Page 92 of Happenstance
Riley snickered, “Still someone else’s patsy I see.”
He did not like that and I really wished Riley would stop pissing him off. I looked behind Noah at the door, gauging if I could make it before he caught me. My gigantic belly reminded me of how slow I was. I’d never make the distance, but maybe Riley could? She was small and fast. She might be able to get out and get us some help. It was a chance at least.
As if she could sense my thoughts, Riley shook her head and picked herself up off the floor.
“You want her,” she said stepping in front of me, “Then you have to go through me.”
Folding my arms over my stomach, I pressed my back against the wall and peeked around Riley to keep an eye on our captor. The glint in his face as he stepped forward, caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.
“That’s what I like about you, Riley. You’re the first to sacrifice yourself for someone else.” Noah tipped his head as the door opened and three other men came into the room. “But this time, all you can do is watch.”
The next second, all hell broke loose. All the men except Noah charged forward, lunging for my friend, and she snarled and swung back at them. I wanted to help her, but I was too afraid my babies would get hurt. I had to protect them. I had to.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I begged them to stop and helplessly watched Riley get pinned to the ground. And still she didn’t stop. She growled, and spit, bashing her head into any body part that got close enough. She was no match for three men though, and soon there was nothing she could do but lay there huffing out spent breaths.
My eyes locked on Noah, who was staring at me with a strange look on his face.
“I want you to know, this is nothing personal.”
It felt pretty personal. I had no idea what was going on, or why this man was involved, but I did know, I needed to stay away from him. Lifting myself off the ground, I slowly inched along the wall. Hoping I’d get close enough to the door before he caught me. It was still open a crack. If I could get there and scream, someone might hear me. I made it about two feet.
Noah was on me in a flash. Slamming his palm on the wall and stopping my slow escape.
“Leave her alone, asshole!” Riley screamed, and began struggling again.
“No can do,” Noah’s brown eyes trailed over my face, “The job’s not done.”
I sucked back a gasp and waited as dread settled in my gut, pumping panicked spikes through my system. Time literally slowed down, voices drowned out, and all I could smell was the minty scent of Noah’s breath. I whimpered and shrunk back when his fingers wrapped around the back of my neck and he pulled me in closer. His hard body pressed against mine, ear grazing off the shell of my ear.
“Lillianna says hi” he whispered, and threw his fist into my stomach.
Pain folded me in half as my knees gave out and I crumpled to the floor. Riley was screaming, and Noah was grunting as he continued his assault on my belly. I tried to protect them. Curled my body around my babies and shielded them with my arms. It didn’t matter what happened to me. I could take each hit, every spike of pain, as long as my babies were okay. But no matter how hard I tried I could stop him, I couldn’t shelter my stomach from his strikes. My arms weren’t large enough to shelter my whole belly.
When it finally stopped, my entire body ached, tears streamed down my face, and it hurt to breathe. I was too afraid to move my head and look up at the man panting down at me, so I played dead. Tucked my head into my curled body and let my chin quiver. I could hear Riley’s sobs. They called to me, tugging at my heart and making me want to reassure her. But my body seized as my stomach clamped down hard and a gush of wetness soaked through my pants.
“Feel that?” Noah crouched down and swept my hair off my sweat soaked forehead, “That’s your babies coming. And do you know what I’m going to do when they get here?”
My stomach cramped, causing me to cry out as a searing burn raced through my system.
“I’m going to take them out that door and throw them in the ocean.”
Unable to force my aching limbs to do anything else, I whimpered and shook my head.
“You sick fuck!” Riley screamed, “I’ll kill you!”
“I’m sorry,” Noah sighed, and brushed his thumb along my jawbone. “I’ve been paid a lot of money to make sure your babies don’t survive.”
Nan was wrong. Good didn’t triumph over evil. Lillianna won. This time when the contraction came, I surrendered to the pain. Letting blackness bleed into my mind. I’d failed. There was no point in fighting anymore. The last thing I heard before falling into oblivion, was Riley’s desperate screams, mingling with echoing pops.
“It’stime to wake up, Angel.”
Parker was calling me, but I couldn’t see him. There was nothing around me but darkness.
“Parker!” I called out desperately, searching for his comforting arms. “Where are you?”
“I’m right here, Angel.”
I could feel his fingers grazing over my skin and his hot breath warming my cheek. But where was he?
