As I rounded the corner toward the door, the entryway to the suite was empty and my heart lurched in my chest.
“Paxton, help!” Capri’s voice, full of terror, shouted from somewhere in the hall.
I burst through the doorway and into the hall, looking both ways. The scene unfolding in front of me would be burned in my brain forever.
Capri’s scared, pleading eyes, zeroed in on mine. A big bulky frame had her around the waist, black mask in place just as the person did the night at the bakery, and Capri’s small hands were gripping the door frame of the entry into the stairwell for dear life.
“Fight, baby, fight!” I yelled as I ran toward them.
She did as I said. Capri, kicked, hit, wiggled with all her might but her size was no match for the large person who had her and in seconds more fear sliced through me.
Her hands slipped from the frame and she disappeared before my eyes.
“No fucking way! You’re not taking her from me!” I bellowed as my feet pounded the few feet to the door they’d just disappeared through.
I wasn’t losing her.Ever.
ChapterNineteen
CAPRI
I wasn’t givingup without a fight.
As I stood in the entryway of the suite, waiting for Paxton to help the boy and his mother, I watched the chaos in the hallway.
With my worry on what was going on, my guard was down and I didn’t notice the hulking man until it was too late. With a hand over my mouth and a strong arm around my waist, he plucked me up as if I weighed nothing and started into the hall.
Instinct kicked in quickly. I jerked my head sideways to free my mouth and I bit his hand, causing it to drop from my lips. “Paxton!” I screamed.
I didn’t have time to think about what was happening, I only had time to react. When we reached the door to the stairwell and the massive man holding me tried to pull me through the opening, I grabbed the framing around the door with all the strength I could possess. That was when my gaze landed on Paxton flying out of the room he’d been in.
I’d yelled for his help just before I started kicking and bucking with all my might, but I lost the battle and was dragged out of Paxton’s sight and down the stairs. That didn’t stop me from screaming and fighting.
“Shut up, bitch, and stop moving,” the man’s voice said close to my ear and that sent alarm racing through my body and a tsunami of terror down my spine.
I’d heard that voice before. It had come from the man at the bakery who had helped kill my parents. Even as tears poured down my cheeks, I twisted my body at the same time, ready to rip the man’s eyes out.
I’d never gotten the chance.
All of a sudden a body came over the top of the railing out of nowhere and landed on the guy holding me, causing him to lose his grip. I landed on my ass and scurried up a couple of steps.
My eyes widened as I saw Paxton smash his fist into the large man’s frame and then duck to dodge a blow from the masked monster.
I heard footsteps coming from up above and peeked in that direction. The mother and son were coming down the stairs and I panicked not wanting them to get hurt, but before I could say anything another set of footsteps pounded up the steps from the other direction, a fireman coming into sight.
The asshole in the mask took off running, barreling past the fireman and down the steps faster than I thought his hulking frame could go. I could see in Paxton’s eyes he wanted to run after him, but he wasn’t going to leave me there.
In seconds he was on his knees in front of me, pulling me into his embrace. “Baby, are you okay? Did he hurt you anywhere?” he asked, pushing back a little to look in my eyes.
“N-no I’m o-okay.” I thought I was doing fine but now that it was over, my body started to shake and my speech was all choppy.
The fire alarm was still blaring and my gaze looked to the mother holding her son, a frightened look on her face.
“Paxton, please help them get out of the building.” I pointed up the stairway where the mother’s feet were frozen in place, her boy tucked in her arms.
He turned to look at them and then back to the fireman. “Please help them outside and we’ll follow,” he told the guy.
The fireman nodded, all his gear on, and passed us to approach the woman and son. When he held out his arms as if to help take her son, Paxton yelled over the alarm.
