Deadly Infatuation

Chapter 47

Max

My eyes open when my brain registers the sound of breaking glass. My body freezes in bed as I try to distinguish if what I just heard was real or only a figment of my imagination. It doesn't help that the storm is at its strongest, causing branches from a tree to tap ferociously against the windowpane, which makes it hard to hear out for any more strange noises.

I feel Lily stir beside me and she whimpers in her sleep. My hand comes to rest on her back and she soon settles beside me, her head nestling on my chest. As I continue to listen for any more noises, I lift my head to look at the door when I hear quick footsteps outside my room and realize that it must be Johnson or Blake moving across the house. Knowing what I heard must have been real and that they must have heard the noise as well, I decide to investigate the house myself to make sure that everything is okay. Sliding my arm from under Lily's body, I ease off the bed. I glance at my alarm clock as I do this to find out what time it is, but my eyes are met with a blank screen. The storm must have knocked out the power cables, which means the lights and CCTV will be out as well. Cursing, I stand and Lily rolls over onto my side of the bed and as I glance down at her to check if she's still asleep I can see her face in scrunched up telling me that even unconscious she's troubled. And who can blame her? She's just witnessed something absolutely awful and in her mind she knows Sarah isn't done tormenting her yet. I bend down to retrieve my jeans from the floor and slide them on before grabbing my handgun for safe measures off the beside table and then exit the bedroom and quietly shut the door behind me.

The stormy night sky illuminates the corridor through the bay window just enough that I can make out Johnson walking down the stairs with his own gun drawn. The floorboard creaks under my weight and Johnson pauses on the step and he lifts his gun to me. My eyes go wide at his defensive action and I hold my hand up to reassure him I'm not a threat. He nod his head stiffly and holds his finger to his lips, warning me to keep quiet before motioning with his fingers to the first floor. Understanding that the noise must have come from downstairs, I copy Johnson and move my gun closer to my body and meet him on the staircase. He glances down the stairs momentarily before turning to look at me. "I've tried to call the police, but the phone lines are down and the storm is jamming any signal from my cell. It's just us."

Fuck. "Where's Blake?"

"Downstairs."

Double fuck.

There's a chance that Blake could have caused the noise, perhaps breaking something from walking around in the dark, but with Sarah on the loose and a perfect night for her to make a move, it seems more likely that foul play caused it. I follow Johnson downstairs, taking each step slowly so that I don't arouse anyone of our presence because if there is an intruder in the house, then they may have come prepared as well. When he reaches the bottom step, he first looks left to the front door, which is still closed, and then turns his head right, which leads to the rest of the other rooms. He turns his head over his shoulder, and I can tell from the serious look in his eyes that his training is kicking in. "Stay here," he whispers.

He then crosses the small walkway and presses himself against the wall and sidesteps to the left. Taking a steady breath, he edges closer to the opening of the office door and peers inside before stepping into the room with his gun held in front of him disappearing from my sight. I don't even realize I'm holding my breath as I stare into the darkness of the room he just entered, wondering if someone could be in there with him. After a few seconds, he emerges from the room and quietly shuts the door behind him, the faint click of the door reaching my ears, letting me know that the room is clear. I walk down the last step of the stairs so that I reach the floor and step in Johnson's direction when he motions with his hand for me to stay close to the wall. I do as he tells me and together we slowly tread to the entryway of the living room, him on one side of the corridor, me on the other. When we reach the entrance to the living room, Johnson puts his shoulder to the wall and peers into the room. "Shit," he curses.