All Roads Lead Home (42 page)

He radioed for back-up, and I swear his men reached the top floor before we did. They were all in position, waiting on Jacob’s command. He reached for his gun and counted down. I thought my heart was going to stop beating. He raised his hand to his team.

“1… 2…. 3…. GO!”

Jacob led the team and crashed through Raymond’s door. We came upon a bloodied scene, and my world went dark.

Two women and two men were all on the floor. The older man, Raymond Steele, was unconscious and next to the couch, while the other guy was lying in a pool of blood.

My eyes found hers, and I fell to my knees not knowing if she was alive or dead. Agents were shouting over their microphones and calling for medical assistance. Jacob was securing the room and identified the dead man as Roberto Bornarelli.

My hands were shaking as I crawled closer to her body, and then she opened her eyes and smiled at me. She was alive and smiling at me like she was looking at me for the very first time. I reached for and held her in my arms.

“Oh, thank God, baby, thank God. I thought you were dead. You were lying so still. Are you hurt?” I asked her as I scanned and touched every inch of her body. Her wrists were sliced open with abrasions, and bruises were beginning to line her skin. As I took in the marks, tears fell from my eyes. All horrid scenarios had been running through my mind. She was calm, too calm for an ordeal she just survived through.

The other woman was coming to. Jacob identified her as Cheryl. The EMT’s arrived and were treating Mr. Steele, while the other worked on Cheryl. She was bleeding from her head, but appeared to look like she would be fine. She was visibly shaken, but alive just like Tenley.

My hold on Tenley’s tiny frame tightened as my anxiety and fear took over.
I could have lost her, and I wasn’t even here to protect her.

“Jagger, too tight. I can’t breathe,” she mumbled into my chest.

“What?” I questioned.

“You’re. Holding. Me. Too. Tight. I can’t breathe,” She almost laughed.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, baby. Are you okay?”

“I’m better now. I love you, Jagger. Thank you for finding me.”

“No need to thank me, baby. Looks like you did all the work. You must have been so brave.”

“I was only brave because I had my brother watching over me, and your love leading me back to you. I promised I would never leave you again. I couldn’t let Roberto win,” she said. Then she began to tremble and close her eyes.

“Tenley, baby? Open your eyes, open your eyes!” I screamed as one of the EMT’s rushed over to examine her.

“Sir, let us through. She seems to be in shock. We’re going to take her to the hospital to be looked at. Sir, she’s going to be okay, please move aside.”

I didn’t respond or let her go until Jacob put his hands on my shoulders.

“Jagger, let them take her to the hospital. You can ride with her,” he said.

I blinked, and I was back. To hear her talking to me one minute and then out cold the next made my heart stop. I let the paramedics take over, and they gently lifted her onto a stretcher. I needed a minute to catch my breath.

I watched Raymond get wheeled away as well. Cheryl was next. She reached out her hand to me and pulled her oxygen mask off to say something to me.

“She was so strong. I didn’t know if we would make it out alive, but she saved my life.”

I had no words. I remained still while they were all taken from the office. I stared at the blood soaking into the expensive carpet and covered my mouth. I felt sick. This could have been so much worse and that blood could have belonged to my girl. Jacob walked over to me and told me the ambulance just left and I could ride with him.

“It’s over, Parrish. He will never hurt her again. She’s safe now.”

“You don’t know that, Paulson. What if his father retaliates or any other member of their family?”

“I don’t think so, especially when it was all captured on voice recording.”

“What do you mean?”

“This office was wired for sound just like Tenley’s. Everything that happened here tonight has been recorded. We have Roberto Bornarelli on tape, admitting he murdered his brother Vincenzo in cold blood, and how he took out Thomas Daly, who was simply an innocent bystander. Daly lived in the same neighborhood as Cheryl, a friend only. I guess when she got pregnant, she named Daly as her daughter’s father to ultimately shield her from the crime family. If Anthony Bornarelli had known the child existed, he would have never shunned his grandchild, especially the child of his first born, who he worshipped. He was never the same after Vincenzo died, and now we know just how sick Roberto was.”

“What about the girl, Cheryl?”

“It appears that she was under Roberto’s control and pretty much did his bidding until her daughter’s safety was in question. She helped us through the entire operation, but she hasn’t been cleared yet.”

“I need to see my girl. I need to see my girl.” I just kept repeating that to Jacob.

He led me away from Mr. Steele’s office, as his team was already combing through the crime scene. I didn’t even know where Shane was. I had called him earlier while I was waiting for Tenley, and my call went straight to voicemail.

Minutes felt like hours as we made our way through the city traffic. We walked through the emergency room and were taken to a private triage room where Tenley was being examined. A doctor dressed in scrubs walked out from behind the curtain to speak with us.

“Hey, is she in there?” I asked him.

He looked at me with reassuring eyes. I was waiting to hear the worst, but he looked too calm to deliver bad news.

“Sir, I’m Dr. Cross. Ms. Fairchild is resting comfortably. She’s suffering from a mild case of shock. I administered a sedative to let her sleep. I’ve cleaned and bandaged her wrists, which should heal rather quickly. She’s going to be taken upstairs to a private room where you could join her soon.”

“Thank you, doc. Thanks a million.” I shook his hand, nearly breaking it, I was so nervous.

He nodded and gave Jacob an update on Raymond and Cheryl. Raymond was already in his room upstairs, resting soundly. His major injury was a concussion after Roberto attacked him. The doctor said he should be fine with rest. Cheryl was recovering from her head wound, but stayed under police guard until she could be cleared or charged.

I didn’t have any phone numbers, but I was told that Zoey, Raymond’s daughter and next of kin was notified and that she was on her way to the hospital. I could only assume Shane was with her.

I couldn’t stop shaking, and I didn’t want to fall apart in front of Tenley if she woke up and saw me like this. I had never wanted a drink so much than I did right now, but I didn’t want to fall into old patterns, so I shoved that thought out of my mind.

Jacob was in conference with a man I’d never seen before. When the doors burst open, I saw Shane with Zoey, and he was holding her hand. She was in tears. He didn’t even blink. He held her close to her side as if she belonged to him.

“Hey Jagger, we just heard. Where is Zoey’s father? Is Tenley okay?” he asked. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you both. I came here to help, but instead I take off to party.”

“It’s okay, Shane. No one could know this would happen. Raymond is fine and resting in a room upstairs. Tenley is going to be fine too, that’s all that matters.”

“Damn straight. Can we see her?” Shane asked.

“Not yet. She’s getting settled up in her room, and then I will join her.”

“She’s the strongest person I know,” Zoey told me as she left Shane’s side to give me a hug. “I’ll check in with her later after I visit with my father.”

I said my goodbyes to her, and then Shane took her hand and led her away down the hall to the bay of elevators. I didn’t have time to think about him right now, but I sure was curious about the two of them. He did have a fiancé waiting for him back at home, and Shane was acting like that wasn’t the case anymore.

After a few hours, it was way past midnight. I sat beside Tenley in a lumpy chair while holding her hand. I was thinking back to the moment when I was in the hospital and opened my eyes and looked into hers. Her stunning beauty captivated me, and all the love I ever felt for Tenley Faith Fairchild hit me straight through my heart. I was in a deep sleep for weeks, and then the beauty who was holding my hand wielded a powerful spell over me and I was awake. This was what I needed to do for her.

She needed to wake up and look at me. I needed to hear her voice and feel her heart connect with mine. I needed Tenley always. I got up and kissed her lips, hoping it, too, would magically wake her up.
Please, baby, open your eyes. I’m going to stay awake next to you until you open your eyes.

“Hey, cowboy! Time to wake-up,” I heard Tenley say, but I must have been dreaming because I knew she was still asleep. I heard her voice call out to me over and over again until I was jolted awake with something hitting my head. I sat up straight, and she was covering her mouth to keep down her laughter. She hit me with a tissue box to get my attention. I guess I was more tired than I realized and fell asleep.

“Oh my baby! You’re awake, thank God,” I screamed.

I kissed her all over until I rested my forehead against hers and breathed her in.

“I was so scared, Tenley. Please do not ever scare me like that again. You nearly aged me ten years, and that would have been years without you. I swore on the day you accepted my marriage proposal that I would not waste a minute with you. Any moment spent with you is a blessing I will never take for granted. You are my entire world.”

My hands touched her face, neck, arms, and every inch until I was reassured she was okay. I hated the fact that that bastard had his hands on her. She had a faint marking of bruises on one side of her cheek. The corner of her mouth was split open, but already healing with the ointment that was on it.

This could have been an entirely different outcome if it wasn’t for Cheryl helping Tenley. While she was asleep, I had spoken to Jacob in great detail about his findings.

Roberto had every intent to kill Tenley tonight. Jacob confirmed that Cheryl was truly under Roberto’s control, but she was just caught in an impossible situation. Jacob ultimately cleared her in the investigation, and Cheryl, her daughter and mother would be placed into witness protection to begin a new life far away from New York and the Bornarelli Crime Family.

The sun was beginning to rise on the outside of her hospital window. You couldn’t see the sky to greet the day. All you saw were buildings instead of mountains. I missed our home. All I wanted to do was to take Tenley back to Wyoming and forget the last years of our time apart. I never wish to live like that again. The days were long, and the nights were colder and lonely.
Tenley lit up my world.

She looked beautiful having just experienced what she had gone through. A thought came to my mind, and I was hoping she would agree to my plan.

“Tenley, tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and there’s something I want you to do for me.”

“Anything, just say the word.”

“I was hoping you would say that. I’ve always wanted to see the ball drop and feel what the other millions of people feel the moment it drops and a new year begins. A new year filled with so much promise and wishes to dream on.”

“Sounds perfect Jagger. Was there a question somewhere in there?”

She held my hand, and when Tenley looked at me with those sparkling eyes shining back at me, I just fell in love with her even more.

“I was getting to it, I swear.”

“It’s okay, take your time, I’m not going anywhere.”

“As I was saying, I would like to spend New Year’s Eve with you. Anytime I would watch that on television, you would always see lovers kissing passionately in the middle of Times Square. I want that baby, but when I kiss you, I want it to be after we say…I do.”

She tilted her head to one side. Did she not hear what I said? She was smiling and probably processing what she just heard.

“Jagger, are you saying to me that you want to get married tomorrow night? In Times Square? On New Year’s Eve?”

“Yes to all of it. Tenley Faith Fairchild, will you marry me tomorrow and make me the happiest cowboy alive?”

“Yes, Jagger Lucas Parrish! I can’t wait to be your wife, your world, and to be a Parrish.”

“You have made me so happy. Before my accident, I knew I was on my way to New York to fight and do anything necessary to show you that you belonged with me, and to give us another chance at the fairytale. In my wildest fantasies, I never knew how much fate would play a part in reconnecting my heart with yours. I promise you here today that I will never doubt the stars again, especially when we have Jamie looking over us.”

IT WAS NEW YEAR’S EVE, and later this evening I would be saying two words to the man I love: “I do.” I was about to become Mrs. Jagger Parrish. I’m still pinching myself at the fact that this was really happening.

After my release from the hospital, I visited with Raymond, who would be discharged later in the day. My heart nearly stopped when I saw him in the condition Roberto left him in after his attack. All I kept thinking of was Zoey, and how she loved her father so much. Her world would be shattered if she lost him now and in this way.