Danger Zone

14. Remember

Chapter fourteen

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The pain wouldn't stop.

From the time I got on the plane to the time I arrived at my house, to the the next morning when I got to the cemetery, it wouldn't stop.

I knew I couldn't really be mad at him. We weren't together, and I'd told him I wanted sex with no strings attached. I was just stupid enough to let my heart into things knowing he was a player.

It was pathetic, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I had nobody to talk to, because nobody could know the full extent of what happened. So I went to the only person I knew I wouldn't have to worry about.

Reece.

I kneeled down at his gravesite, tracing the engraving of his name on the marble tombstone. 'Reece Christopher Hayes'

"I'm so sorry."

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"Thalia, listen to me. Do not move, do not make a sound. I'm gonna get us out of here," he whispered urgently as he shoved me behind a stack of wooden crates.

"Reece please just wait for Richard to send help," I pleaded for what had to be the hundredth time. The stench of the warehouse burned my nostrils, but I was out of breath from running.

"If we wait we'll die. Sit here and be quiet, I love you," he said firmly, staring deeply into my eyes. I was crying now, unable to control my emotions with the fear coursing through me.

"I love you too," I whispered, knowing he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. He leaned down and kissed me passionately, and I could taste the salty tang of my tears. "Stay alive for me."

He nodded and quickly stood up before proceeding towards the door with his gun withdrawn. It was then that I saw the telltale red laser of a sniper trained on his back.

The door swung open.

I screamed.

He turned around.

The gunshots rang through the air.

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When I'd gotten a chance to talk to the sniper who killed my fiancé, I asked him why he did not kill me.

"You're a woman. Couldn't bring myself to kill a woman."

I'd leapt across the interrogation table with a scream and had my hands around his throat.

I remembered Mr. Richard having to pry me off of the man, holding my thrashing body in a tight hold and carrying me into another room. I broke down then, confessing our relationship to him.

"Engaged? I'm so sorry, Thalia.."

I didn't work for about a month following his death. I was forced by Richard to see a counselor almost every day to talk about how I felt until I was cleared to return. I'd never actually gotten over it, though, until I met Dante.

"Thalia, sweetheart?"

I looked up and hurriedly swiped away at my tears, not wanting the blonde haired woman to see them. "Mrs. Hayes, how are you?" I stood to my feet.