A Matter of Circumstance by M J Marlow (top 20 books to read txt) 📕

we were watching you, ma belle. We had planned to take you from the church but Cabrera got in our way.” He freed her wrists and frowned as he saw the blood. “Pauvre petite! You have hurt yourself!” Victoria hissed as the salt in his sweat hit the wounded skin. She heard something being opened and then her wrists were tended and bandaged. The gag was removed and her ankles freed and she was helped to her feet. She started to remove the blindfold and he stopped her. “If you wish to live,” he said to her as he helped her walk, “you will leave that on.” He opened a door. “Here is a bathroom. I will have a woman bring you fresh clothing if you wish to shower or bathe. When you are ready, dinner will be ready for you.” He pulled her back as she started in. “There are no windows, Victoria. The only way in and out is the door. When you are done, put the blindfold back on and knock on the door.” Victoria walked forward and heard the door close behind her. She took off the blindfold and caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked liked she’d been in a fistfight. She slipped out of the clothing she’d been wearing for the last forty-two hours and took a long hot shower. When it was over, she pulled on the clothing someone had slipped in while she was lost in the delight of hot water and clean skin. It was all her size. She took off the wet bandages and tended the cuts on her wrists and then put on fresh bandages out of the first aid kit that was also waiting for her. She put the blindfold back on and knocked on the door. “Hold your arms out in front of you,” a woman’s voice greeted her ears. “Good nursing skills.” A soft hand grabbed her arm and led her forward. She heard a door open. “I’m sorry to have to lock you up, but he said you need to be kept secured until he gets back.” “He’s not here?” “No,” the woman said as her grip tightened, “but that doesn’t mean you aren’t still in a lot of trouble.” She shoved Victoria forward and he hit a wall. A door slammed behind her and she heard a lock. She ripped off the blindfold and realized she was in a closet. “There’s pizza in the box and some soda.” Victoria ate the food without hesitation. She had been without nourishment for almost two days now and she was starving. She finished a can of soda and cursed as she realized that she had fallen for it again. He’d added a sedative to the soda, but only enough to make her weak and disoriented. She curled up in the corner and hated herself for being so weak. She jumped out of her skin as someone knocked on the closet door and she heard the man laugh. “We have the money, ma belle!” he said as he opened the door. “We can go just about anywhere we want now and no one will ever come after us.” “I’m not going anywhere with you,” Victoria protested. She tried to pull away from him and fell on her knees as her body refused to listen to her. “Let me go!” she sobbed as he yanked her up onto her feet. “You have your money. You don’t need me anymore.” “I want you,” the man told her. He kissed her and she bit him. He froze as he heard a gun being cocked behind him. He turned to see the other woman holding a pistol on him. “Michelle?” “You said you were going to let her go,” the woman said to him. “That you and I were going to Tahiti.” She glared at Victoria. “Go call the police, Miss Beauclerc. Tell them to come get you.” Victoria struggled to her feet and stumbled to the phone. She heard a struggle as she dialed 911 and turned to see the man grabbing the woman’s arm and twisting it back. The gun went off and hit the wall near Victoria. Michelle fought like a wild woman and the second bullet went crashing through the window. She screamed as the man twisted her arm and he had the gone. He fired and Michelle dodged so that the third bullet hit Victoria in the head. Pain exploded in her head and she heard a fourth shot and watched as the other woman crashed to the floor near her. “I will come for you, ma belle,” the man said as he stroked Victoria’s cheek. “Count on it.” Hawk was at his wits’ end by the time the call came in from the police in a town about forty miles west of them. He grabbed his keys and Martin and the kids had to scramble as he peeled out of the lot. The Sheriff followed in the patrol car with the siren blaring. They pulled into the apartment complex and Hawk pushed past the police and dropped down next to Victoria who was strapped on a gurney on its way to the ambulance. He pulled her hand into his and she opened her eyes a moment and looked up at him in annoyance. “What took you so long?” she said softly and then lost consciousness. “We have to load her into the ambulance, sir,” the paramedic said as he saw Hawk’s anguished expression. “You’ll have to let go of her hand.” Hawk did so but he was right behind them as they got in and he had her hand back in his. He let them check her over oblivious to everything except the fact that his Victoria was alive and they were together. He was pacing the waiting room floor when the Martin, Joanna and the kids caught up with him. “I have to find the bastard who did this to her,” he said as Martin came up to him. “They’re transferring her to the Federal Building as soon as she’s out of surgery and stable, Martin. Stay with her.” Martin nodded and Hawk was gone to do what he had to do. He knew he should probably stop the man, but he agreed with him. The bastard had to pay for what he had done to Victoria. The surgeon came out and told them she had made it through surgery but she was far from safe. “She hasn’t regained consciousness since she was brought in, Agent Cavenaugh,” the man told Martin. “There’s no telling if she will wake up at this point.” He looked around. “The man who came in with her?” “Agent Travers,” Martin answered. “Miss Ryan’s fiancé.” “His first name wouldn’t be Hawk by any chance would it?” the surgeon asked. Martin nodded. “She’s been calling for him.” “I’ll go to her,” Juliana said as Martin went pale. “You find that idiot and get him back to her.” For the next seven days, Victoria was kept in a medically induced coma while her brain healed. At the end of three days the swelling was done and the fever had passed. She was brought back out and had to be kept on an IV as, for the next four days, she was never awake longer than a few seconds at a time. Every time she opened her eyes she would look around in desperation for Hawk and then burst into tears when he was not there and slip back into the darkness. She heard other people calling to her but they weren’t who she wanted and she remained locked in the darkness where it was safe and peaceful. She felt his lips on hers the seventh night but when she woke up he wasn’t there. “You need to stay awake, Victoria,” Martin’s voice hit her ear as she started to slip away again. She turned her head to see him sitting on the window seat in the room. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Victoria looked at the people hovering over her in confusion. She was dead wasn’t she? She vaguely remembered a loud noise and pain. Then there had been only darkness. She felt her skin crawl as she remembered that sound. “Why aren’t I dead?” she asked in a voice hoarse with pain. She tried to sit up and pain sent her back down, whimpering. She was such a wuss when it came to her own pain. But the pain was forgotten as she remembered why it was there. “I can’t stay here! I think someone shot me.” “Lie still, Victoria,” Hawk said from behind her. She knew that voice and she relaxed. “You’ve been unconscious for almost a week.” “Am I going to be all right?” Victoria asked the nurse who was eyeing her anxiously. She could feel her anxiety level rise and she bit her lip. “They could come after me here.” “It’s all right, dear,” the nurse said as she patted her hand gently. “You’re safe now. That’s all that matters.” “Safe?” Victoria repeated the word, her eyes locked to woman’s. She shook her head slowly and the pain hit her again. “If I were safe, I wouldn’t have been shot!” “The man who shot you,” Martin said as he stepped closer, “is going to be found. The gun found at the scene was the same one that killed Fernand Cabrera.” Victoria looked at the tall copper-haired man with deep green eyes and relief filled her. They would send Agent Martin Cavenaugh, someone who they knew she would trust. “How are you feeling Victoria?” “How should I feel, Martin?” Victoria asked. “Someone tried to put an extra hole in my head and Hawk just told me I’ve been out for a week.” She closed her eyes as the pain hit her again. “Should I still be in pain?” She didn’t have to fake the physical pain she was in. She had been shot, for God’s sake! “Hawk?” She tried to turn her head to find him and winced as that brought fresh pain. She held out her hand and he gripped it and sank down on his knees to look at her. “Oh Hawk! You look like I feel!” “Hush,” Hawk said softly as he kissed her hand. “Everything’s all right now. You’re safe.” The door opened and a man was standing there. He put something in her hand and kissed her. “Keep that safe for me. I have to go for a while, darling.” “Hawk?” Victoria cried in protest as he walked away from her. She saw the other man’s cold expression and knew something was wrong. “Please tell me what’s going on.” But he didn’t stop and the door closed behind him with a finality that made her burst into tears. “Martin, please tell me what’s wrong.” “Nothing, Victoria,” Martin assured her. “Hawk just has a few questions that need to be answered about his choices during your kidnapping and this past week.” He patted her hand and smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. “We need to talk about what happened to you, Victoria.” “Oh,” Victoria said softly as she saw the box in her hand. She opened it and did not even try to stop the tears. “He should have asked me sooner.” Joanna Marlow watched the interview from the other side of the one-way, frowning. This woman had saved her sister’s life and brought the woman who had nearly destroyed Juliana’s life to justice. It hurt to see her lying there hurt. She looked at her husband as he interviewed the woman. “Are you ready to answer some questions?” Martin prodded her, knowing his wife was feeling the same frustration he was as she watched. Juliana was home with her family now, safe because of this poor woman. Neither of them felt it was right to leave her floundering like this, so they had asked their supervisor to