Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance by Natalie Kristen Page B

frightened tears. “Logan,” Troy
said gently. “When did you see Dot?”
    “J-just before Mom ran
up to me and demanded to know where Leo was,” Logan stammered,
glancing at his mother.
    “Was Dot alone when you
saw her? Where did you see her?” Troy continued.
    Logan nodded. “She was
standing here, in front of the counter. She was alone. The man said
to give her the envelope only if she was alone.”
    “What man?”
    “What envelope?”
    “Why didn't you tell
us?”
    Logan looked scared as he
stared at the adults in front of him. “Did I do something
wrong?” he whimpered. “Mom?”
    “No, sweetheart, of
course not.” Megan wiped away her tears and hugged her son.
“Of course not.”
    “Logan, who told you to
give Dot the envelope?” Troy demanded.
    “A man. I was reading
a book when a man came and sat beside me. He knew my name. He told
me to give Dot the envelope.”
    “Did you see Dot open
the envelope?”
    Logan nodded. “Yeah.
She pulled out a piece of paper. Then I ran off to find Leo.”
    Megan turned around and
grabbed Troy's hands. “Oh, Troy, what's happening? This
doesn't make sense...”
    “Someone is stalking
Dot. But he's not just a stalker,” Troy snarled. “Dot...Olga,
her real name is Olga. She's been hiding and running from him for
years.”
    Brandon caught Megan as her
legs gave out suddenly. Her eyes were wide with horror and
comprehension. “Running? What do you mean?” Megan
whispered. “Who is this man she's running from?”
    “The man who is after
Olga is a rapist and a murderer.”
    Megan froze. “And he
has Leo,” she said, with a mother's unerring intuition. “The
blood on the bathroom floor...” Her voice was impassive and
frighteningly calm.
    Then she screamed.
    “No! No!” Megan
struggled furiously but Brandon held her tight.
    At that moment, the Sheriff
and his deputy rushed into the library.
    Megan slid to the floor, her
face twisted in anguish. “I want to find my baby! Please find
my baby! If he's harmed a hair on Leo's head, I will kill him! I
swear I will kill him!”

CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT

    Olga sat in the back seat and
cradled Leo's head in her lap. The boy twitched and whimpered softly
but his eyes remained closed. “Wake up, Leo,” she
whispered, shaking him gently. The boy's lower lip was split but it
was no longer bleeding.
    Olga looked up and scowled.
“What did you do to him? Let him go. It's me you want. The
boy has nothing to do with this. With me.”
    The Artist laughed but he
didn't stop the car.
    Olga jerked at the handle but
the car door remained locked. She stared out the tinted window and
realized that she was invisible to the people on the street. All
they would see was a car with dark windows zooming past. They
couldn't see her and Leo in the back seat.
    The Artist had warned her as
he escorted her to the car, “If you attract attention to
yourself, I'll press this little red button.” He showed her a
small device like a remote control in his pocket. “Boom! The
car explodes, with the boy in it.”
    He had been quick and
meticulous. He'd knocked Leo unconscious in the bathroom and dragged
the boy into a cubicle. A window pane had already been removed. He
bundled the boy through the window and climbed out. In a minute, he
had the boy safely stowed in his car. All he had to do was walk
calmly round to the front of the library and wait.
    Olgawatched the Artist as he
drove them swiftly out of town. When she met his eyes in the rear
view mirror, she shivered and looked away.
    She remembered his eyes. The
Artist had always worn a hood when he was with her. He had held her
for five months and she had never seen his face. Only his eyes.
    And his greenish-blue eyes
had looked so much like Steven Quinn's. At first glance, she had
thought that he was Steven Quinn, the man who was serving time for
all those crimes he'd confessed to. But he wasn't Steven Quinn. He
was the Artist.
    He wasn't wearing a hood now.
He was wearing a nice suit,