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MIA
Someone shouting drags me from my sex-induced sleep, and I blink my eyes open slowly.
A yawn forces its way from my chest, and when I turn my head, I realize Ace is no longer lying beside me.
My brows crease as I look around the dark room for him, but he’s nowhere to be found, and I immediately reach for my phone, only to realize his is charging right beside mine.
Where the hell is he?
Raised voices downstairs remind me of what woke me in the first place, and my stomach recoils at the sound. I slip from between the sheets just in time to hear something crash to the ground, and I immediately duck as if it’s been thrown at me.
Get a grip, I reprimand myself.
I take a deep, steadying breath and reach for one of Ace’s shirts, immediately finding comfort in how much it smells like him.
I clutch my phone to my chest and move toward the door, my stomach churning uncomfortably as reality sets in. Something is wrong. No one who has regular access to this apartment would be shouting at three in the morning, which means it’s someone else entirely.
I gulp and search my contacts for someone to call, but the only person I’m close with is Emerson. Tommy whisked Clara away for their honeymoon a couple of days ago, so neither of them are going to be much help right now.
I tug my bottom lip between my teeth as I consider my options, but the voices downstairs drag my attention back to whatever the hell is going on downstairs.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” someone shouts, but I don’t recognize their voice.
I’m about to quietly pull the door open to see if I can see from the doorway, but then another voice comes. One I do recognize. One that makes my stomach recoil painfully.
“Why don’t you answer him?” Kyle’s voice carries through the apartment and immediately has me clicking the door shut as quietly as I possibly can. I don’t want to know the answer to whatever the hell the question was.
I fumble with my phone, dialing the first number I see and hold it to my ear, not daring to breathe in case someone downstairs realizes I’m awake.
“Mia?” Everett’s voice comes across the line, but he doesn’t sound half asleep. Fuck, he was probably up with baby Summer, I shouldn’t be bothering him. “Is everything okay over there? One of the panic buttons was activated. We’re deploying a team right now.”
“Kyle’s here,” I whisper so quietly I’m not sure he’ll hear me.
He curses, and I’m pretty sure he pulls the phone away from his face for a moment to say something to whoever he’s with, but I’m too distracted by my own fear. Is this it? The end of my freedom? The last moments of the life I never thought I’d have the chance to live?
Will the next time I see Ace be the last?
Will I ever hear Emerson’s kind voice again?
Or be in the room with the woman who helped me escape?
Silent tears fall against my cheeks, and I desperately try to swallow them down. There will be time to fall apart later, but I don’t want them to see my weakness.
“Mia?” Everett’s voice comes through the line, and I startle at the sound, almost forgetting I was waiting for him. “I need you to get into the panic room. Do you remember where it is and how to open it?”
I swallow heavily and nod to myself. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Are you in the main bedroom?”
“No, in the other room.”
“Okay, I have a visual of the downstairs area. They’re distracted right now, so if you open the door and crawl across the landing toward the main bedroom, I don’t think they’ll notice you.”
I take a deep breath to steady my erratic heart and breathing, but it does little to settle the panic that’s taken root inside me. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Yes, you can, Mia. You can do this.” His words are soft, but there’s an urgency to them that makes it even harder to breathe.
“Is Ace okay?” I ask as I push myself to the door and carefully open it.
