Page 23 of Damned
She slammed the receiver into its cradle, hard, wishing she’d broken the damned phone. No more! She’d never answer this stupid landline again. It had to go! That bastard wasn’t just a telemarketer. He knew her name! A name that wasn’t in any phone book on the planet. It had to be Berfende!Or Josephus! They’d found her!
Just that fast, Bree was back in the narrow hole in the cold, dead ground, where sunlight had never shone, where despair had literally sucked the life and hope out of her. Lord! She wanted to scream and cry and tear her hair out. If Berfendeknew her name, he also had her address! He could find her! He was coming!
For a heart-stealing moment, she considered reaching out to Kruze. He’d know what to do. She’d been safe with him. He’d surely come to her rescue again, especially when she told him that he had a… a…
No. No. No. Bree would never reach out to Kruze. She would NOT use her baby girl to keep herself safe. Never. Ever. This was just a panic attack.
Breathe in. Breathe out.Picture palm trees and turquoise skies over white sandy beaches and calm ocean shores. Breathe in. Breathe out. Picture dolphins beyond the shore and seagulls floating on a gentle, fragrant breeze. Breathe in. Breathe out, damnit!
Fighting for composure, Bree zeroed back on her intellect and forced her pulse to slow down. She breathed slowly and steadily. At last, her chest expanded somewhat calmly. She was managing her panic attacks. She was! She could do it. She would, damn it.
Because… Because… That call had to be a fluke. Yes, that’s all it was. Somehow her name had gotten onto a call list. Companies, even hospitals, sold their customers’ and patients’ private information all the time. Yes, that had to be what happened. She was just a name and a number on a list out there in the ether. Nothing more. And the man on her parents’ landline couldn’t be that same bastard from Turkey. No way. He was half a world away. She was stronger. She hadn’t come this far to crash now. She could be smart and sensible again.
Breathe in. Breathe out.Her lungs weren’t working furiously hard any longer. She could do this. For Robin and her parents, she could do anything.
Bree swallowed hard at the expertly crafted lies she was telling herself. Despite her best efforts, all she had to do was think of Josephus or Berfende,and her heart took off like a racehorse. She refused to use her baby girl to keep herself safe, but these panic attacks were killing her. The only thing that helped was her heart medication, but it left her tired and depressed. Dragged out. She hated to take it so she took it as little as possible. Which was why she needed a nap. She wanted Kruze, damn him! She needed those thick, strong arms of his wrapped around her. That was when she’d felt the safest. She needed him to tell her to shush, that she was safe with him. That he had heard her, that he had listened, and that he believed her.
But would he believe her if, by some miracle, he’d given her a way to contact him, and she called and told him she’d just heard from Josephus or—Lord!General Berfende? Would anyone b-b-believe her?
