"Emilie," a gruff voice next to her said. "Don't move. The paramedics are on the way."

Manicured hands and brown eyes appeared-a familiar face.

"Agent Ronson?"

"It's me. It's over."

Emilie closed her eyes as peace swept over her broken body. Freedom. If the only way to achieve it was death, then so be it.

More rapid footsteps came at a frantic cadence. "Is she all right?"

Nathan.

Emilie tried to call his name. Her body hurt too much. Ronson's face disappeared, and then Nathan was there. His skin was ashen and his eyes were rimmed with dark circles. His unsteady hand reached out to brush her cheek.

"You're okay. You're safe."

She wiggled her fingers. White-hot pain seared through her shoulder. Nathan understood and wove his fingers through hers.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Cold crept up her body. The knife's blade jabbed her bone. She couldn't waste the time she had left.

She licked her dry lips and forced them to move. Her voice was no more than a murmur.

Nathan leaned close and rested his forehead against her. "I love you, too."

Chapter Forty-Four.

Her thick hair spilled over the pillow as she slept. Her skin still looked too pale. The bruise on her left cheek had lost some of its angry purple hue and yellow had taken its place. Emilie's white nightshirt did nothing to cover the sc.r.a.pes on her arms and knees. Wedged under her right side, a second pillow took pressure off her cracked ribs.

Nathan crept toward her bed. After four sleepless nights in the hospital, Emilie had pa.s.sed out when they arrived at her apartment that morning. She needed her pain pills, but Nathan hated to disturb her. She looked like a slumbering angel after a battle with the devil.

The orange fluff ball curled against her other side yawned and stretched, then cracked open an eye.

"Otis." Nathan scratched the cat between his ears. "You missed her, didn't you?"

The cat hadn't left Emilie's side since Nathan brought the two of them home. Her sc.r.a.ped hand rested on his fur, a contented smile on her lips.

Nathan brushed his fingers across her cheek. She stirred and sighed.

"Wake up," Nathan whispered. "You have meds to take."

"Mmhmm."

"Then you can go back to sleep."

Emilie shifted, her eyes still closed. Otis rolled to his feet and arched his back. He took two steps forward and then stretched his back legs out in the odd contortion only cats can do.

He tapped Emilie's face with a chubby paw.

"No, Otis."

Another impatient tap, followed by a nose to the face.

"Not the wet nose. Little s.h.i.t."

Nathan ruffled the cat's fur. "I guess I know how to wake you up now."

Emilie opened her eyes and smiled. "I'd probably have a different reaction if you nuzzled me like that."

"I'm counting on it."

She sat up with a groan, her face set in a pained grimace.

"How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts."

The knife had missed major arteries but sliced through muscle. Emilie had huffed about physical therapy, but she had no choice.

"I don't mind," she continued. "Reminds me I'm alive."

Nathan ran his hand over her exposed leg. Her knees were rough, patches of tattered skin still red on her calves. The terrible moment when he'd arrived with Ronson and Avery had stopped his heart. Emilie's tortured screams were forever ingrained in his memory. The shots had come, then the shouts for paramedics.

SWAT's shots had sent the Taker on a forward momentum, and his raised hand had almost carried out his final wish. Emilie lay trapped beneath him, her blood tangled with his, the knife still in her shoulder.

Emilie touched Nathan's cheek. "What are you thinking about?"

"You." He kissed her fingertips. He tried to contain his emotions as he'd done the last few days, but his strength waned. "When I saw that knife, I thought I'd lost you, just like Jimmy. I don't know what I would have done."

"Come here." She brought his face to hers and pressed her warm lips to his mouth. "Guess you're stuck with me now."

Otis wedged his way between them and mewed.

She stroked his fur. "Don't worry, you'll always be my number one boy."

Nathan handed her a gla.s.s of water and her pain pills. "Thanks a lot."

"You know I love you."

Emilie swallowed the pills and then looked out her window. Afternoon sunlight streamed in beneath the drawn curtains. "How's Jeremy?"

"Getting better," Nathan said. "Doctors think he'll make a slow recovery. He's a lucky guy."

Stupidity had saved Jeremy. He hadn't taken enough sleeping pills. He'd have to pay for conspiring with the Taker and would likely face a lifetime of health concerns thanks to the damage from the sleeping pills.

Nathan couldn't think of a more appropriate punishment. He didn't have Emilie's forgiving heart. Jeremy could have manned up at the beginning and prevented the death and destruction the Taker had created.

"I want to see him soon."

"I'm sure you do." Nathan lay down next to her, his hand on her arm. He couldn't touch her enough. The feel of her skin a.s.sured him she was alive and would be well soon.

"What about Julian?" Emilie asked. Her empathy for the Taker amazed Nathan. Yes, the man had an awful childhood experience, but so had thousands of other kids. They didn't turn out to be psychopaths.

"He'll be buried in a family plot in Cloutierville," Nathan said. "Josephine's buried there, too."

She rested her head against his shoulder. "He'll finally be reunited with her."

"As long as you're with me," Nathan kissed her again. "That's all I care about."

Her mouth opened and her hand clenched around his shirt as she pulled him closer. Nathan slipped his leg between hers and trailed his fingers up her arms. Emilie shivered and tossed her leg over his hip.

"Ouch."

"s.h.i.t, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so carried away."

"No." She settled back against the pillows. "I'm the injured one. I should know better."

"Do you need anything else?" Nathan pulled the sheet up around her.

"No." She yawned. "I'm good, as long as you snuggle up with me."

He carefully settled next to her. If Nathan spent the rest of his life with Emilie, it wouldn't be enough.

"Did Sam call back?" Emilie asked.

"Yeah, I almost forgot. He's coming for a visit next week."

"I'm looking forward to it. It's been so long."

"He's excited, too. And he can't wait to meet me."

"I'm sure you'll get his seal of approval." She closed her eyes. "You earned mine, and that was no easy feat."

"Pretty sure fate had a hand in that."

"Me, too."

"Sam found Mark Chambers."

"Good." Emilie yawned again as the medicine kicked in. She closed her eyes. "He deserves to know the truth."

Nathan kissed her shoulder. "I'm so proud of you. Look how far you've come."

"Almost dying'll do that to you. Now let me sleep."

"I'll be here when you wake up." He threaded his fingers with hers.

"I'm counting on it."

About the Author.

Raised in southeastern Iowa, Stacy Green grew up watching crime shows with her parents and developed a lifelong love of suspense and psychological thrillers. She's fascinated by the workings of the criminal mind and explores true crime on her popular Thriller Thursday posts at her blog, Turning The Page.

After earning her degree in journalism, Stacy worked in advertising before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her miracle child. She rediscovered her love of writing and wrote several articles for a city magazine before penning her first novel, which will never see the light of day. Her next project, set in Las Vegas, became her debut novel, Into The Dark.

Featuring a heroine on the edge of disaster, a tormented villain, and the city's infamous storm drains that house hundreds of homeless, Into the Dark is a suspense novel with a dash of romance. Stacy is hard at work on her next book, a darker, grittier thriller set in the deep south.

When she's not writing, she spends all her time with her precocious daughter, supportive husband, and their three obnoxious but lovable canine children.

You can find Stacy on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

Also Available at MuseItUp Publishing.

Obsession.

By Sally Royer-Derr.

Romantic Suspense.

Evil can be closer than you think.

After her husband's tragic accident, Joanna Dresden seeks to rebuild her life. She finds love again in the arms of a much younger man and feels her life moving forward again. She didn't realize her husband's death wasn't an accident, but rather a calculated murder, by a man willing to do anything to be with her. A man she knew well...

Excerpt:.

A slow drizzle of rain pelted the freshly mowed gra.s.s of the cemetery. Wet blades of green clung to Joanna's black pumps as she solemnly walked to the burial plot. Simon held a large black umbrella over her and Jilly as they walked in silence.

The funeral service had been well attended. Most of the town was there to extend their condolences. But Joanna had insisted on a private burial. Family and close friends only.