Chapter Twenty

Watching Chloe run from him made Sark's heart break. He truly did love her, he realized it now, but perhaps he should have waited to say it. Perhaps he should have waited until the shock of his confession had worn off, when Chloe was thinking more clearly. But no, he had dumped it on her in the midst of her anger, hoping it would help to subdue her. However, it had only served in angering her further.
Sark felt like a bug, a toad, a rodent, and every other foul thing there was in the world. He stood there, staring at the spot where Chloe had stood only seconds before. He loved the way the rain had beaded upon her eyelashes, the way her shirt hugged her, clinging to her body like a second skin. He loved everything about her, even her bouts of anger. But she would never trust him again, never believe what he said.
He shook his head, turned around, and headed back to the hotel room.

"Open up you damn door!" Sark couldn't control the smirk that covered his face as he watched Chloe beat on the door. She must have forgotten to take the spare room key when she first left the room. He walked up to her and unlocked the door for her. Chloe barely looked at him as she marched through the door, rummaged through her backpack, and slammed the door behind her as she locked herself in the bathroom.
Sighing heavily, Sark pulled off his sopping shirt and tossed it on the floor. He fell back on the bed and flipped the TV on, wondering how long Chloe would remain locked up in the bathroom. She came out sooner than Sark had thought.
The door opened with a bang and Chloe walked out into the room in a huff, her wet clothing balled up in her hand. She threw her clothes on the floor beside Sark's and sat at the table, instead of sitting beside him on the bed. She refused to look at him, and stared out of the window at the driving rain. She tried to look defiant, but Sark could see the small tears that crept down her face.
He wished he could walk over to Chloe and hold her tightly to him. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew that as long as he was the source of her pain he could never do that.



She couldn't take him looking at her. Chloe tried desperately not to look at him, to show him how angry she was at him, but she couldn't. It was too hard to hate Sark, not when she was so hopelessly in love with him. She could feel the tears sliding down her face, but tried to dismiss them as water dripping from her still wet hair. She stole a quick glance at Sark and wished that he would put a shirt on. Her resistance was already too weak, she didn't need his chiseled abs and rock hard chest weakening her even further.
The rain pounded on the window, and Chloe watched it intently, anything to keep her mind off Sark, who was sitting there staring at her. But she couldn't shake the feeling of his eyes off her.

"Can we please talk about this Chloe?" His voice startled her, but she refused to show it. She ignored him, even though it was very hard. "Come on Chloe, you can't be mad at me forever."

"Oh I'm sorry," she said turning to look at him, her eyes mocking, "I can't understand you, I don't speak Jackass." She turned away from him again and watched the darkness outside the window. She could hear Sark's heavy sigh.

"Good," she thought, "at least he's hurting a little bit."

"Why do you have to be such a bitch about this?" Sark said. Chloe turned sharply, her eyes blazing.

"Excuse me?" She said, her eyebrows raised in question. "What did you call me?"

"Oh, so now you understand what I say." Sark said, his own eyes were iced over, and there was no more smirk on his handsome face.

"You're a bastard Sark." She growled, "No wonder your dad abandoned you and your mom was a crack addict."

"Who told you that?" Sark barked, jumping up and approached Chloe threateningly. But she wouldn't let him intimidate her, no matter how frightening he was.

"Who do you think?" Chloe asked, standing to meet Sark. She straightened up to her full height, but was still considerably smaller than he was. "I was locked up in a cell for how long? Who else, besides you did I have to talk to?" She looked up at him, her lips pursed together. Sark growled at her, knowing full well who had told her about his parents.



"Don't you ever talk about my family again!" he cried. Unable to control the rage that flowed through his veins, Sark's hand flung out and slapped Chloe hard across the face. Her hand flew up to her face and touched the red mark on her cheek gingerly. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. As soon as he looked into her eyes, Sark regretted his actions. He hated that he was unable to control his temper, that he lashed out at everything that sparked even a bit of anger in him.

"You know what," Chloe said, her voice dangerously low, "I can just call my parents right now and the CIA will be all over this place in a matter of minutes."

"You wouldn't do that, I know you Chloe." Sark said shaking his head, "You would never turn me in to the CIA."

"Oh I wouldn't would I?" She asked, her arms crossed in front of her defiantly. Sark didn't like the tone she was using, and he had to admit he was a bit scared.

"No you wouldn't." he said. Chloe walked past him and rummaged through her bag. She soon emerged with a cell phone in her hand.

"Still think I won't do it?" She asked, opening the phone and turning it on. She began dialing and Sark knew he had to do something, fast. He could hear the ringing on the other end. Without thinking, Sark pushed Chloe down on the bed and tried to tear the phone from her hand.

"Get off me you son-of-a-bitch." She cried, trying to push Sark off her. He could feel her feet digging into his stomach as she tried to kick him off her.

"Give me the damn phone." Sark said. He grabbed her hand and, with some effort, managed to push the hang up button. Chloe jabbed the heel of her hand into Sark's chest in a feeble attempt to get him off her, but it did nothing. It barely even fazed him. He grabbed her wrists and held them down on the bed as she tried to hit him. Tears fell down her face and she stopped struggling as sobs racked her body.

"I can't do this anymore." She cried in-between sobs. "I can't do this Julian." Sark paused. She had called him Julian. She hadn't called him that since they started fighting. Was it a sign that she was forgiving him?
Sark released her wrists and leaned over Chloe. He wiped away her tears gently. He loved the feel of her skin beneath his fingers, so soft and smooth, like silk. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he was afraid that he would be pushing the line if he did.

"Please Julian, don't make me do this anymore." Fresh tears fell down Chloe's face. Sark looked down at her and felt his heart break at the sight of her tears. He stood and pulled her to him. Wrapping his arms around her tightly, Sark held her close to him and let her cry into his shoulder.

"I promise Chloe," He said whispered, "I promise."



Sydney sat on Chloe's bed, looking around the room in a trance. Her daughter had chosen Sark over her own mother! She couldn't believe it; it was still trying to sink in that Chloe had left. She had thought that Chloe had her priorities straight, that she knew what was important, but Sydney had been wrong. Her daughter had betrayed them at the first opportunity and had fled with the man that the CIA had been trying to catch forever. What was Sydney to do? How was she going to find them? Surely, they couldn't have gotten far, could they?
The ringing of the telephone broke through Sydney's thoughts. She jumped for the telephone on the bedside table.

"Hello?" she said, "Chloe?" Sydney was anxious to hear her daughter's voice. She wanted Chloe to tell her where she was, and to ask Sydney to come get her. There were voices on the other end of the line, somebody was arguing. Her eyes widened in surprise. It really was Chloe on the other end! She was arguing with Sark. All Sydney could hear was her daughter yelling at Sark to get off her, but that was all she needed to hear. She was about to yell into the phone, when she was cut off. Not wasting any time, Sydney ran into the living room where Vaughn sat with Dixon and Jack. The three men looked up at her, and, at the sight of her wide eyes, jumped into action.

"Alright," Dixon said pressing a few buttons on the laptop that sat before him on the coffee table, "give me a few minutes and I should be able to trace where the call came from."

"It's a good thing we set up that tracer when we did." Jack said leaning over Dixon's shoulder. Vaughn walked over to Sydney and looked at her worriedly.

"What did you hear?" he asked, seeming to read her mind.

"He was hurting her Michael," she said, her voice choked, "I swear I'm gonna kill that son-of-a-bitch." Her jaw was clenched tightly, and the veins were standing out on her neck. Vaughn had never seen his wife so angry, and he had to admit, he was a bit scared.

"We've got 'em." Dixon said. "They're at the Starlight Motel, not fifty miles from here. I should be able to get a team up and over there in a couple minutes."



Oh what beautiful things cliffhangers are. Lol. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's not exactly how I was hoping it would turn out, but it's the best I could do without turning the whole thing into a soap opera, which was the direction I was kinda heading in without even realizing it. Well, I hope you all will review and tell me what you thought.
PS. I know Chloe forgave Sark pretty quickly. I didn't mean for her to, but that's how it turned out.
PPS. Short chapter I know, but I promise the next one will be longer.

Reesie06, KatelynEmma, moni, and M.B: I love receiving reviews from new people, and I am so happy that you all enjoyed the story. I hope that you will all continue to read and review as this story progresses.

Eyghon, wicked-sista, Sarks-Girl-89, Alias-Addict-4-Life, cg's-gal-72689, Serindipty9, Rock-Witch, neptunestar, and RedRose121: Thank you all for reviewing this chapter. Your thoughts mean more to me than you will ever know. I hope you all continue to review.