Page 17 of Shadowed With Fear

I’m rounding the corner when a body slams into me. Hard.

My hands come up to grip their arms to steady us. Before I could even see her face, I know it’s her. Dahlia’s hair has always smelled like vanilla and something else spicier.

Her head whips up, eyes frantic, before she croaks out in a relived voice, “It’s you. You came for me?”

“I’ll always be here for you,” I reply automatically, like my brain hadn’t caught up to what my mouth said.

“Please, we have to go. A man.” Dahlia starts pushing at my chest. “There’s a man in a ski mask,” she chokes on a sob, and it’s then I notice her trembling, her shirt rumpled, and her leggings skewed.

I grabbed her hand, yanking her close. Her face is so close to me I can feel the warmth of her heavy breaths. “Did he touch you?”

Another sob is all the answer I need before I’m ready to kill him.

“Go. Follow the alley and run fast. The bathrooms are by the exit. Call someone inside a stall and don’t leave until they get there.”

She nods, turning to run, before she stops, and timidly replies, “Thank you.”

Her fast footfalls quiet the further she goes, but mine never once make a sound as I canvas the back alley. I walk until I come across a security guard and know I had to have gone too far. She was close when she screamed, or we wouldn’t have heard her.

Whoever the bastard was, he’s gone. And it’s like he was never here.

I pull my phone out dialing Brahm’s number.

“What?” He barks. In the background I can hear painful grunts and sharp cries.

“It wasn’t nothing.”

“What was it?” Brahm’s interest and worry fill me with some kind of relief. Knowing that despite how cold he can be, he’s still there.

“Dahlia. It was Dahlia.”

He inhales sharply, voice turning to ice.

“Get here. Now.”

And I do.

* * *

When I pulled up to the warehouse, Adam and Henry were dragging Jerry’s body into the back of Alex’s truck. They nod at me as I walk past. Adam grabs my shoulder.

“Is she okay?” He’s worried too.

“Yeah. She’s okay.”

Adam nods slightly, grabbing Jerry’s feet and lifting him into the truck bed.

Inside the open floor of the abandoned building, Brahm is wiping spatters of blood off his computer monitors. He’s quiet. Which isn’t unusual, but the stiffened spine, and rigidity of his posture has me a little on edge as well.

“Dahlia?” Brahm’s voice is hardened steel. Like ice has been poured into his veins.

“Yeah. She was who we heard screaming. I was walking the alley towards the noise, and she ran into— “

“Is she home?”

“I believe so, yes. I told her to run to the bathroom and call Liz. I called you after I checked the parameter.”

There’s a slight softening after I mention she is safe. A silent breath is released, and he deflates.