Watch Me (Dark Obsession #1)(23)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She shrugged. “He’s not exactly talking. Not with his lawyer here. They’re working on getting the guy back on the streets and any kind of confession from him, well, that’s not going to help things, now is it?”

Shit. This case had just gotten one hell of a lot more tangled. Because if Ethan Barclay wasn’t the only threat against Gwen…if that jerk hadn’t been the only one watching her.

She’s still in danger.

***

Chance rushed out of his office building. Big damn surprise…it was snowing again. “Gwen!” The street was decorated for the coming holiday and the twinkling lights lit the scene. He ran right past those lights, sliding a bit on the snow, as he tried to search for Gwen.

He saw her up on the corner. She was standing with her shoulders hunched. Oh, Christ, please, don’t let her be crying. Gwen’s tears tore him apart. “Gwen!” Chance yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to try and make his call carry to her.

She jerked and looked back. He saw her swipe her hand over her cheek. Wiping away tears? When she saw him, Gwen lurched forward. She rushed toward the street.

He was already running after her. “Gwen, stop! Let me explain!” He had to explain this epic fuck-up before Gwen left him.

He heard the growl of an engine. Saw the flash of lights turn on up ahead and then a van was racing down the road.

Gwen was in the middle of the intersection. The sign on the street corner was flashing for her to walk, but she wasn’t walking—she was running.

And the van was rushing straight for her.

“Gwen!” Now fear was in his bellow because he was too far away from her. “Gwen, get out of the road! Run, run!”

The van barreled toward her. Chance ran as fast as he could. He needed to get to Gwen. He needed to—

The van roared through the intersection and he saw Gwen fly toward the bank of snow on the sidewalk. She fell into that snow.

The van raced away.

“Gwen!”

Fear stole his breath. He slipped, fell, then hauled ass to her. His whole body was shaking. Did the van hit her? Did the van—

She groaned. She was still in the snow.

He reached down to her, and Gwen rolled toward him. Snow fell off her arms and her legs.

“What was that guy’s problem?” Gwen mumbled as she brushed the snow off her face. “Didn’t he see me? I was right there!”

Chance hauled Gwen to her feet. His shaking hands ran over every inch of her body, searching for an injury.

Gwen can’t be hurt. She can’t be. I need her. Gwen can’t be hurt!

“Stop it!” Gwen swatted at his fingers. “I jumped out of the way. The snow cushioned my fall. I’m fine.” She shoved at his chest. “Just let me go.”

He held her even tighter. Chance buried his face in the curve of her neck. “Just let me hold you. Give me a minute.” A minute to get his fear and fury under control. A minute to realize that he hadn’t lost Gwen. She was right there, with him. Safe. Alive.

Her fingers fluttered over his shoulders. “Chance?”

“I couldn’t get to you fast enough.” His hold was probably crushing her. He should ease up. He just—couldn’t. Maybe he needed another minute. Maybe twenty more minutes. “The van was coming right at you. I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”

She pushed against his shoulders. Finally, Chance managed to ease back, just a few inches. Her expression was worried. “I’m okay,” Gwen said softly. “It was just an accident, I’m—”

His phone rang, vibrating in his pocket.

Gwen’s jaw tightened. “That had so better not be my father again.”

Chance kept one arm around Gwen while he pulled out his phone. His gaze swept the area. The van was long gone.

That van had been familiar. I saw it before, back at—

“We’ve got a problem,” Lex said when Chance put the phone to his ear. “A big damn one. You need to get down to the police station with Gwen because it sure looks like Ethan may not be the only threat facing your lady.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got that part already.” Because that van—that dark van—it had been the same one he’d seen the other night at Gwen’s place. He knew that make and model. The guy had just tried to run her down. He tried to kill Gwen. “We’re on the way.” He put the phone back into his pocket.

“Chance?” Gwen stared up at him.

Oh, hell, but he hated to do this… “Baby, that wasn’t some distracted driver.” He went back into the road. Pointed to the marks that were so easy to see in the falling snow. “The driver was waiting for his moment to attack. When he saw you, when you made a good target, he came right at you. He accelerated and he swerved to try and hit you. Not to avoid you.” The marks on the road told a clear story.

Gwen’s arms wrapped around her stomach. “That guy wanted to kill me?”

Kill her…or, at the very least, hurt her. Badly.

“Why? What have I done? Is Ethan doing this? Did he hire whoever was driving that van?” Now she looked down the empty road. She shivered. “I want this over.”

So did he. “We need to get to the police station.” There was a camera positioned right above the intersection. Faith would get them access to that camera. They’d find that bastard.

And I will stop you. Because you aren’t going to take Gwen from me.

***

At the police station, Gwen stared through the one-way mirror into the interrogation room. Ethan was seated at the table, and he seemed to be staring right back at her.

“He can’t see you,” the detective told her. Faith. The detective’s name was Faith Chestang. She’d been waiting when Gwen arrived at the station. Faith had worked for Gwen’s father years before, and Gwen had been glad to see a familiar face at the PD. “He knows someone is out here, of course,” Faith added, “but the guy has no idea it’s you.”

One of Ethan’s wrists was handcuffed to the table.

“Why is he doing this?” The why was driving Gwen crazy. “We broke up. People do that all the time. They break up, and then they move the hell on.” They didn’t put cameras inside the homes of their exes. They didn’t—jeez, what had he done? Hire someone to mow her down in that van?

“You know his ex-fiancée died in a car crash.” Faith’s voice had turned musing.

Gwen didn’t look away from Ethan. It was hard to think that she’d once had sex with a man who now wanted her dead.