Page 68 of Drive To Survive

Thirty seconds later, I was back with Everly. “Call the police,” I said. “He’s there.”

EVERLY

With my eyes glued to room eight, and my thighs coiled to run should Paul appear, I counted out fifteen long minutes before the first cop car arrived. Thankfully, the message had gotten through and they arrived silently. Sirens would have tipped Paul off, and like Nico kept telling me, none of us knew his state of mind. He’d left me unconscious on the floor of my living room. For all he knew, I was dead, and he was being hunted as a murder suspect.

My head constantly throbbed, and I dealt quietly with the ever-present nausea swirling in my stomach. If Nico had an inkling how ill I felt, he’d insist I leave it to the cops and go straight to the hospital. But I had to be here for my baby. I wanted my face to be one of the first he saw as soon as the cops did whatever they needed to do to free Rhett from Paul’s clutches.

What the hell were you thinking, Paul?

He must have lost his mind. No sane man could possibly think they’d get away with assault and kidnapping, although given how Paul had lied to me for four years, I believed anything was possible.

I recognized one of the cops from the school. He came straight over, his face stern, lips a firm, white slash.

“Mrs. Lawson, you really should have left this to us.”

“He’s in room eight,” I blurted. “Please, go get my son.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” he replied. “We have to wait for the hostage negotiator to arrive.”

A ball of frustration exploded in my gut. “What the hell are you talking about? You know he’s in there. Nico saw them.”

“I understand your distress, Mrs. Lawson, but there’s a process. Trust us. We know what we’re doing.”

“It’s Miss Maxwell,” I bit out, a sudden urge to drop Paul’s name hurtling out of me.

The cop’s brow wrinkled in confusion, but he let it lie. Probably thought I’d lost my mind due to the stress I was under.

“Please stay back. We’ll handle this.”

He spun on his heel and returned to his car. I wanted to scream, to vent, to pummel the ground.

I did none of those things for fear Paul might hear the commotion and come to investigate.

“C’mere.” Nico wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest. “You have to trust them, love.”

“I know.” I drew in a deep breath, blowing it slowly through pursed lips, and snuggled against his solid chest. “But, hell, it’s hard.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Maxwell, huh?”

I leaned back and looked up at him. “I don’t know why I did that. I couldn’t stand Paul’s name being associated with me for a second longer.”

“The poor cop must be scratching his head.”

I snickered, despite the hollow emptiness in my chest. “He has to be okay, Nico.”

His arms tightened around me. “He will be.”

I watched from afar as the police got into position. A man with a megaphone stepped in front of Paul’s room. I guessed he must be the hostage negotiator. As he brought the device to his mouth, I froze.

Twenty minutes later, the door to Paul’s room opened, and he appeared, his arm around Rhett’s shoulder. I moved, but Nico’s arms locked around my waist and he held me back. “Don’t. Let them do their job.”

From our vantage point, I couldn’t hear what the cop was saying, or Paul’s replies. Rhett appeared stunned by the number of police officers surrounding the building, his eyes wide and fearful. Every maternal instinct screamed at me to run, to snatch him from Paul’s grasp, to hold him in my arms and never let him go.

The next moments passed in a blur. Paul dropped to his knees and placed his hands behind his head. One cop sped forward, slammed him into the ground, and snapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. Another picked up Rhett and ran to one of the cop cars. I wrenched out of Nico’s embrace and sprinted toward my son.

“Rhett,” I cried. “Oh God, baby.”

The cop put him down, and Rhett ran to me. He barreled into me so hard I almost fell over. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I hugged him, smelled him, kissed him all over.

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