Page 11 of Marked

But he didn’t.

The pained expression she’d caught the other night in the alleyway crossed his face. “Why the fuck did you have to find me? I know you came to my apartment. I know you haven’t stopped looking for me.”

That’s why he was here. Tara had told him and he’d come to end her queries.

“Mommy!” The shrill scream shook the little speaker on the nightstand, and all the air left Sophia’s lungs. Tears stung her eyes. She rolled her lips in, and her eyelids flickered on a silent prayer that she could shut off Cole’s hearing with sheer willpower alone.

Cole snapped his head toward the baby monitor, which she’d removed from storage last weekend, when Bella suddenly started having nightmares.

“What the—”

“Please,” she choked. Oh, God. She wasn’t the begging type, but if it came down to him sparing Bella’s life, she’d beg and bargain with anything.

Slowly, his head cranked to face her again. He pushed away from the wall, dropping his hold as if her body had scorched him.

He brought his hands to his head, paced two steps, then stopped.

“Mommy, I need you.” The little voice ripped at her heart. If she didn’t go to Bella now, her daughter would come tearing into the bedroom.

Seemingly realizing that, Cole snatched the monitor from its base and shoved it at her. “Quiet her.”

Sophia hit the microphone button and swallowed the gravel in her throat. Her hand trembled on the device. “Yeah, honey. One sec, okay? I’m just getting out of the shower. I’ll be right there.”

She clicked off.

Cole stood in the glare of the bathroom light, his thumb rubbing over the pads of his fingers. “You have a kid.”

She nodded. “Don’t... please don’t hurt her. She’s only four. Just a—” Her voice broke on a sob, and she brought her fingers to her soaked cheeks. “She’s just a baby.”

His eyes lifted to hers. If it were possible for there to be more hate in them, now was the time. “I don’t fucking hurt kids,” he drawled. He seemed about to go off in a rage at the insinuation.

She sucked back another cry and breathed through shaky lips. His declaration didn’t offer any reassurance. The guy might not kill children on a whim, but right now he was in deep shit.

His face contorted with angst, as if his plan had backfired. Apparently, he might have a problem with killing mothers, too.

He bobbed his head as if an idea had come to him. “Okay.” He pointed a thick, slightly crooked finger at her face. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Go see your kid. Calm her. Whatever the fuck you need to do, but do it quickly.” He wrenched the device from her hand and brought the monitor to life. Bella’s face filled the little screen. “If you try anything—and I mean anything—” He shook his head. “Don’t fucking make me do something I don’t want to do. Got it?”

She ignored the part of her that wanted to dissect that threat. “Okay,” she said quickly.

“You’ve got two minutes. Don’t make me go in there and drag you out.”

She wet her lips and moved to the end of the bed. Her housecoat was spread on the turquoise coverlet. She scooped her arms through, turned her back and shed the towel, then knotted the tie at her waist.

***

Cole stared at the monitor, estimating the number of seconds it’d take for the cop to get to her kid’s bedroom.

Jesus Christ.

A kid.

How’d he miss that?

Because he was bent out of shape. Seeing Detective Aldridge outside his apartment building had sent him through the roof. Rather than taking the steps necessary to find out everything about her before making his move, he’d acted. Too soon.

His brief glance into her life had revealed she was single. The apartment lease was in her name alone, there was no joint bank account, and she’d gotten a divorce two years ago. He hadn’t searched farther than that.

Now he was royally fucked. He’d broken in through the balcony window leading to her bedroom and waited until she got in the shower. He hadn’t swept her apartment. Hadn’t left the bedroom, so no signs of children had caught his eye. Otherwise he would’ve left and recalibrated.

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