Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Had he followed me?
Of course, he followed me.
He should've opened the door by now.
The knob didn’t jiggle.
Maybe I was safe.
Maybe he would keep moving down the hall.
Or maybe he'd give up looking for me.
And maybe a flying unicorn would suddenly appear and carry me away.
I forced myself to wait.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then…the scrape of a shoe.
A shift in the shaft of light under the door.
My breath came in ragged, uneven pants in my fight against the rising panic clawing at my throat as I stepped back from the door.
The doorknob slowly turned before the door swung open with a violent bang.
Pavel's steel eyes, cold and unreadable, stared into mine.
The sick stench of blood that clung to him filled my nose; my stomach rolled with the bile rising in my throat.
There was no way to pretend I hadn't seen him execute that man.
There was no way he didn't see me as a threat.
Pavel took a single unhurried step toward me. The gun was at his side, his finger still on the trigger.
"Fuck." His whisper was soft and low, his hard glare focused on my mouth.
I shivered as the possibility of him doing…other things…to me before he killed me became a very real threat. My gaze became fixated on the strong, tattooed hand gripping the gun, imagining it wrapped around my throat while he forced my thighs open.
Fuck.
My hands trembled as I kept backing away, feeling for the wall behind me. "Please..."
He took another step toward me. "You know who I am. And now I know who you are."
My fingers brushed the cool cinder block as I slid along the wall, away from him.
My eyes darted to the open door slightly to the side and behind him.
There was only one chance for me to get out of here alive, and it wasn't even a good one.
Still, I had to take it.
Before I could second-guess myself, I bolted past him.
I didn't get far.
A dark laugh sounded behind me right before his gun fired.
The wall in front of me exploded in a cloud of dust and plaster fragments.
I screeched and jumped a mile.
Was he playing with me, or did he actually miss?
There wasn't any time to stop, to think.
Every instinct I had demanded I run.
My lungs burned, my legs ached, but it was this or death.
I turned the corner and ran harder, knowing he was right behind me.
I swore I could feel his heat on the back of my neck.
My stomach dropped as I hurtled around another corner so fast my shoes slipped on the tile floor, and I barely kept my balance.
A door loomed twenty feet ahead of me. I ducked inside and this time I was able to lock it behind me.
I wasn't stupid enough to think that I had won, or that I had gotten away.
But I had bought myself at least a few minutes.
The room was almost pitch-black, swallowed in darkness. The only light came from a small window where the faintest amount of moonlight pierced through the cracked-open blinds, casting thin, faded lines down the walls and onto the floor.
It wasn't enough to see clearly, but I had vacuumed this room hundreds of times and emptied every garbage can in here. I knew my way around well enough that the dim light was all I needed.
I was in an office space, a bullpen of sorts.
There were dozens of cubicles in tight little rows, each with their own desk, chair, and basic computer setup.
Silently dropping to my knees, I crawled through the aisles until I was somewhere in the middle of the room. Then I huddled under a desk and pulled my knees to my chest, curling into the smallest ball possible. It was the one thing I was truly good at…making myself invisible.
Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to calm my frayed nerves, but it was pointless.
Instead, I listened. Straining my ears for something that could tell me how close he was, how many men he had brought in to help hunt me down.
For a moment, there was nothing.
Just deafening silence.
No people shouting or footsteps echoing down the hallway right outside the door.
Not even a door handle jiggling.
Hope blossomed in my chest.
Maybe I lost him at the last corner?
How many turns did I take?
Could he have passed the door and continued down the hallway?
I prayed it was true as I tucked myself deeper under the desk.
Even if I did escape this building alive, where did I go from here?
I would have to move now. Get a new job.
Where was I going to work that paid this much?
Maybe I would just stay hidden until morning.
If there were other people around to witness it, surely he wouldn't be able to shoot me.
Just as I pulled the desk chair in to block me off from the rest of the room, all my hopes of escape were dashed.