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Please…
Please… I told him to slit my throat, but I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to—
I scream as we plummet downward.
38
LEIF
I hate doing nothing.
With the building on lockdown, I can’t even go outside.
So I pace. I pace across the marble floor of the ornate lobby, wondering who the hell designs hotel lobbies anyway. What do they look like fucking French palaces? What’s with the crystal chandelier and all the mirrors? It’s a hotel, for God’s sake.
Kelly. I have to protect Kelly.
But how?
I could—
I jerk as a gunshot rings out.
No. Not Kelly. I run toward the door. But I’m stopped by the police officers.
“I have to get to her.” I push against them. “I have to!”
“Sir, you’re not going anywhere.”
Oh hell yes I am.
I break free, run to the entrance.
The doors are of course locked, so I can’t go anywhere.
“Open the door,” I say to the officer.
“Sir, I can’t.”
I grab him by the front of his uniform. “Open the door or I’m going to rearrange your face.”
“First of all, you’re not, and second, I literally can’t. I don’t have those codes. Only the chief of security does.”
The chief of security…
Who may be in cahoots with—
I push the police officer aside and push at the emergency door. It opens.
Some security fucking chief.
“Sir, come back here!”
But I draw my gun, and I run.
I run toward the sound of the shot.
A few more shots ring out, and I pray that Kelly is not on the receiving end of them.
God, I’ll never forgive myself for not protecting her.
I run around the side of the building, where the commotion is.
A body lies dead.
Then—
Two bodies drop from the building.
“Hurry!” SWAT members surround the bodies.
“Call 911, call 911!”
I push my way through.
“Sir, get back.”
I draw my gun. “Fucking make me.”
And then I see her.
I see my Kelly, her face pale and her eyes closed, on top of—
“Kelly!”
“Get back, sir!”
I trample through them all, determination willing me on, until I get to her.
I hold my hand to her neck.
Pulse. Thank God.
Whoever’s beneath her broke her fall.
His head is cracked open, blood flowing out.
Kelly is harnessed to him.
I work at the harness.
“Sir, get back.”
But Kelly’s eyes flutter open then. “Leif?”
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
“I knew you’d come for me…” Then her eyes close once again.
The next morning I sit in Kelly’s hospital room, waiting for her to wake up.
Incredibly, she suffered no major injuries. No internal bleeding, no broken bones, not even a hairline fracture. No head damage. The doctors are calling it miraculous.
The man completely broke her fall.
He was dead at the scene, as was the other one—the one who got shot.
More questioning.
The cops are waiting outside to talk to Kelly, but I’m not allowing them near her.
Not until she’s awake, fully alert.
The hospital is keeping her for observation for twenty-four hours at least, and I’m all for that. I’m not leaving her side.
The Wolfe family sent flowers, and I know Kelly will hate them.
They’re putting together a memorial service for Brindley, even though she doesn’t have any family. She has Kelly and me. She has Aspen and Buck and the other girls from the island. She has the Wolfe family.
Once Kelly is well and out of the hospital, we’ll have the service.
A doctor enters the room. She takes a look at Kelly’s chart. “Her vitals are looking great, and I’m getting good reports from the nurses.”
I simply nod.
The doctor removes Kelly’s covers and examines her abdomen.
“Everything still feels normal. I’m going to have her taken up to do another MRI later today just to make sure we didn’t miss something in the first one. Sometimes internal bleeding or a brain bleed takes a while to show up.”
My hearts jumps. “Are you concerned?”
“Not at all, but she did take quite a fall. She’s lucky that the other man broke her fall.”
“If not for that other man, she wouldn’t have fallen in the first place.”
The doctor nods. “Of course. You’re right. I’ll leave you two alone again. I’ll be back during my evening rounds. In the meantime, if you need anything, check with the nurse and she’ll page me if need be.”
Again, I nod.
The doctors and the nurses have been great, and I’m so very grateful.
But I’m also feeling broken-down. I should have done better. I’m the one who was supposed to protect her.
So I stay with her.
I don’t leave her side.
I will never leave her side again.
39
KELLY
Darkness.
The night is so dark. Must be a cloudy night. No stars. Not that I could see them. My eyes are squeezed shut. The Dark One seems handy with the rope as he scales down the walls of the building, hitting balcony after balcony.
Each time, I wonder how I could release myself from him and escape onto the balcony.
But we’re hitched together with carabiners and canvas rope…
If only I could get to his gun or his knife. But then what would I do? Cut him? Shoot him? Then we both fall.
