Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
We spin around to find Micah standing in the doorway, assessing the situation.
“Do you know him?” he asks, walking inside.
“He was our mom’s boyfriend and pimp,” Ellie answers first.
“All right, let’s go,” he says, reaching for us.
“I didn’t…” I shake my head. “We didn’t… We found him like this.”
He nods. “We need to get you out of here.”
“Wait,” Ellie cries. “I need to know if Mom is here somewhere…” dead. She can’t say the word, but I know what’s going through her head.
Micah looks like he wants to argue, but when he sees the tears gliding down Ellie’s face, he nods in understanding. “Don’t move, either of you.” He pins us both with a hard look and then takes off down the hall. A few minutes later, he reappears, shaking his head. “There’s no one else here. Let’s go.”
“What about my stuff?” Ellie asks.
“Whatever you need can be replaced,” Micah snaps, clearly losing his patience. “Whoever killed this guy will be back to clean it up. We gotta go.”
He ushers Ellie and me gently out the door, then he grabs my wrist when I start to head toward my car. “You’re staying with me until this gets sorted.”
“What? No,” I argue. “We’ll get a room at the motel and—”
Micah pinches my chin and forces me to look at him. “Your independence is something I find extremely attractive about you, but now is not the time to debate the issue. I know you don’t have all the facts yet, but please trust me when I tell you that you and your sister aren’t safe.”
I open my mouth to argue, but before I can, Ellie’s hand lands on my arm, and my eyes meet her panicked, scared green eyes. “Please,” she whispers, and that’s all I need for my stubbornness to dissipate. Ellie comes first, and if she needs to go with Micah to feel safe, that’s what we’ll do. Even if the thought of going with him equally terrifies me.
The ride to Micah’s penthouse is filled with him barking orders to someone on the phone while Ellie and I remain quiet. When we arrive at the hotel, instead of pulling up to the front, he drives down a small side road that leads to what looks like a private garage that can only be accessed with the clicker he has clipped to his visor.
Two men are waiting for us, and he must feel me go immediately on alert because his hand lands on my thigh, squeezing it in a calming gesture. I try not to pay attention to the fact that my body does just that—calms.
“That’s Ricardo and Bruno,” he says. “They’re two of my men. I trust them and you can as well. This hotel is secure, and no one can access my personal elevator, but they’re going to be standing guard just as an extra layer of protection.
Standing guard? Why is he making it sound like…?
Oh, my God. The men who were cornering me. Seeing Phil dead fogged my brain. I had assumed they were just rapist assholes trying to take advantage of a woman alone in a dark parking lot. But what if the two incidents are somehow connected? What if whoever killed Phil came there to kill us? What if we were the targets?
Goose bumps spread along my flesh, my blood running cold at the thought that we could’ve ended up like Phil if we had been home.
“How much danger are we in?” I whisper.
Micah goes to get out without answering me, but I grab ahold of his bicep and lock eyes with him. “Whoever killed Phil… Was he… Do you think… he was trying to get to us?”
Micah swallows thickly, and for a split second, I see a hint of sympathy in his features, telling me all I need to know—this is exactly what he thinks.
“We’ll talk once we’re inside,” he says.
Once we’ve entered his penthouse, Micah sets the alarm, and I feel like I’m able to take my first breath in hours. I’m still freaking out, but now that we’re here, I know we did the right thing by trusting Micah to keep us safe. We’re dozens of floors up with a private elevator and extra security protecting us.
Ellie is safe.
Micah hands Ellie and me each a bottled water and guides us over to the living room, gesturing for us to have a seat. Ellie sits in the corner, bringing her legs up to her chest in a protective manner, and I sit next to her, reaching over and rubbing her shin, trying to reassure her that everything is going to be okay even though I have no idea if that’s true.
“There’s a bounty on your head,” Micah says, sitting on the coffee table across from me.
“What the hell does that mean?” I ask.
“Like the show?” Ellie squeaks. “Like where people who are wanted get tracked down and whoever finds them gets a reward?”