Page 109 of Catching My Dreams

Her Krav Maga instructor would have been proud, but Ella didn’t let herself celebrate the small win. She was already off, sprinting toward the parking garage entrance like her life depended on it. Because it very much did.

And she got so close. The entrance was a beautiful rectangle of fading afternoon light in front of her, and she could almost feel the rays of the setting sun gracing her goose-fleshed skin when two people she didn’t expect to see walked into that light and entered the garage. She hadn’t even known they had come to watch the game.

“Run,” Ella screamed at Olivia and Drew, but the two of them froze at her shouted command instead. “Run,” she repeated when she was only steps away from them, but Drew did the exact opposite.

He let her pass. Then he placed himself between her and Brett, who’d recovered and had been racing after Ella, hunting knife in hand and a vicious scowl on his face.

All Ella wanted to do was flee, but she found herself coming to a stop. She waited to see what Brett would do, faced with Olivia’s rather intimidating boyfriend.

But although Brett had stopped running, he didn’t look concerned or scared. And why would he when he had tools at his disposal that gave him a considerable advantage over any opponent?

“Drew,” Olivia said nervously, her frightened gaze fixed on the blade in Brett’s hand.

“We need to get help,” Ella told Olivia quietly, moving to stand beside the younger girl.

She took her hand and began dragging her away. They’d only made it five steps before Olivia screamed. Ella turned back to see Drew clutching a hand to a bleeding wound on his chest. Brett circled him with a smirk, managing to place himself between Drew and the two women.

The sound of the horror-stricken scream gained Brett’s attention. Before either Ella or Drew could do anything about it, he’d turned on Olivia and grabbed her by the front of her pale yellow sweater.

“No,” Ella yelled, but it was too late.

Brett spun Olivia around and pressed the bloodied knife to her throat, his eyes darting between Ella and Drew. Olivia’s boyfriend let out a sound that Ella could only describe as a growl, and then he was stepping forward to get to Olivia.

“Don’t move,” Brett ordered, the knife pressing harder against Olivia’s neck.

Noah’s half-sister let out a whimper, and Ella knew the blade must have cut through her skin. No, no, no, she thought. This can’t be happening.

Ella lifted her shaking hands in a poor attempt at calming Brett. “Please don’t hurt her,” she begged. “She has nothing to do with this.”

Brett took another step back, taking a now silently crying Olivia with him.

“Please,” Ella said, her voice raising in panic. “I’ll do whatever you want if you just let her go.”

He considered her with narrowed eyes, remembering after only a few seconds to keep his attention divided between her and Drew.

“If you come here, I’ll let her go.”

Ella swallowed. “Promise me you won’t hurt her or Drew.”

Brett nodded. “If you come here, I’ll let her go, and I won’t hurt either of them.”

“Okay,” Ella agreed, her hands still lifted as she slowly walked forward.

The last thing she wanted to do was get closer to someone who wanted her dead, but she couldn’t see another option, another choice. She had to do this. She couldn’t let Brett hurt Olivia.

“Now let her go,” she said when she was only a step away from them.

Brett clenched his jaw, but he held up his end of the bargain, moving the knife away from Olivia’s throat and tossing her to the side so roughly that she fell to her knees.

“Olivia,” Ella gasped. She moved to help her, but Brett wasn’t letting her go that easily. The distraction cost her.

Brett was in front of her before she could let out another scream. He grabbed her ponytail, wrenching her head back so she was looking up into the light brown eyes that used to belong to her friend.

“I’ll meet you on the other side,” he told her. Then he thrust the knife into Ella’s stomach, the blade sinking into the flesh just below her diaphragm.

It felt like a punch to the gut, but when she looked down, the hilt of the knife was protruding from her torso, Brett’s hand still wrapped around it. Ella’s head swam, and her vision blurred.

Somebody was screaming. Maybe Olivia. Maybe Drew. Maybe both. But Ella couldn’t hear them properly over the ringing in her ears.

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