Fatal Series 00 - Fatal Destiny

“So lucky. Don’t ever let me go, okay?”
    “No chance of that.”
    “Promise?”
    “I promise. Do you?”
    “I do,” she said.
    He smiled at her choice of words. “Does this mean we’re married now?”
    “In all the ways that matter.” She tilted her hips against his reawakened erection. “So that makes this our wedding night.”
    “Nice try,” he said as he removed her T-shirt and kissed his way to her breasts.
    “Nick…”
    “Relax, honey,” he said, chuckling. “Let it happen.”
     
    Even though she was always consciously aware that the nightmare had returned, she was never able to pull herself out of it in time to keep from hearing the screams or seeing the blood. Every time her subconscious forced her to relive one of the worst nights of her life, Sam tried to change the outcome.
    If I can get to Quentin before he’s hit, maybe, maybe I can get him out of there , she would think as she ran through the decrepit house where Marquis Johnson kept his crack stash. Sam ran as fast as she could, calling for Quentin. The rest of her team was behind her, and she heard them yelling for her to wait for them.
    “Don’t shoot,” she cried. “Hold your fire!” Now, with the benefit of hindsight, she knew how it would end. This time, she could change everything by not allowing her officers to return fire. She could go back and rewrite history to make it come out the way it should have the first time.
    “Marquis!” Sam said. “Get Quentin out of here!” Her command was met with silence. Sam inched along the hallway toward the bedroom where all hell had broken loose that fateful night. “Marquis, please. Let him go before he gets hurt.”
    A muffled cry stopped her heart. Oh, God, it was happening again. She couldn’t bear to see that adorable, innocent little boy covered in blood as his shrieking father held his lifeless body.
    Rounding the final corner before the back bedroom, Sam gripped her weapon with both hands and extended it in front of her. She should wait for Freddie and the others to catch up to her, but a second muffled cry had her rushing into the room where Darius Gardner had Nick in a chokehold, a gun pressed to his temple. Duct tape covered Nick’s mouth. His arms and legs were bound.
    Nick’s eyes met hers, and Sam faltered. She could see and smell his fear. Blood ran down the side of his face, forcing him to blink to keep it out of his eye. “Darius,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper. “Please. Let him go.”
    “Faith told you not to butt into my life.” He drove the gun harder into Nick’s head, drawing a moan from Nick that tore at Sam. “You should’ve listened to her.”
    “Don’t hurt him,” Sam said. “I’m the one you want. Let him go, and take me.”
    Nick let out a low growl and fought against Darius’s hold.
    It all happened so fast. One minute Sam was pleading with Darius. In the next instant, the gun fired and Nick went down. She ran for him, screaming his name, but something held her back, keeping her from him. Sam struggled against the arms that held her tight.
    “Babe, wake up. You’re dreaming.” His lips moved on her face as sobs shook her body.
    The sheer, overwhelming relief at realizing it had been a terrible dream left her weak and clinging to him.
    “Shhh,” he said. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
    She breathed in his scent, letting the beat of his heart calm and comfort her.
    “Want to talk about it?”
    Shaking her head, she drew in another deep breath as the implications spiraled through her mind. In all the months since the crack house shooting, the dream had never changed. Until now. What did it mean?
    During the course of her career, she’d been threatened plenty of times. Never once had a threat caused her to back down from an investigation. But she’d never had quite so much to lose. What if someone seriously threatened Nick’s life? What would she do?
    Nick combed his fingers through her hair.
    She nuzzled his chest and kissed his throat. The images from the dream kept running through her mind, making her shudder.
    As he tightened his arms around her, Sam realized there was absolutely nothing she wouldn’t do to ensure his safety—including back off an investigation if it came to that.
    “Just a dream, babe,” he said, massaging her shoulders.
    “Yeah.” Except , she thought, it wasn’t just a dream . It was her greatest nightmare .
    “Will you be able to go back to sleep?”
    She nodded, telling