Fifty Recipes For Disaster - Book 4

Chapter One

Chapter One

I SEARCH Robbs’ eyes for any sign of humanity, but all I see is wild rage. I know there’s not a chance that I’ll be able to talk my way out of this, but I try anyway.

“Robbs,” I say calmly. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been waiting for you, Kiara. I’ve been waiting for a really long time. You don’t think you’re leaving, do you?” He gestures to the keys in my hand. “You just got here.”

He takes a couple of steps toward me, and I instinctively back away. “You haven’t answered my question, Robbs. What are you doing here?”

He pulls one of my chef’s knives from his back pocket and points the blade at me. “I’m here to give you what you deserve. You know as well as I do that you’ve slept your way to the top. This should have been my apartment. You stole it from me, just like you stole the apprenticeship back in Austin. I could outcook you all day long, but I just can’t satisfy the executive chefs quite the same way you can. It’s not fair.”

Just stall him. Delco is on his way. Just keep him talking until the cops get here.

“Robbs, you’re clearly upset. But so far, you haven’t done anything that you can’t come back from. I’m sure that any decent attorney could keep you out of jail. Please don’t do anything to make things worse for yourself.” I try to keep my voice even. I don’t want Robbs to have the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

He lets out an evil laugh. “Nice try, Kiara, acting like you’re worried about me. It’s completely unnecessary, I have a foolproof plan all worked out.” He takes another step toward me.

I remain rooted in place. I don’t want to put any more distance between myself and the front door.

“As soon as I’m done with you,” he continues, “I’m going to go finish what I started with your slutty little friend. I thought I’d done the job right the first time, but the b***h just wouldn’t die, would she? I wasn’t counting on a neighbor finding her. But I learned from that mistake. You’ll be cold before anyone finds you. And once Jenny is taken care of, I’ll disappear. I’m a master at reinventing myself. I’m thinking a life near the beach is in order. The sun and fresh air will be good for me, after all of the hell you’ve put me through.”

“You’ll never get away with it,” I tell him defiantly. “The cops will grab you the moment you try to go near Jenny. You’ll never hurt her again, and you’ll rot in prison if you hurt me.”

“They’ll have to find me first,” he snarls. “And even if they do, any punishment they give me will be well worth it. Knowing that you’re in the ground will be the warm blanket that keeps me warm in prison.”

He lunges at me and knocks me in to the hallway wall. The back of my head hits the hard sheetrock, and I slide to the floor. I feel dizzy, and it takes me several moments to focus my eyes. When I finally do, I see Robbs moving toward me with the knife.

Where the hell is Delco?

Robbs bends down and grabs me by the front of my shirt. I lean into the wall as he pulls me to my feet. I’ve never been a particularly religious person. I’ve kind of always thought that if God did exist, he’d forgotten about me a long time ago. But in this moment, with Robbs holding me against the wall and pressing the cold blade to my neck, all I can do is pray.

Please help me. Please send someone. I’m not ready to die.

I hear the c***k of the front door being kicked open, and a rush of relief fills me.

Thank you. I can’t believe that worked. Thank you.

“Kiara?” Paul cries out. “Kiara, are you here?”

Robbs is caught off guard by Paul’s sudden appearance, and I’m able to wiggle out of his grip.

“I’m here, Paul,” I call out through my tears. I race down the hallway, followed closely by Robbs. “So is Robbs! He was here when I got home!”

Paul rounds the corner into the hallway and quickly gets between me and Robbs. “Get out of here, Kiara! Go to the diner across the street and wait for me. I’ll take care of this trash.”

“NO, NO, NO!” Robbs screams. “Get the f**k back here, you bitch.”

“Paul, he has a knife!” I warn as Robbs lunges for him.

Paul hits the wall but isn’t knocked out.

“Go, Kiara,” Paul demands again. He grabs a hold of Robbs’ wrist and keeps the knife at bay. I’m torn between wanting to stay and help him and wanting to get the hell away as fast as possible.

Paul can handle him. And if he can’t, I don’t want to be here for Robbs to slice into next. I’ll call the cops from the diner.

I race toward the door and find it splintered, barely hanging from its hinges. I step through the wreckage and race for the elevator. I listen for sounds from my apartment but I can’t hear anything. My ears are still ringing from hitting my head on the wall. The elevator doors open, and I jump inside. My heart pounds as I descend to the ground floor and escape to the sidewalk. I cross the street and step into the diner, but I still feel an overwhelming urge to flee.

What the f**k happened to Delco?

A tired, middle-aged brunette approaches my table. “What can I get you?” she asks halfheartedly.

“Coffee and water, please,” I quickly reply. She leaves, and I pull my phone from my back pocket. Delco had promised to be here in ten minutes, but that was twenty minutes ago. I dial his number.

“Kiara, I hit traffic. I’m still about ten minutes out. Was it Martin? Is he still there?”

“It was him. He tried to kill me. He would have killed me, but my ex-boyfriend showed up and kicked the door in. I’m safe now, in the diner across the street. Paul told me to wait for him here, but so far neither of them has left the building. Robbs had one of my professional butcher knives. I... I don’t know if Paul was armed. ”

“Kiara, you don’t sound like you feel safe,” Officer Delco quickly replies. “And I’m not sure that you are. If Robbs is the one who walks out of that apartment, he’ll come straight for you. What time is your flight scheduled?”

“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“Were you able to get anything out of the apartment? Do you have cash?”

“I have my purse and my keys. There’s about a hundred dollars in cash in my wallet.”

“Okay, great. I want you to calmly step outside and hail a taxi. Take it to Airport Suites. My brother-in-law is a manager there. I’ll call ahead and let him know that you’re coming. He’ll put you in the closest room to the front desk and arrange for someone to escort you to airport security in the morning. Bruce will cut you a deal, and let you pay for the room in cash. I’ll call you there as soon as I know what’s happened at your apartment.”

I pull a five-dollar bill out of my wallet and toss it on the table to cover my check. I try to remain as calm as possible as I step back outside, but I can’t keep my eyes off of my building. I know that Robbs could walk out at any moment. At this point, I wouldn’t put it past him to attack me on the street. To my relief, an empty taxi is waiting just down the curb. I jump inside and give the driver the name of the hotel. As my building disappears in the rearview mirror, my anxiety finally begins to subside.

I guess that prayer thing really worked. Thanks for sending Paul. If you’re still listening, I’d appreciate it if you could get him out of there safely.

>>

I pace the worn carpet of my hotel room, waiting for my phone to ring. It’s been two hours since I arrived at Airport Suites, and I still haven’t heard from Delco. As promised, Bruce had put me in the room directly across from the front desk. I feel safe here, but I’m dying to know what happened back at my apartment.

I’m startled by a knock at my door and cautiously peek through the peep hole. Delco is waiting on the other side of the door; I fling it open.

“Did you get Robbs? Is Paul okay?” I ask urgently.

Delco steps into the room, rolling my largest suitcase behind him. “Robbs was already gone when I got there,” he tells me with a sigh. “Mr. Weston was knocked out. He’s fine now. Paramedics checked him out on scene. He’ll have a hell of a headache for the next few days, but no lasting harm was done.”

“So he got the knife away from Robbs?” I ask with relief. I’m upset that Robbs is still on the loose, but relieved that Paul wasn’t hurt.

“Yes, according to Paul’s statement, Robbs was on top of him with the knife but he was able to wrestle it away. That didn’t slow Robbs down much though. Paul took a few punches to the head. Apparently Robbs didn’t want to kill him, or he’d have grabbed the knife again once Paul was out.”

“Where is Paul now?”

“He’s on his way to the airport. He wanted to come to you, but I convinced him to give you some space. You mentioned he was your ex-boyfriend, I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see him or not. I promised that you’d call him when you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Detective Delco. You’ve really gone above and beyond for Jenny and me.”

“My sister went through something similar to this,” he explains. “She lives in Los Angeles. A LAPD officer saved her life and put her stalker behind bars. I take cases like this pretty personally. I figured the last thing you’d want to do is go back to your apartment, so I took the liberty of bringing this.” He gestures to the suitcase. “I had a female officer pack some of your things, I hope that you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, thank you. And you’re right, I never want to see the inside of that apartment again. The rent is paid up through the end of the month, so I’ll see if I can get a friend to fly out and pack up the rest of my personal things. I don’t know what to do with all the furniture... I’ve still got a storage unit full of stuff in Austin.”

“I have a suggestion. My niece just rented a new apartment in the city. She could pack up your personal things and ship them to you and in exchange, you could sell her the furniture at a discount.”

“That would be perfect. In fact, if she’ll clean the apartment after she packs up, she can just have the furniture.”

“I’m sure she’ll be delighted. Is there anything else you need before you fly out tomorrow?”

I shake my head. “No, I just want to take a long, hot bath and then sleep until it’s time to leave this city.”

“After what you’ve been through, I don’t blame you. Did Jenny land in Austin safely?”

“Yes, she sent me a text about an hour ago. I didn’t tell her what happened tonight. I figured she has enough to worry about. What’s being done to find Robbs?”

“We’ve put out an APB. The airports, bus terminals, and train stations all have his picture. I’ve got people processing your apartment now, looking for signs of how he got in and how long he may have been there. One of our tech guys is going through the history on your desktop to see if he researched any destinations or bought any tickets.”

“He said that he was going after Jenny again when he was done with me,” I tell him.

“I’ve alerted the Austin PD that he could be on his way. I wish that there was more we could do.”

“I wish there was, too.” I sigh. “I know I’ll be looking over my shoulder until Robbs is behind bars.”

“Can you and Jenny stay with your friend Chase until he’s caught? I hate the idea of you two girls on your own.”

“Once Chase finds out about tonight, he’ll probably organize a rotating guard of his football buddies. Robbs will have a hard time getting to us if we’re surrounded by college linebackers,” I joke.

“I like the sound of that. I hate to leave you, but I really need to be getting back to work. Have a safe flight tomorrow. You have my number. If you need anything at all, just give me a call. I’ll let you know if the crime scene techs find anything in your apartment.”

I walk the detective to the door. “Thank you again for everything, Detective Delco.”

“You’re welcome, Kiara. I’m sorry that you didn’t have a better time in The Big Apple.”

“It wasn’t the city. I was trying to escape my past, but it just followed me here. Tomorrow, I’ll fly home and face it. For now, I just want to sleep.”