Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 768(@200wpm)___ 614(@250wpm)___ 512(@300wpm)
Glass shatters in the kitchen before I'm even halfway up the stairs.
I jump at the loud sound and spin around, my heart slamming against my ribcage.
The back door creaks open. I turn toward the alarm panel, my stomach sinking when I realize that I never rearmed the system.
An unfamiliar male voice mutters something I can't quite make out, but the mere sound of his voice sends pure terror pumping through me. Someone is in the house, and this time, it isn't Tahani visiting unexpectedly.
"Hurry up," that voice mutters to someone else. "We need to do this shit before he gets home, or the fuckin' neighbors catch us."
"No shit," a second male says. "You got the stuff?"
"Yeah," the first guy responds and then says something I don't understand in Spanish.
The second one answers him in Spanish and then laughs.
I stand frozen in the middle of the living room, my hand on my cellphone, as they mutter back and forth in Spanish, speaking so quickly, I don't stand a chance of interpreting what they're talking about. Fear rushes through me so fast that black dots swim before my eyes.
"I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds out," the first guy says.
"I still think we should have gone after his bitch first."
"No. The boss told us to wait until she left work. Once he's occupied here, we'll grab her."
Grab her? Are they talking about me?
"Fuckin' cop will regret killing Javier when his bitch never makes it home."
Oh my God. They're planning to kidnap me.
A chill works through me, freezing me from the inside out.
They don't know I'm here!
That realization allows me to pull a breath into my starving lungs. My feet finally move. I run as fast and as quietly as I can the rest of the way upstairs, praying like hell they don't hear me. There's no way I can make it past the kitchen without them seeing me. All I can do is hide and hope they don't find me. My steps sound so loud to me as I race down the hall, biting my lip to keep from sobbing. But I make it to the bedroom and close the door without either of them calling out or following behind me.
I turn the lock on the door and then race toward the closet.
I yank the door closed behind me and drop to my knees in the very back corner, wedging myself between the gun safe and the wall. My hands shake so hard it takes me two tries to pull up Roman's phone number.
"Hey, baby," he says when he answers on the third ring, his voice soft and tired. There's a lot of background noise like a large group of people all talking at once. Phones ring in an incessant cycle.
"Roman," I sob as soon as I hear his voice, my body shaking so hard I feel like I'm going to vibrate apart. I press myself even deeper into the corner, trying to make myself as small as possible.
"Mila? What's wrong?" His voice deepens, sounding more alert as he barks the question at me.
"There are two men in the house," I cry, trying to be quiet so they don't hear me.
"Shut the fuck up," he yells loudly to whoever is talking in the background, and then his voice softens. "Say that again, sweetheart."
"There are two men in the house," I repeat, squeezing my eyes closed like that's going to make the situation any better. "I came home early, and they broke in. They don't know I'm here, but they were talking about kidnapping me. I'm hiding in the closet. Please hurry."
"Fuck," he swears, terror in his voice. He repeats what I just said to someone else, and then I hear him moving. It sounds like he's running. "I'm coming for you, baby. I swear, I'm coming."
"Hurry, please."
Something else shatters downstairs, and then something else shatters. The sound of objects being thrown around and broken grows louder and more frantic. It's so loud that it sounds as if they're ripping the house apart. Glass shatters again and again as they break things, and loud thumps rattle through the house. I think Roman hears them, too, because he growls, the sound completely feral and terrifying.
"Please hurry," I whisper as the sounds downstairs continue.
"Do you remember the combination to the gun safe?" he asks me.
"Y-yes," I say, taking deep breaths because I feel like I'm going to faint. I hear his truck engine roar to life, and I know he's coming for me as quickly as he can. The sound melts a little of the ice freezing me from the inside out. Roman's on his way, and I know he'll do everything he can to keep me safe because that's who he is, and that's what he does.
"Good," he says, talking really softly like he's trying to keep me calm. "That's real good, baby. I need you to open it up for me and get a gun. You shoot if anyone comes through that door before you hear my voice. You don't fucking stop pulling the trigger until they quit moving."