Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Stace brings his hand up, cups my face, and kisses me tenderly. My eyes fill with tears. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this.”
He holds me close to his chest. “I was already in it. It’s me who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you back here.”
“Some wedding night, hey?” I smile sadly.
His face falls and I know what he’s thinking. I shake my head. “Don’t think that.”
“Shh.” He tries to calm me.
“We will get married,” I whisper. “Promise me, we will get married.”
“Rosh.” He pauses and the emotion in his eyes breaks my heart.
“No,” I whisper.
“I need to hand you into the police, babe.”
The tears break the dam and run down my face toward the pillow. “No.”
“You will be safe with them.”
“And you will be dead. If you go to prison, you will be killed immediately. We both know how many men are on his payroll.”
“I can’t protect you,” he whispers.
“And who will protect you?” I cry. “I will not leave you out here where they will kill you.”
“But you will be safe. That’s all I care about.”
I put my head into his chest as the lump blocks my throat. “There’s another way, Stace. We just have to think of it. Stop thinking like this.” I kiss him softly through my tears and he holds me tight.
“Rosh.” He shakes me awake. I squint as I try to focus, and I glance at the clock. It’s 5am. “The coast is clear. I’m going to go and see what’s going on.”
I sit up. “No. What?” I try to make my brain wake up.
“I will be back soon.”
I frown. “Where are you going?”
“I just want to go and see where the fire stair exits are so we can get out of here. I will be back, but you need to stay here.”
I grab his arm. “No.” I shake my head frantically. “I’m not staying here without you.”
He grabs my face in his two hands. “Listen to me. Let me go and see if I can find an exit. We are more of a target together.” He kisses me as he holds my face in his two hands. “I love you.”
I watch him through tear filled eyes. “I love you, too,” I whisper.
“If I don’t come back, stay in the room and call the police.”
I screw up my face in tears. “No, Stace, don’t go.” I try to grab hold of his arm to make him stay where he is safe, but with one last long look he disappears from my sight. I hear the latch on the door quietly click shut.
He’s gone.
* * *
Stace
I glance down the hallway toward our original room. Silence. The men are still down there. I just went and checked as Rosh slept. Waiting men are at the elevators and the bottom of the fire stair exit. Only one door opens on a fire door exit. The ground floor, and they know that… everybody knows that. I’m under no illusion that the ground floor won’t be crawling. There is no getting out of here undetected.
After thinking on this all night, I know more than ever I need to ensure her safety.
That’s all I care about now.
Unfortunately, there is only one way to do that. I creep along the hallway until I get to the fire stairs, and I know if I go in I will probably never see my Rosh again. They will put her back into witness protection, and if I am able to fight my way out of this mess with Vikinos’s men, I will be a wanted man from the police. I won’t be able to find her. My chest constricts at the thought of never holding her in my arms, of never touching her again. His men will be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.
But she will be safe.
I slowly open the door and walk in and shut it behind me. It clicks with a cold heartbreaking click.
I retrieve my phone from my pocket and dial 911.
“Police, Fire, or Ambulance,” the receptionist answers.
“Police.”
“Putting you through.”
“Hello, Police,” the policeman on the other end answers.
I frown and pinch the bridge of my nose. We were getting married tonight. Emotion overcomes me and my throat constricts. I take a deep breath and force the words from my mouth on autopilot. “This is Joel McIntyre. I kidnapped Roshelle Myers from Carpenter parking lot at gunpoint and held her captive for thirty-one days. She is in room 3590 of the Venetian in Las Vegas.”
“Are you armed?” the policeman asks.
“No, I’m no longer with her.”
“Is she alive?”
“Barely. She needs medical attention. You should hurry.” I hang up and shakily sit down on the steps underneath me as I am overcome with emotion.
Thanks, babe.
That was the best month of my life.
* * *
Roshelle
I lie in the silent darkness and stare at the ceiling. My mind is ticking and I have sick feeling in my gut. Stace has gone looking for an exit, but something else is bothering me.