye.

The kind of goodbye you said to someone when you thought it was going to be the last time you ever spoke with them.

Was it goodbye?

Would that be the last time he ever talked to Hayley, or had she gotten out of the house in time? If she’d gotten out had Jay Turner caught her and killed her or dragged her off with him to torture her before he killed her?

“I’ll tell my men,” the firefighter said and headed off to do that.

Alone, Brian didn't hesitate, just ran around to the side of the house, jumped the fence, and scanned the backyard.

Over by the tree, a figure sat propped against the trunk.

There was no doubt in his mind that it was Hayley.

Relief had him wanting to grab her, hold her, and give thanks that she was alive and had managed to make it out of the house. But her house was still on fire, and she was sitting too close to it, so he ran over, snatched her up, then ran with her back around to the front of the house and into the street.

Someone saw him coming and opened the back door of the nearest patrol car and Brian slid Hayley inside, climbing in beside her and closing the door.

Then he just stared at her.

Her eyes were open, and he didn't see any blood.

Until he looked closer.

“Hayley, your hand.” He gently reached out and lifted it. It was streaked in blood, the majority of which seemed to be coming from a long gash running down her ring finger, over her knuckle, and along the back of her hand.

“I must have cut it when I broke the window to get out,” she said. “I didn't even notice.”

“Adrenalin,” he mumbled, more to himself than to her. If she hadn't noticed the cuts on her hand, what other injuries hadn't she noticed? “Where else are you hurt?” he asked briskly. He wanted to draw her into his arms and hold her, but his emotions were bubbling too close to the surface, it was so much easier to fall into doctor mode.

“Umm,” she said slowly, her blue eyes were round, and while clear she was clearly struggling to comprehend what had just happened. At least she was falling apart now and not while she’d still been trapped inside her burning house.

“That’s okay.” He forced his voice to come out calm and not betray the terror over what could have happened that was swirling inside him. “Let me look.” His eyes met hers, seeking her permission and when she nodded, he began to run his hands over her body, searching for injuries.

There were a few cuts on her palms and knees from where she must have scrambled over the broken glass in the window getting out of the house. She seemed to be tender on her hip and shoulder, and one of her ankles was a little swollen, probably from landing awkwardly when she jumped off the garage roof.

All in all, she was extremely lucky.

Again.

His eyes moved to the stump on her right hand where her pinkie finger used to be and then to the lump on the side of her head from earlier today.

Hayley had survived the first five years of her life in a house of horrors, then an abduction as a teenager by a psychopath who had killed half a dozen other people. Would she survive Jay Turner?

Would he?

Brian lifted his gaze to find her watching him with a funny expression on her face. He knew what she was thinking. He knew that she had a crush on him, that she had for years now. Back then she’d just been a kid, he was six years older than her, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate for the two of them to date.

But now …

Now, Hayley wasn't a kid anymore. Now she was a gorgeous, smart, caring, courageous woman.

Why hadn't she ever told him how she felt?

Was she waiting for him to make the first move?

“Hayley,” he started.

“Hayley,” someone else said at the same time, flinging open the car door and dragging Hayley out.

“I’m okay, Mom,” Hayley said, but he heard the wobble in her voice as she was folded up in her mother’s arms.

“Xavier called as soon as he was alerted to a problem at your address,” Paige Hood told her daughter, clutching her tightly. He had known Paige and her husband Elias most of his life. She had dated his Uncle Jack for a little while before marrying her husband and had been his Uncle Ryan’s partner for close to two decades when they were both cops. Now she and Ryan ran a private security firm together. Paige had been injured by a violent stalker and left unable to have children and had adopted Hayley and Arianna when he was eleven. Ever since, Hayley had been a firm fixture in his life.

“You said on the 911 call that it was Jay Turner, are you positive?” Ryan asked, standing behind Paige and Hayley, surveying the still-smoldering house.

“Yes. I saw him, and he talked to me,” Hayley answered. “Now my house and everything in it is gone.”

“No, sweetheart,” Paige told her daughter. “Dad spoke with one of the firefighters, and they said whatever accelerant he used wasn't very strong, the fireballs left some damage to the floors and carpet, and your bed is ruined, but that’s it. Water damage is also minimal. Does she need to go to the hospital?” Paige looked to him.

“No,” Brian replied. “She might need some stitches and a few bandages, but that’s it.”

“Let’s go then. Brady and Sawyer are waiting for us at the office, and I told Adam and Jessica to meet us there if they need to question you,” Paige said, ushering her daughter away from the hubbub and into another car.

Brian followed, he wasn't letting Hayley out of his sight. That man was still out there, still a threat to Hayley, and he didn't see him backing off until he got what he wanted.

Hayley dead.

The ride to the offices was quiet. Ryan drove, Paige held her daughter like she never wanted to let her go, and he sat and stared at Hayley like if he didn't watch her she might disappear.

“I’ll grab the first aid kit,” he announced as they joined the third partner in the security firm, Brady Crowley, and another bodyguard Sawyer Watson, who were waiting for them in the conference room. He had a feeling he knew where this little meeting was heading, and he knew how he wanted things to turn out.

“We weren't able to find Jay Turner,” Ryan was saying when Brian returned to the conference room. “He must have run when he heard the sirens, but he didn't go back home.”

“So, he could come after me again,” Hayley said.

“No.” Paige shook her head emphatically.

“No,” Brian echoed, picking up Hayley’s hand and beginning to clean away the blood so he could see the extent of the damage and attend to it.

“Am I going to go and stay with you and Dad?” Hayley asked her mother.

“I wanted you to, but then Ryan pointed out that if Jay Turner could track you down and find out where you live, then he could easily find you at our place,” Paige explained.

“So where am I staying?” Hayley looked a little suspicious now.

“Somewhere he won't think to look for you,” Brady replied.

“With me,” Sawyer added.

Hayley shook her head.

Brian shook his head.

“No,” they said simultaneously.

“You and Ashley have children. What if he found me there?” Hayley elaborated.

“You can stay with me,” Brian said. “I can be your bodyguard.”

She gave him that funny look again. “I’ll probably be fine on my own. I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to try anything else.”

“You will have a bodyguard,” Paige said like it was already decided.

“I appreciate you wanting to do it, Sawyer,” Brian told his friend. “But Hayley’s right, you and Ashley have two little kids, and it’s Christmas, you don’t want to leave them now to stay at one of our safehouses. Hayley will be safe with me, I’m trained as a bodyguard, and a doctor, so I can keep a check on her wounds as they heal. There’s no reason that Jay Turner should think to look for Hayley at my house.”

“Hayley?” Paige looked to her daughter. “That sounds like the perfect solution. What do you think? Are you happy to have Brian as your bodyguard and stay with him until the cops get Jay Turner in custody?”

Hayley looked conflicted, and for a moment he thought she was going to say no.

But then she nodded slowly, her eyes meeting his and searching them as though trying to seek the answers to the questions that were in her head. Whatever she was looking for she must have found because she finally said the words he wanted to hear. “Okay. Brian can be my bodyguard.”

 

* * * * *

 

10:48 P.M.

 

“Do you want to go straight up to bed?”

“Hmm?” Hayley blinked and looked up to find Brian staring down at her. She had no idea what he’d just said even though she’d heard the words, her brain had kind of checked out, overwhelmed by everything that had happened.

“You look exhausted. Do you want to go right up to bed?” Brian repeated.

As tired as she was, she was also wired. She didn't think she was going to be able to fall asleep. “Actually, I’m a little hungry.”

“Dinner it is.” Brian took her elbow and guided her into the kitchen, pulling out a chair at his table for her. “What do you want?”

She shrugged. “I don’t care. Anything is fine.”

“What about some mac and cheese?”

“Sounds good.”

Brian got busy cooking while she sat at the table and stared aimlessly around the room. She’d been to Brian’s house plenty of times before, the downstairs was one big open plan living space, the kitchen in one corner, a large dining table that actually sat most of their families was next to it, then there were three couches grouped around a widescreen TV, and a pool table and foosball table beside them.

Over the years, they’d had a lot of fun times hanging out here together with their family and friends, laughing, playing games, eating, and just enjoying being together. Those times had been both wonderful and sad. She always had so much fun with Brian, but each time they hung out, it just served to remind her that he thought of her as a kid, a friend, another little cousin.

She wanted to be so much more.

But you didn't always get what you wanted.

Hayley knew that.

If you did, she would never have been abducted as an infant and kept prisoner for five years. She never would have been abducted as a teenager and had her finger cut off, and someone wouldn’t have tried to kill her tonight.

Hayley didn't want to be here in Brian’s house. She didn't want him to be her bodyguard. She had almost said no when they’d been discussing it back at her mom’s offices. But the only other option would be having someone else as her babysitter until Jay Turner was caught. Which meant having to stay with Sawyer and his wife Ashley—endangering their young children—or stay in one of the safe houses and take Sawyer away from his family at Christmas.

Neither was a viable option as far as she was concerned.

This meant for the foreseeable future, she was stuck here with Brian.

Stuck wasn't quite the right word.

Under other circumstances the two of them spending all this time alone together would have been a dream come true, but at the moment, there seemed to be this tension between them. She didn't know why. As far as she was concerned nothing had changed, but obviously Brian felt differently because he kept giving her the strangest of looks.

“Eve dropped off some clothes for you. Tomorrow your mom is going to go through your house and pack some more things for you, but these should do for tonight. Why don’t you go take a shower, change, choose which bedroom you want, and by then the mac and cheese should be ready.”

“Yeah, okay,” Hayley agreed. It was better than just sitting here wondering why Brian was acting strange and worrying that Jay Turner would track her down. “That was nice of your sister.”

“She was happy to do it. You know she loves a chance to go through your wardrobe even if she can’t fit into any of your clothes at the moment.”

Brian’s younger sister Eve was three years younger than him and three years older than herself, and was currently seven and a half months pregnant with her first child and huge. Eve’s twin sister Elise had recently given birth to her first child, a little girl, and Hayley knew that Eve was hoping to have a girl as well, but so far, the baby had been uncooperative every time she’d had a sonogram, and they hadn't been able to find out the gender.

It must be so exciting to have a new life growing inside you, something that was half of you and half of the person you loved. She wanted to have a big family one day, lots of kids, lots of love, and lots of fun. Hayley knew that a part of her mother still wished she had been able to have a biological child, just like she knew that her mom loved her fully and completely even though they weren't biologically related. In the nearly twenty years she had been Paige and Elias Hood’s daughter, she had never once doubted that she was loved.

Hayley hoped one day she’d turn out to be even half the mother that her mom had been.

But not today.

Right now, she wasn't ready for kids.

“I’ll text her later and tell her thank you,” Hayley said as she stood up and took the bag of clothes Brian held out. “Is there any bedroom you prefer me to take?”

“The one at the end of the hall, furthest away from the stairs, next to mine, that way if Jay Turner does somehow manage to track you down here and comes after you again, if he breaks in, I’ll be between him and you.”

“Okay,” she said. It was odd seeing Brian like this. All bodyguard like. She knew that he was a trained bodyguard and that he worked for her mom at the private security firm, but she’d never seen him in action before. He was so brisk, his face all harsh and stern, his gaze constantly roaming the room even though it was only the two of them here and Jay Turner had no way of knowing this was where she was staying.

Although she didn't turn around, Hayley could feel his eyes tracking her as she walked across the room and up the stairs. She let out a breath of relief when she reached the second floor, being scrutinized so carefully made her feel self-conscious.

Heading for the room that Brian had told her to take, she set the bag of clothes down on the bed and closed the curtains. A hot shower, dinner, and then bed sounded pretty good right about now. Was she allowed to take a shower with the stitches on her hand? Brian had told her to take one but she better check.

“Brian?” she called from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“Do I have to be careful of the stitches in the shower?”

“No. I put a waterproof bandage over them. I’ll change it before you go to bed and make sure the wounds are dry and clean.”

“Okay.” That was the Brian she was used to, doctor Brian.

Turning the water as hot as it went, once the bathroom was full of steam she stepped under the spray. The water worked wonders on her sore muscles, washing away all the stiffness and soreness from being knocked down and then jumping off the roof.

By the time she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy white towel around herself, Hayley was feeling a lot better. It shouldn’t take too long for the cops to find Jay Turner and then she could go back to her normal life. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long to repair the damage to her house, and if she was lucky, she might even be able to be home before Christmas.

“You look better,” Brian said as she came back downstairs.

“I feel better,” she agreed.

“Good.” He offered her a smile. It was a little strained but a smile nonetheless. “Dinner is ready.”

“It smells amazing.” She drew in a deep breath through her nose.

“Hope it tastes as good as it smells.” Brian set two bowls down at the table and took a seat.

“It will, you know you’re an amazing cook.”

“Thank you,” Brian said, he didn't meet her gaze, and his tone felt a little forced.

“Mmm.” She sighed as she took her first bite. “This is so good. Thank you for cooking me dinner.”

“Of course.”

They both lapsed into silence as they ate. For the first time, Hayley felt uncomfortable around Brian. Back when she was a teenager, sometimes she’d find herself blushing and unable to talk whenever it was just her and Brian, but she hadn't done that in years. Now she felt like that awkward teenager all over again.

What had changed?

Was it just that Brian was worried about her and taking his job as her bodyguard seriously enough that he couldn’t think about anything else?

No. That couldn’t be it because he had been looking at her funny before that. Back in her house when he’d come to see her right after Jay had attacked her at the Turner house, she’d thought he wanted to kiss her.

Was that what had changed?

Had he figured out that she was secretly in love with him, and he was obsessing over how to let her down gently?

Despite her feelings for Brian, she didn't want anything to ruin their friendship. She loved hanging out with him, and she didn't want to lose that just because he didn't see anything more between them than friendship.

“Let me check your hand.”

Brian was kneeling in front of her, and she stared at him trying to figure out what was going on behind those cool blue eyes of his. When he picked up her injured hand his touch was so gentle as he checked her hand and changed the bandage.

When he was done, he didn't let her go.

His fingers curled around hers, and he stared at their joined hands as though he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

After a full minute he stood and slowly released her hand. He leaned in and for a second Hayley was sure he was going to kiss her, but then he touched his lips to her forehead.

“Goodnight, Hayley. You should go up to bed now, you need some rest after everything you’ve been through today. I’ll be down here, and then in the room right next to yours. Jay Turner won't get to you again. Sweet dreams.”

Abruptly, he turned and started to clean up in the kitchen, leaving Hayley staring after him more confused than ever.