AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After the shooting, she’d had dozens of potential bodyguards putting in their resumes. She had been too heartsore to summon the energy to do proper research into them, so she’d just picked the resume that looked the best.
She was now convinced that Gary had greatly exaggerated a number of things on that resume. If Alex was here, she’d be reprimanding Elizabeth for standing right in line with the window, which had a clear sniper point just opposite.
Gary had made sure to set up metal detectors at the event, but he wasn’t obsessively checking every staff member coming in and out the way Alex had. Although the gunman who shot Alex had been arrested, it didn’t mean nobody else would have a grudge against Elizabeth and her politics. Plenty of people hated her for her politics.
Elizabeth really needed to find someone better, but she simply hadn’t gotten around to it yet. James wasn’t back at work yet, and Ruth had her hands full—they all did. Elizabeth’s coming out had thrown everything into chaos. She hadn’t had a spare moment to research more suitable bodyguards.
Thankfully, the fundraiser went off without a hitch. Elizabeth and Gary went home, and Elizabeth went straight to bed. It was late and she needed to be up early the next morning.
She wasn’t woken by her alarm. She wasn’t entirely sure what woke her, only that the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up and she was sure that something was deadly wrong.
Elizabeth’s instinct was to sit up and turn on the light, but she immediately thought of what Alex would say if she pulled something like that.
She remembered Alex’s self-defense lessons.Never give the opponent the advantage of knowing you know they’re there, if you can avoid it.
So, Elizabeth lay still, keeping her breathing even, letting her eyes move while keeping her head still.
There. A shadow, creeping toward her bed. Elizabeth didn’t know how he’d gotten in past the alarms and cameras, but she supposed that such things weren’t impossible if you were determined or skilled enough.
What mattered was that he was here now. She could scream, which would no doubt bring Gary running, but that would mean giving up her one advantage—surprise.
Her attacker hadn’t shot her yet, which probably meant he wasn’t armed with a gun. Elizabeth shivered at the implications. She knew that killing with a knife was more personal, and whoever this was, it was surely personal to them. They must have reached the stage where they wanted to feel her blood on their hands as she breathed her last breath on the end of their knife.
She did her best to dismiss these terrifying images and focus. She would have only one chance.
Elizabeth let her eyelids slide down until she was peeking through small slits. Her heart was pounding in her chest. What if this went wrong, as it so easily could? She’d never get a chance to see Alex again, to tell her just how much she loved her.
She told herself that she would have to dwell on that later. Right now, she needed to focus on surviving.
She waited for her attacker to get to her bedside table before pouncing.
Elizabeth flung the blankets off to the side and rolled right into her attacker, sending them both tumbling to the ground. She rolled off him and aimed a kick at his head, but he dodged it.
Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and tried to run, but he grabbed her ankle, sending her tumbling right back down. He crawled on top of her, grunting in effort as Elizabeth frantically struggled to throw him off.
She forced herself to pause and think. She knew how to do this. Acting out of panic wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She grabbed one of his wrists and yanked sharply, pulling him off balance for a moment. Then she bucked her hips up, putting him even further off balance before twisting hard to the side.
He flipped over, leaving their positions reversed with Elizabeth on the top.
She didn’t wait to see if he could reverse flip her. She leaped up again, this time managing to get out of range of his arms before he could trip her up again.
“GARY! GARY, HELP!”
Elizabeth flew out into the corridor and collided with Gary. He flung himself on her attacker and wrestled the knife out of his hand. Elizabeth dashed to the nightstand and grabbed her phone, quickly dialing 911.
By the time she had given the operator her address, Gary had disarmed her assailant.
“Elizabeth, do you have any rope?”
“Rope? Yes, I think there’s some in the garage.”
“Go get it, then.”
Elizabeth sprinted to the garage, tossing various boxes aside as she searched for rope. Yes, there it was. She grabbed it and returned to Gary, who had her attacker in a leglock.
“Here, tie him up while I hold him, and don’t be shy about making the ropes tight.”
“You’ll never get away with your depravity,” the man howled. “God will smite you from the face of the Earth!”
