Page 10 of The Ties That Bind

She balanced on the steadily rising mattress, frantically trying to free herself. Her face was screwed up with the effort of reaching the knot, which still hovered just above her head. She turned when she heard him, hair flying around her face, eyes wide. “Alec!” The panic in her voice nearly brought him to his knees.

“I’m getting you out, I promise!” He waded to the locked gate, fumbling in his pocket for the key.

“Hurry! Please!”

He jammed the key into the lock, already pushing the door. But the key didn’t turn, and the lock didn’t budge. He looked down in horror. In his hand was Elle’s apartment key.

“What’s wrong? Alec?” her voice rose in fear. He was frozen. Where the hell was the gate key?Think, asshole!He’d been keeping it in his pocket, then he went to get Elle’s keys out of her purse, put them in his pocket, pulled them out again to get inside her place…No.They couldn’t be. Had he dropped it in his hurry to leave her apartment? He’d never make it to her building and back in time.

“I don’t have the key.” He said it woodenly, wonderingly. Like this couldn’t be real.

“What?” She started pulling at her bindings, screaming from the effort. “Find the damn thing!” She kept struggling. “Alec, are you listening to me?” She splashed cold water at him, soaking his front.

He sputtered and came alive, the freezing liquid providing the jolt he needed. “I don’t need it. We have tools. Hold on!” He raced to the far wall, choosing his weapon. His eyes immediately went to the bolt cutters. “Got it!”

The water pressed against the back of his knees as he waded toward the fence and got to work. “I saw your paintings.” He figured talking might distract her from the fact that they were very possibly about to drown. She stopped struggling to watch his progress. “They were incredible. Do your folks know you’re an artist?”

She shook her head no. “Earlier, when you made the joke about my dad writing me a doctor’s note.” She hesitated. “You called him Dr. Keller.”

Alec didn’t pause his work, only raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“My dad’s last name is Reid. Same as me.”

“That’s…” Alec trailed off, confused. “The prescription pad he uses for his oxy ring says Dr. Keller.”

Elle was quiet for a long time. “He didn’t agree to send the money, did he?”

“He didn’t.”

She took a deep breath. “Did he agree to pay your ransom?”

He didn’t want to be the one to have to tell her this, especially right now. “Things didn’t go as planned. But I’m taking you home. I won’t keep you any longer.” He tried to give her a small smile, even as his heart pounded with worry for Caitlin.

“My dad has your sister, doesn’t he? You’ve been telling me the truth the whole time.” Alec nodded. She was quiet again, and then, “Dr. Keller was an inside joke between him and my mom. Whenever something went wrong with a patient, they would say ‘Dr. Keller strikes again.’ When I was younger, I used to wonder why such a terrible doctor still had a job.” She laughed humorlessly. “Then I realized it was their version of a Mulligan. And now ‘Dr. Keller’ is writing bad scrips to sell drugs. I just … can’t believe my dad would do something like this.”

“On the bright side, I’ve almost got you out of here. Pretty soon you can pretend this whole thing never happened.” Alec began carefully pulling back the cut section of the fence until the opening was wide enough for him to step through. He made quick work of undoing the rope tied to her wrist. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Alec.” She put a hand on his chest. “I don’t want to pretend this never happened. And wearegoing to get your sister back.”

We.His heart bloomed, hope filling his chest. He carefully swept Elle into his arms and carried her to safety.

****

The cold water seeped into her skin, but the ice spreading within her was far worse. Her parents abused their positions to hurt people for their own gain. The same people who raised Elle to be kind, and considerate, and take care of her fellow human beings, now reduced to villains. She didn’t know them anymore. Didn’t feel like she knew anything anymore.

Except, there was one thing. She knew she cared about the brave man holding her in his arms. The one who would risk his own future for the ones he loved, the man who took care of her even when he thought she was the enemy. He was a good man who deserved to be happy.

Elle thought she could make him happy. She wrapped her arms more tightly around him as he took the stairs two at a time. They burst onto the main landing, roaring wind rattling the front windows. Water continued to surge past them and down to the basement below. Who knew how high the water would rise before the storm subsided. Elle shivered at the thought of what could have happened if Alec hadn’t arrived when he did.

“Are you okay?” Concern radiated off him in waves, his mouth in a tight line as he scanned her for injuries. They were standing still, safe enough for now, but he didn’t make any move to set her down.

“I’m fine.” Her shaky whisper betrayed her nerves. She swallowed hard. “Are you?”

He stared deep into her eyes, some emotion she couldn’t read swimming below the surface. “I’m so sorry.” He hung his head, and a brown curl tickled her nose.

“Hey.” She held his face until he was looking at her again. “I understand why you did it. You’re not the bad guy here.” She ran a finger lightly across his stubble. “But I reserve the right to give you shit about kidnapping me for, oh, I don’t know, the next hundred years. Give or take.”

He grimaced. “I doubt you’ll be around for the next hundred seconds if you can help it.”

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