Page 73 of Shielded Secrets

Sitting in the chair and scrolling on my phone, I whiled away the time and tried not to get ahead of myself thinking about whether I could be pregnant. I Googled symptoms, though, unable to get it off my mind.

Missed period. Fatigue. Nausea. Feeling more out of breath. Some cramps.

I’d had all of those on and off lately.

I bit my lip and swiveled in the chair, getting giddier about the chance that I could soon be a mother, just as I’d always dreamed of. Because the cycle would be broken with me. No generational trauma would carry over to my kids. I had seen whatnotto do as a parent, and I vowed to pay back ahead and be the best mother possible for my kids.

Oh, that too. Needing to pee.I shook my head at how I met every symptom on the list I’d found.

Getting up to see if the guard would come with me toward the bathroom, I looked both ways down the hall.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Can you lead me to the bathroom?” I asked. A teeny part of me loathed having to ask that. Before Rurik, I would just walkmyself to the bathroom any damn time I pleased. But also, before Rurik was in my life, I had to exist in constant fear and anxiety.

“Sure thing, Kelly.” He walked with me toward the bathroom, and I did my business, but when I exited, he was no longer the only person in the hallway. He faced me upon my exit, smiling. Turned this way slightly, he missed the two men entering at the other end of the hallway.

Eric Benson didn’t look different. He appeared as put together and polished as the last time I saw him.

But the monster walking next to him…

“Fuck.” I whispered it as soon as we made eye contact. He narrowed his eyes at me, then grinned, pulling a gun to shoot the Baranov guard.

He’d lost weight and lots of hair, almost bald. In a fancy suit instead of his police uniform, he still had the same cruel, heartless eyes.

“You!”

He ran forward, leaving a bewildered Eric behind. “Hey, what?—”

As soon as Eric spotted me and the guard who’d dropped from O’Malley’s shot, he muttered something under his breath and ran away down the hall.

Muscle memory kicked in. It didn’t matter how many years had passed, the second I saw his cold eyes, I knew that it was time for me to tune out the panic and run. It was time to run as hard as I could and hide.

“You!” he repeated, charging toward me.

“Fuck!” I jumped into action, sprinting down another hall. I hated to leave the guard dead like that and not help him. But I had to get out of here alive. That sadist could not win.

Once gunshots were fired, no doubt from O’Malley chasing me, I regretted not stopping long enough to take the Baranov guard’s gun before running.

I had to run and hide just like old times, because it wasn’t just myself that I was saving but my love for Rurik and now, potentially, a new life in my belly.

Pushing through different doors and cutting around corners, I hid from O’Malley as he chased me. He was older now, and I had enough experience with hiding from him that he wouldn’t be able to rely on hearing me creeping around to track me in this building.

I passed no one. Not a single soul was in the offices, and even if they were, I couldn’t be sure if that would mean they’d help me or not. Even though I was alone at the moment, it wasn’t the same as that desolate loneliness I struggled against before.

Rurik is here. Other guards are here.

“Little Kelly, all grown up,” O’Malley teased as he crept down the hallways.

I hunkered down behind a filing cabinet in a small office I’d snuck into. Breathing as steadily as I could so I wouldn’t pass out, but also not pant loudly so he’d hear me, I waited for him to go by.

“I couldn’t believe my luck, seeing your pretty little face on all those pictures shared by the police departments in the area. All these years, I wondered if I’d get a chance to find you again…”

Dammit.He was after me because I’d been connected to all the trouble on campus, trouble due to Jerome.

“I just had to pay Eric a little visit here and ask around for a little help in finding you, honey.”

I cringed at his sing-song voice. All that mattered was that his footsteps carried further away from me in this itty-bitty closet. He had to be looking further down the hall of many doors to consider. But this one was dark and secure for now. It’d be risky to run and stay mobile, like I was used to doing around him.

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