Chapter Fifty-Two
There's someone behind you.
As soon as those words registered with my brain, which didn't take long despite how hazy and panicked it was, I spun around quickly. My swift and sudden movement and the blood that my coating my hands and body acted as a lubricant making my body slide on the kitchen floor slightly.
Gathering my bearings, I looked up to find no one there. My eyes darted around the kitchen and the entrance, expecting whoever my dad saw to jump out.
I could hear the woman on the phone asking me further questions and my dad struggling to talk. With shaky hands, I hoisted myself up from the ground and stood up. My legs felt weak and were trembling as if I hadn't used them in a long time.
Mustering up all the courage I had I ran over to the block where the knives were kept, being extra watchful of my steps so I didn't lose my footing on the cold, slippery blood-coated kitchen floor.
Squeezing the handle of the knife in my grasp, I began to take small steps as my eyes darted around, alert and ready for the attacker who could still be here.
"Leah." My dad called out, his voice weak and full of pain. "Run."
I looked back at my dad who was struggling to get himself up in a sitting position, each movement, whether big or small was followed by groans of pain.
"Dad, don't move, just stay there. The ambulance will be here soon, you and mum are going to be fine." I tried to reassurance him despite my words lacking any real energy.
Ignoring my dad's moans of protest and whatever the hell the woman on the other end of the phone was saying, I began to make my way out of the kitchen, my palm still grasping onto the knife tightly.
My heart was thumping inside my chest so loudly and quickly that it actually hurt. Peering into the hallway, my head bobbed around trying to find any signs of the attacker but there was none. Feeling slightly more confident, I took more steps into the hallway, my whole body on red alert.
There was no one around and when I went inside the dining room to check it out, it was empty too. Maybe my dad had made a mistake? Maybe he thought he saw someone when in reality he was having flashbacks or seeing things?
Despite my thoughts I knew I still had to double check, the attacker could still be here and they could strike again. Once I had inspected the living room, I let out a sigh of relief. No one was here, the attacker or attackers were gone.
Quickly making my way back to the hallway I paused when I heard a sound. Putting my hand over my mouth to reduce the sound of my heavy breathing, I cocked my head to the side and waited. Did I actually hear something? Was it just my imagination?
My ears perked up as it caught the small thudding sound again. It wasn't my imagination, someone was here!
The sound wasn't coming from this floor, it was coming from upstairs.
Looking up at the staircase, I removed my hand that was covering my mouth and switched the light on leaving my bloodstained fingerprints on it.
I took a step and hesitated. Was I making a mistake? Was this a trap? What if there were multiple people there? Even if there was only one person there, what was my plan? What would I do when I saw them?
Attack them the way they attacked my parents? Kill them?
I shook my head as if to physically shake those thoughts away from my head. No, I had to see if they were still there, I had to know who did this to my parents.
With that thought in mind I began to walk quickly up the stairs, taking in deep breaths and holding the knife as tightly as I could.
I followed my ears, listening and following the noises I could hear. It was coming from my parent's room and there was definitely someone there.
Be brave Leah, this fucker attacked your parents.
With that in mind, I reached my parents room within seconds and grasped the handle of their door. The door was closed but unlocked so I began to turn the handle, ready for the attacker to launch at me.
I pushed open the door but didn't step inside, my knife wielding arm was swinging around to hurt whoever may be standing behind the door.
No one was standing behind the door but someone was in the room.
I gasped sharply as I saw a tall man standing by the open window, his back was to me so I couldn't see his face. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans, trainers and a hoodie. He was big, a lot bigger than me, his body was stocky and he must have been at least 6 foot tall.
As if things were happening in slow motion, he turned around and I saw him. I didn't recognise him, not one bit, I had no idea who this man was. My eyes scanned his face as I tried to capture every detail about him. He had medium length light brown hair and his eyes were a dark shade of blue. There was a light coating of stubble covering the lower half of his face and his lips were twisted into a smirk.
"Leah is it?" He asked, his voice was deep and cold.
Before I could respond or do anything he jumped onto the window ledge, his sudden movement catching me off guard.
"No!" I lunged forward but I was too late.
The unknown man jumped out the window without hesitation leaving me all alone in the room. I thought I was too late to do anything, I thought my body was in too much shock to react to his jump but it wasn't.
I looked down at my hands, they were empty, I was no longer holding the knife.
Running over to the window, I peered over to see if the man was on the ground, but he wasn't there. Instead the bodyguard whose name I couldn't remember was looking up at me.
"Go after him! Go!" I screamed, waving my hands frantically around. "Go! Don't let him escape."
Instead of listening to me and going after the man, the bodyguard ran towards the house causing me to groan out in frustration.
"No, no, no!" I yelled out to no one in particular. My yelling was drowned out by the sound of the ambulance sirens.
Vladamir's bodyguard skidded into the room and grabbed me. "What happened?"
"Why didn't you go after him?" You could have caught him! Now how will we find him?"
"Leah? What happened?" He asked again, though he wasn't shouting or raising his voice I could hear the urgency in his tone.
What had actually happened? I didn't even know that myself!
"I-I...ther...my pa.." I knew what I wanted to say but my thoughts and the words or should I say the sounds I was making weren't matching.
"I need to get you out of here." The man told me as he grabbed my arm.
"No." I tried to shrug off his hold on me but he was too strong. "I'm not leaving my parents, I can hear the ambulance coming, I need to go with them to the hospital."
Without warning the man hoisted me up as if I was some sort of rag doll and tossed me over his shoulders. "I need to take you to Vladamir."
"No, no! My parents need me!"
My protests fell to deaf ears as the man jumped out the window the same way the attacker did earlier. The cold air smacked my face like a bat and despite my screaming, the man didn't stop until he threw me into the back of his car.
The throw had me stumped a little and as I got myself up in a sitting position he had already got into the car and locked the door.
"No! No! Let me out!" I screamed as I tugged the car handle and banged on the window. "Let me out!"
He ignored me and started to drive his car at an alarming speed, almost crashing into the ambulance that was pulling up in front of my parent's house.
My screams and shouts slowly turned into sobs, my body curling up into a foetal position as if that would protect me from the pain I was feeling. "Take me back." I sobbed. "Please take me back."
Closing my eyes, I rocked my body as I uttered those words over and over again. I knew it would not have any effect on him but I still couldn't stop saying those words. I was unaware of when we arrived back at Vladamir's house and how long it had been, my mind was still reeling in shock from what had happened.
It was only when I felt warm, strong hands softly cupping my body that I realised that we had arrived.
"Leanne." Vladamir's voice sounded so soft and gentle, very unlike his usual tone.
"Take me back." I met his blue eyes, my vision hazy from the tears that filled them. "I need to go back."
"Shh." His hands pushed back my hair before wiping the never-ending stream of tears that were falling down my face. He gently pulled me out of the car and pressed me against his warm body.
"Are you hurt?"
My heart was hurting, it was aching and breaking into thousands of pieces. Did that count?
"Leanne, are you hurt?" Vladamir asked me, his voice more firm this time. He sat me down on one of the living room sofa, his hands and eyes scanning over my body looking for signs of any injury.
"My parents." I told him weakly. I had to go to the hospital, I had to make sure they were okay.
"Your parents will live."
His words brought no comfort to me, instead they made it worse.
They would live?
Who says that to someone after they had just found their parents brutally attacked? How did he know they were going to live? What if they didn't? What if they died? Oh my God, what if they died?!
"This is your fault." I whispered as I let out a sob. It was his fault, it had to be. My parents were good and normal people, they didn't have any enemies, no one who would do such a thing to them.
I met Vladamir's eyes as I spoke the next few words.
"If anything happens to them, I will never forgive you."
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A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter
Let me know what you think is going to happen next
I will upload again on the weekend but you can read the full story and the start of book three on www.patreon.com/kayy_b or www.inkitt.com/kayy_b
Thank you for reading :)
-Kayy xx