Amanda had taken everything out of her new bag and examined it before putting it back. There were more beautiful things, sunglasses that made the world look purple, a few very nice pens, keys on a ring that jangled when she shook them. She ate one of the mints from the neat little metal box, and wondered what pills in the bottle she couldn't open were. Her mother had pills in her purse too, she recognized the orange bottle. She also knew not to play with pills, so she was quick to tuck those away next to the checkbook with a name on it in neat golden letters that she couldn't read.
Her mommy would be able to tell her of course, but it took her a moment to get over her disappointment that the purse wasn't for her after all. Someone had lost it. Getting to her feet, Amanda almost forgot the phone at her feet. Her daddy had a cell phone. She'd seem him use it before. She could call him at work on it. She missed him when he was gone all day.
Tucking the phone into her largest dress pocket, Amanda hurried back to her mother with the checkbook in hand. It was obviously just the checkbook that was misplaced. Everything else in the purse was for her and she couldn't even be sure it wasn't hers until her mother read the words for her. To be on the safe side, she stuffed her new purse under a chair in the hallway, that way her mother didn't have to know about it just yet.
Thinking about her mommy's bad mood, Amanda reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out the phone. Maybe mommy would be happy if she knew the new phone could be used to call daddy. She knew from watching her daddy that she had to flip it open, and push the button near the top. Obediently the phone turned on with a beep and the keypad lit up, Amanda grinned gleefully and pushed some more buttons, just like she had seen her father do.
As the phone flashed a meaningless name, it started to dial. She held it to her ear with two hands, careful to listen for her father's voice after the ringing stopped.
"Olivia where are you!" An angry voice demanded immediately.
Amanda nearly dropped the phone. This wasn't her father. "Who's 'Livia? Where's my daddy?"
The last voice Gregory had ever expected to hear on Olivia's cell was that of a little girl. He took a deep breath to demand she hand the phone to Olivia immediately, but his gut said something was wrong. Olivia wouldn't just let her phone be used as a plaything. She knew better then that.
Still, it took all of his self-control to keep his voice soft. "Olivia is my wife." He began calmly. "My name is Gregory. What's your name?"
"Amanda-" She chirped back brightly. "Can I please talk to my daddy now?"
He didn't know a child named Amanda. He ran through all the congratulatory notes he had written for babies at his office and couldn't think of one named Amanda. "Who's your daddy?"
Amanda giggled slightly, that was a silly question. "He's really tall."
Gregory restrained the urge to strangle the child. She didn't know how important this was and was obviously rather young. "I'm sure he is." He swallowed his frustration and tried a different tactic. "Where are you Amanda?"
"At the hospital." That was an easy question and her smile grew wider. "South Bay Hospital." Her mother had read that on the sign as they walked in. Amanda liked to think that remembering what signs said was the first step on the pathway to reading.
She was so engrossed in her conversation that she ignored her sister. Nora walked up to her and took the checkbook Amanda had dropped at her feet when the phone rang. Nora looked it for a moment or two before deciding it was boring. She left in on the block table as Aaron toddled over. He found the checkbook most interesting, and did the most logical thing he could think of to do to it, stuck it in his mouth. The expensive calfskin had a texture he liked and an earthy flavor.
Gregory grabbed his car keys and ran to the door, holding the phone pressed to his ear. "Why are you at the hospital Amanda?"
"Because my brother needs a check-up." She replied seriously as she climbed up into a chair next to her mother's things. She could see her mother talking to a lady at the desk in the front of the room. Maybe Gregory, whoever he was, would let her talk to her daddy by the time her mother got back.
Eileen turned in her paperwork and gave the receptionist a tired smile. A glance back to her kids put Nora at the blocks and Aaron sitting happily beside her. He was chewing on something, but that wasn't detrimental. Amanda was back in her seat, playing telephone with something. At least they weren't running all over the room.
Aaron's doctor was running a bit behind and the demonic three would have to remain at the hospital a little bit longer. Eileen grabbed up Aaron and pulled whatever it was out of his mouth with a sigh. "I thought your puppy Fallon was bad when he ate my shoes, but you like to chew everything don't you pumpkin?"
"And you aren't even a canine." The slim, sticky leather was a checkbook, an expensive checkbook. The kind that had a name embossed on the front with gold leaf. Eileen winced and looked around for the irate owner as she balanced Aaron on her hip. No one came immediately running to chastise her so she took the time to read the name.
"Olivia Richards?" She read aloud and repeated to herself, completely dumbstruck. "Goddamn Olivia-queen-of-Sunset-Beach-Richards?" Sitting down quickly, she bounced her red-headed son on her knee. "Pumpkin, I think you just got mommy in a lot of trouble."
Amanda tugged at her arm. "Mommy, what floor are we on?"
Eileen turned the checkbook over in her hands without looking at her daughter. "Second floor baby, number two." She checked the address written beneath Olivia's name on the first check. One Ocean Avenue, possibly the most prestigious house in Sunset Beach. Not the kind of house you could walk up to and ring the bell. Maybe she'd just mail it, or drop it off at the hospital lost and found.
Amanda continued to talk to herself, explaining that she was on the second floor, in the waiting room with the palm trees near the windows. Eileen set Aaron down to play with Nora and the blocks. She looked down at her watch, Aaron's pediatrician was running half an hour behind, and since she had tried to be thoughtful and come early, she still had quite a wait. She reached over to rub her daughter's halo of curls. "Who are you talking to baby?"
Looking at her mother with a huge smile, Amanda handed over the phone. "He just asked to talk to you. His name is Gregory- he seems pretty nice."
"All right Olivia, if you won't talk to me, we'll play a new game." Cole grabbed her shoulders and pulled her violently up to a sitting position.
"Get up." His voice cut into her ears, grating against her sense of helplessness.
Olivia shook her head slowly, careful to protect the bandage on her stomach. It didn't matter what he did to her, she wasn't going to put the baby in danger. "I won't."
His hand flashed out, scalpel locked in his fingers. Incredibly sharp, it cut into her throat, stinging as she gasped.
"Get up or I'll kill you." He repeated.
Lowering her feet over the edge slowly, Olivia climbed down from the examination table. As a stray tear of horror crept down her face, she tried not to think about the danger to the baby. After running from Cole for months, she didn't know what he wanted. She didn't know how he had found her and now her throat tightened as the memory of his hands around it flooded back to her.
Cole reached up to brush it away, smiling cruelly as he licked it off the tip of his finger. "That's a good girl. Now turn around."
Olivia closed her eyes as she turned around. The mark on her throat oozed blood that ran hot down the skin of her neck. She folded her hands over her belly, feebly protecting the baby as well as as she could.
Leaning down, Cole picked up his riding crop and snapped it once again his hand. The sound cracked through the room and Olivia bit back a sob. He felt the power rush through him from the leather in his hand. Cole snapped it again, letting it hiss through the air just off the skin of her back. "The Deschanel jewels are my legacy, something I rightly deserve."
"But you and your grasping husband had to be stubborn about it." The crop sang through the air before impacting with her back. It cut through her blouse and sank into her skin. Shooting through her nerves, the pain left an angry line of fire across her back. Olivia's cry of pain echoed the crack of the whip.
Her agony sent a thrill of power up his spine. He ran his hand along the slice in her blouse, feeling the heat the wound through his fingers. "Did that hurt?"
Olivia's silence brought the scalpel back to her throat, his fingers shaking with rage. "I asked you if it hurt."
The razors edge of the scalpel bit her skin again and Olivia nodded. He dug the scalpel in, drawing another line of blood. "Answer me!"
"Yes!" The word tumbled from her lips as she shuddered away from his touch. Cole grabbed her face and roughly turned it in towards him, boring into her eyes with his icy gaze.
"Then scream-" He slapped her face away and struck her twice more against her back with the riding crop. He traced each welt with his hand, drawing his pleasure from the heat of her abused skin.
Olivia brought her hand to her face and clamped it over her mouth. If Cole wanted her to scream, it was the last thing she was going to do. She straightened her back, and held herself rigid in preparation for his next attack. She had to hold still. The baby depended on her being still.
Bringing the crop back again, Cole smiled as he brought it down across her shoulders. Eventually she'd scream. She'd have to scream when the pain overwhelmed her and as soon as she did, she was his.
Eileen's flush of embarrassment went unnoticed by her children. Amanda swung her feet off of the edge of her chair as she handed the phone over. As her mother took it, she stood and walked away to the window. Disappointed, Amanda decided to go back to the purse she had hidden on the other side of the room. There were beautiful things in there to play with.
Gregory Richards was the name on the bottom of her husband's paychecks and now he was on the other end of the phone. The irate voice on the end of the phone. "With whom am I speaking?"
Eileen rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "I'm Eileen Garrison, my little girl, Amanda, she found this phone somewhere. I'm so sorry- if you tell me where to bring it I'll make sure you'll get it back."
"Mrs. Garrison, I don't care about the phone." Gregory assured her with great impatience. "It belongs to my wife, and she's in danger. I can't tell you how important it is that I find her."
Trying not to bristle at his tone, Eileen looked over at her little girl, kneeling on the floor by a chair. "I don't know how she got it, Amanda was talking on it while I was at the desk- I try, but I can't watch her all the time-"
"It's all right Mrs. Garrison." Gregory cut her off with force patience. "I just want to know where she got it from. Tell me where you are and I'll meet you. Your daughter said the second floor of South Bay General?"
"Yes, pediatrics." Dennis was never going to believe any of this. "Wait-" But the phone was dead and Gregory Richards was on his way. Eileen grabbed her son's hands away from her leg and steered him to the blocks.
"You stay with Nora pumpkin. I'm going to talk to Manda for a little bit." She kissed her younger daughter's red-gold head of curls. "And you play nice with Aaron."
Amanda ran over to her with the shiny black purse in her hands and a concerned smile on her face. "Here you are mommy. This belongs to the missing lady, the one the nice man on the phone is looking for."
Eileen scooped up both the purse and her daughter then she sat down with them both in her lap. "Where did you find this?"
"In the hallway-" Amanda pointed off to the left with one chubby finger. "I found it on the floor. I thought it was lost."
"It's not lost sweetie, but the lady who owns it is-"
Amanda shook her head with great certainty. "But I didn't see a lady, mommy- it was just in the hall, on the floor."
Eileen looked down into her daughter's big brown eyes and sighed in exhaustion. "You didn't see anyone at all?"
Turning up her empty hands to the ceiling, Amanda shook her head again. "Nope. Nobody. Sorry mommy."
Eileen stroked back the baby curls and watched her younger kids make stacks of blocks to knock down with shrieks of laughter. "It's okay honey. The man on the phone, Gregory Richards, is coming here, and he's going to ask you some questions. He might get angry but I want you to remember he's not mad at you. He's just worried about his wife."
Amanda's baby chin was square with determination. "Is she a mommy too?"
It took her a moment to remember, she was sure she'd seen something about the Richards' children at some point. "Yes baby, I think she is."
"Why's she lost?"
Eileen raised an eyebrow and straightened her daughter's pink dress. "I don't know, but she needs to be found, doesn't she?"
Amanda nodded seriously, keeping her eyes on her mother's face. "Being lost is bad."
Gregory Richards hurried into the hospital waiting room and glanced through it as he caught his breath. A woman in her thirties with a tired expression sat amid a trio of small children. One of them was balanced on her lap, along with a black leather purse that was all too familiar. He rushed over to her and had to force himself to be polite. "Mrs. Garrison? I just spoke to you on the phone."
Eileen released Amanda to play with her siblings and their block towers. She stood up slowly and handed Gregory the purse. "I'm afraid my son chewed on the corner of her checkbook, Dennis and I will replace it if you just tell us what it cost-"
Waving an irritable hand shut her up. "I don't care about that, it'll be fine. I just want to find my wife."
Amanda slipped away as the grown-ups talked. She could find the lost lady and make Gregory not be upset anymore. She hated it when people were upset and she wanted to make it better. She retraced her steps and found the closed door the purse had been next too. Reaching up, she grabbed the knob with both hands and turned it as hard as she could. As it clicked open, she shoved it inward until it hit against something. Puzzled, she backed up and tried again. The something was gone and she was able to push right in.
Cole was getting frustrated with her, and the angrier he got, the more viciously he drew back his hand to strike her. The last time the leather of the riding crop broke her skin, drawing a fresh jab of pain from the numb haze that was her back. Her lip was bleeding slightly, the wound from her teeth filled her mouth with a metallic taste.
But she hadn't screamed. Cole's rage had him teetering on the brink of sanity, but she hadn't screamed. Olivia knew that no matter what he did, as long as she could hold out, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. It was driving him mad. It was the only power she had over him and she would be dammed before she let it go.
Trembling with fury, Cole dropped it to the floor and shuffled his bundle of tools. He choose a knife with a long wicked edge. It glinted in the light behind Olivia's head, chilling her heart with the spot of light from the reflection in the blade. For a single, horrible moment, she wondered if this was how she was going to die- trapped in a hospital room.
She couldn't fight him. Olivia didn't have the physical strength to fight him and god only knew what he would do to her if she tried. She didn't dare turn around, even when the door open and banged against the chair. She heard Cole turn, and the shuffling as he moved the chair in front of it. Her heart leapt and in the blissful time it took to turn around, she believed she was saved.
Cole was laughing. The knife was behind his back and she could see the shape of the fluorescent light in the ceiling reflected in the wicked edge of the blade. There wasn't enough time to be afraid. Instead of Gregory- instead of Roger or even a lost nursing student, the figure in the door was an angel.
A little girl with a halo of red-gold curls and a trusting smile on her pink lips. Cole's attention was entirely on the girl. Olivia watched his fingers twitch on the handle of the cruel knife, and she knew what he was planning. In her mind she saw the knife whip out to kill the child. She heard the spurt of blood, the sick sound of air hissing through a torn throat-
The light from the hallway illuminated the curls on the little one, made her a silhouette surrounded by light. The dark shape of Cole was starting to attack, his arm was moving. He was ready to strike-
Olivia's hands closed around one of Cole's weapons- a policeman's club, and her arms brought it back and down on his head as hard as she could. The crack of coated metal against his skull was sickly satisfying. He went down, the knife clattering out of his fingers. The little girl's eyes were so wide that the whites went on forever.
Amanda watched as the lady dropped the weapon next to the strange man with the evil eyes. The lady had been crying, tears were still gleaming on her face as she stepped over the man who had fallen down. The man with the knife lay still. She opened her mouth to say something, but the lady scooped her up and held her against her chest. The lady, the one who was lost, smelled like flowers and her necklace bounced against Amanda's cheek as they ran. The lady didn't say anything to her or stop to see if the bad man was following them. They just ran.
"She was just here!" Eileen realized with exasperation. It was bad enough that Amanda was missing, but now Gregory Richards was going to see that she couldn't control her children. "I don't know where she could have gotten too."
"Did she know where Olivia was?" Gregory demanded quickly, ignoring the woman's flushed cheeks. "Did she see her?"
Shaking her head, Eileen grabbed up her youngest and shooed Nora close to her legs. "No, I don't think so. She just found your wife's purse in the hallway."
"In the hallway?" Gregory repeated as he turned the idea over in his mind. A chair would have made sense if his wife was just being absent-minded, but the hallway set off the alarm that squeezed his chest tight. Dashing over to the receptionist's desk, he reached across to hang up the call she was on.
"Call the police. Tell them Cole St. John is in this hospital-" The receptionist didn't move and he grabbed her hand to dial. "I need a unit here, now!"
His panicked fury only made the poor woman more nervous, and Gregory raised a hand as if he was going to hit her. "This is a matter of life and death." His voice was a metallic growl. "Make the call."
She nodded dumbly as she punched in nine-one-one. Gregory turned away from her and back to poor harried Eileen Garrison. "Which hallway?"
"Why do we need the police?" Eileen demanded of him instead of answering the question. "What's going on?" Then the significance of the ice in his eyes hit her like a cement wall. "My God-"
Gregory ignored her, he turned to another woman reading a magazine and pretending not to listen to their conversation. "Watch these children." He lifted Aaron out of Eileen's arms and set the little boy at the stranger's feet. "When the Police come tell them Cole St. John- repeat that name-"
"Cole St. John-"
"Is here. The police will know who he is." Gregory grabbed Eileen's hand and pulled her to the junction of the two hallways. "Which way?"
Her hand flew up to point to the left, just as Amanda had. "Who is Cole?" Gregory started to jog down the hallway and Eileen broke into a run to keep up. "Dammit, who is he!"
Gregory couldn't answer her aloud. His heart screamed that Cole was dead. It didn't matter how long he searched, where he looked, what he had to do- Cole was dead. Cole was going to regret the moment his father had even looked at his mother.
And then he saw her- Her hair flew out behind her head and revealed the twin trails of blood on her neck. Olivia ran around that corner with a child in her arms. She stumbled, loosing her footing as adrenaline gave out.
"Olivia!" His voice was life itself. Looking up gave her his eyes, the sheer terror in his face echoed the panicked beating of her heart.
She went down, her knees finally giving out as he closed the distance between them. He tore the little girl out of her arms and handed her to the strange woman at his side. Olivia felt her knee strike the hard tile of the floor and the pain shocked her back to reality. Reality where her back sang in agony and she had just fled from the man who was trying to kill her. The man who would have killed her.
Gregory's hands caught her face. He looked past the tears on her cheeks, the blood he'd smudged up on his hands, and all he saw was that she was all right. Behind the terror she was still there. Beneath the terror, that spark insisted she had won.
Olivia's first breath in his arms turned into a sob, and after that there was no stopping the torrent of repressed fear. Everything poured out of her in a storm of emotion. She couldn't see the tears on her husband's face because her own were too intense. His words of comfort went unheard, and the only reason she knew his arms were still around her was because the fabric of his jacket ripped at the torn skin of her back.
She could only point when the police arrived. Gregory pushed them away, letting no one touch her. He slapped away Ricardo Torres and snapped something about finding Cole. It was Roger that finally managed to get them off the floor. His first concern was the bandage on her stomach.
Miraculously it was intact, and unblemished by any of the bleeding that would signify real danger to the baby. The wounds on her back were superficial, and he could safely let Gregory wrap his jacket around her. They could be treated later, when Gregory could release his death grip on her for more then a few moments. If that ever happened again.