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“Malik!” she cried out happily, clapping her hands together. He was coming. He was coming.
A moment later, she heard the unmistakable sound of helicopter rotors.
“Levi!” she yelled back into the room. “A helicopter.” She prayed it was Malik coming for her and not William coming to gun them down in case the bombs failed.
He ran back to her, the exhaustion and worry of moments earlier gone from his face. “Please let it be the major,” he murmured.
They both stood at the railing, watching with bated breath. Sophie never thought she’d feel hope again, but the anticipation of if they were coming for them, and if they’d make it before the bomb went off, was almost suffocating.
The helicopter appeared above the roofline, and Sophie could see a basket lowering below it. Malik stood at the door. Her strong, charming prince looked like a shining beacon of joy and a promise of a future together she didn’t know if they’d ever find.
“Malik!” she cried out, though he couldn’t possibly hear her.
The basket swung close to them. Levi reached out for it, but it skimmed his fingertips and slid out of his grasp.
“No,” Sophie moaned.
The overhang of the roof made it impossible for the helicopter to get any closer. Malik and Derek rocked the basket back toward the patio. Chad must be flying the copter.
They were running out of time.
Sophie cast a glance back into the house as if she could determine when it would blow up. Her fingers tingled and fear made her unsteady.
Levi grabbed the edge of the basket and hauled it over the lip of the balcony.
“Get in,” he urged, but he didn’t need to. Sophie scrambled into the unstable basket, sitting down and holding on to one of the cables.
Levi jumped on and motioned to Malik and Derek.
The basket swooped as Chad flew the helicopter away from the house. Sophie clung to the cable as her stomach hopped. The basket lifted toward the helicopter. She could hardly wait to be in Malik’s arms, but her gaze was riveted to the house. She prayed Sunny and her parents and everyone else was far enough away when it exploded.
“There’s no place to land,” Chad hollered so loud she could hear it over the rotors.
The basket was level with the helicopter door now. Levi took Derek’s hand and leaped in. Malik reached for her. She stood shakily, exhausted. The basket shifted, and she made the mistake of glancing down at the gap between the basket and the helicopter’s floor.
All she could see below her was darkness, a few pinpricks of light from houses far below. The drop was hundreds of meters. Malik was right there, but she felt alone and shaky, so similar to when she’d found out she was pregnant and Malik had been far out of reach. Clinging to the basket’s cable, she was nervous to cross the gap. It was probably only six inches, but it felt like six meters.
Six years ago, she had held tight and refused to let Malik save her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake today.
Sophie reached out, clasped Malik’s strong hands, and let him swing her into the safety of the helicopter and his arms. A breath of pure relief escaped her. Clinging to his strength, she wanted to hold him and kiss him and tell him he had her heart, but she had to know. “Sunny?” she hollered to be heard over the rotating blades.
“With your mum and dad,” he said into her ear.
That was all he knew? Were they far enough away to be safe?
“We have to get to them.”
He nodded, but she could see in his eyes that he didn’t know where they’d land or where Sunny and her parents even were. She looked back to that house. The big, beautiful, exotic mansion.
It had to be close to three-forty.
The air in the helicopter was tense. Everyone was waiting for the house to explode. Were their friends and family far enough away? Were they?
Derek pulled a phone out of his pocket and swiped it on. Sophie could tell he was yelling into the phone, but she couldn’t make out the words. He hurried to the cockpit of the helicopter and moments later they hovered over the helipad and then landed. Did that mean they were safe? The bomb wasn’t going off? She could hold Sunny and Malik and share all the love for him boiling inside her?
Malik released her, leaped out of the helicopter, and reached up for her. She rested her hands on his shoulders, and he wrapped his around her waist. He easily lifted her down, his blue eyes full of her and searing into her. How she loved his blue eyes. How she loved him. She wanted to kiss him, but she had to find her girl first.
“Sunny?” she called.
