“You have my heart,” He replies, “Sleep, Red. I’ll see you soon.”
I hang up the phone and place it on the nightstand before I pull the sheets up to my chin and close my eyes. It’ll all be fine; I tell myself to settle my brain and sleep comes before I can gather my next thought.
My eyes snap open only to be greeted with darkness. Turning my head, I see the digital clock just ticking over three forty-five in the morning, the numbers a bright sting against my vision. I’ve slept for a long fucking time.
Groaning, I roll onto my side, laying a hand across my abdomen. I close my eyes to try and go back to sleep but I hear a loud bang from outside my bedroom door.
Bolting up, I stare toward the sound as if I could see what made it through the closed door, my heart hammering so hard inside my chest it feels as if it’s beating on the outside of my body. With the silence of the apartment, it’s easy to hear everything happening beyond the door, like the scuffing of a shoe on my floor and the sound of something being moved on the counter.
It could be Olivia, but she would have told me she was coming over, so I move to grab my phone, hitting the side button to light up the screen. There are a few notifications but no new messages from her or anyone for that matter. Which means whoever is in my house is here uninvited.
Panic consumes me immediately, it flushes throughmy body, making me sweat and tremble but I force myself to breathe, to calm.
It’s easier said than done of course but I manage to calm myself down enough to be able to climb from the bed slowly and quietly, cell clutched in hand. Whoever it is, is still further down the hall and in the kitchen and living room space so I move toward the wall where the door is. I don’t want to make a noise and alert them of my presence, but I wanted to be out of the line of sight in case they decided to storm down here and find me in the bed. It’s the first thing they’ll see if they were to open the door.
My free hand cradles my small bump as if it’s enough to protect our growing baby, but I need to figure out a weapon and an escape route. I can’t figure out who would be in here, no one can get up here without a code and our doorman is armed and trained if anyone were to try to strong arm them into letting them up.
My mind keeps circling back to it being someone I know, someone with the code but anyone who has it would have told me prior to showing up here and with what happened to Bast before, I’m on edge already.
I should have gone and stayed with Olivia, she had offered, numerous times but I wanted my bed, with the sheets that still had Bast’s scent on them. He was so far away in the hospital, and I wanted to be close to him in some small way.
Now I’m regretting that decision.
I freeze as I hear their steps come closer to my bedroom, pausing right outside my bedroom door. My breath stalls in my throat as I watch the knob turn, creaking just a little as they twist it, agonizingly slow.
The door opens with a creak and before they even step inside, I leap forward and swing my hand, using my cell as a weapon as I smash it into the side of their head, hearing it crack.
And then I run.
Chapter Forty-two
Ihit dial the moment the elevator doors slide closed. I don’t catch a glimpse of whoever it was since they never gave chase after I hit them, maybe I knocked them out, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. Letting out a breath, heart still pounding something furious inside my chest, I press the cracked phone to my ear. The screen is smashed but it’s still working, thank God!
“Red, you should be sleeping!” Bast answers on the third ring.
“Someone broke into my apartment.” I rush out, watching the numbers slowly go down.
“What!?” Bast yells.
“I got out, I’m on my way down to the garage. I’m coming to the hospital.”
“No,” Sebastian snaps, but his anger isn’t directed at me, “Get to Malakai’s, I’ll meet you there.”
“You can’t leave the hospital,” I swallow, watching the numbers still. I’m almost at the garage now. “I’ll come to you.”
“Get in your car, Willow and go straight to Malakai. You are far more protected there. Did you see who it was?”
I can hear him moving around in the background, the edge of panic to his tone setting my heart back to racing. Fear is trying to cripple me, but I can’t stop yet, I have to hide.
“No,” I hear my own voice shake. “I hit them and ran.”
“Good girl,” Sebastian pauses, “I’m coming to you, okay, Red? I’ve got you.”
A tear, hot and wet, streaks down my cheek, “I know.”
“Stay on the phone with me, Willow,” He demands.
“I will.”
