Page 257 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

Ellie nodded. "Exactly,” she agreed. “Let's show them what we’re made of."

Anxious energy hummed through her limbs so hard she half expected to hear it—an audible buzz or vibration. She gulped, sucked in a shaky breath, and huffed it out with another affirmation.

She felt that layer of control—once paper-thin—waxing solid and strong.

Yes,thiswas how their story would end.

Thiswas how they’d become triumphant.

Thiswas the moment in the plot where the heroes won!

Ellie had waited her whole life to live out the stories she’d only played on the silver screen, and here was her shot at a real-life role she never imagined playing. And this movie, this story, these characters, would get their happily ever after. She and Nash would make sure of it.

CHAPTER 27

Chains rattled on the other side of the door, the voices growing louder still. Now Ellie could hear their conversation as they yelled over the chopper’s rotating blades. Something about a shootout.

“What do you mean they aren’t locked up?” one asked, sounding perturbed.

“Didn’t you just hear me? We were getting shot at, you moron. Besides, it’s not like they’re armed. I checked.”

Feeling like a huntress with her pointed stick, Ellie waited along the edge. Nash backed up and took center stage, lasso waiting, eyes narrowing, temper blazing.

The door rumbled open with a shudder.

Sharp streaks of sunlight pierced in so brightly they blinded Ellie as she worked to survey the scene. Her eyes barely settled on the man who'd opened the door when a black cord looped right around his neck. Fast as lightning, the man's head jerked forward and slammed against the bed of the truck, knocking him out cold.

A gun slid from his grip toward Ellie, where it butted against the toes of her flats.

Two men remained, and the one closest to her reached for the gun.

Heart hammering, muscles tight, Ellie flung the liquid in the jug at his face—a bald man who flew back screaming as the sludge dripped down his head. The fumes wafted into the truck, making Ellie cough and flinch.

She ditched the jug and snatched the gun as the third guy climbed past the lassoed man. He bore a wicked, gold-toothed grin as his nostrils flared, eyes fixed on Ellie. “You want to play, do you?”

Ellie froze, realizing she wasn’t even holding the gun properly. The heavy thing sat awkwardly in her palm, pointed at who knew where as she gripped the stick with her other hand. Should she jab this guy or try to reposition the gun and shoot at him?

Before she could act, the man rushed at her, and Ellie flinched back with a scream, coiling her arm back to keep the gun out of reach, but he didn’t get that far; Nash bolted between them and rammed the stick straight through his side with a low growl.

Gold tooth screamed, writhing as he fell to the ground.

"Run!" Nash yelled.

Ellie obeyed, leaping over one fallen man after the next. With the reach of one hand, Nash secured her wrist and helped her jump from the truck bed and onto solid ground at last.

The bald man scrubbed at his face with his shirt, cursing as he darted after them. She sensed him following her in a zombie-like state as they ran, his footsteps growing fainter behind them.

Ellie took in their new surroundings— a parking lot and an old industrial plant to the right. To the front and left was a trainyard. Hundreds of old, colorful train cars were lined up for miles, creating a maze of sorts.

"This way," Nash called as he tugged her arm and weaved through a break in the line of trains. They ran between the first two rows before Nash nodded to an upcoming split. A long, metal hitch connected the line of trains—something they hadn’t seen from afar—but they climbed over it with ease and kept running. This time, Nash cut through three more rows, then headed in the opposite direction where the line of trains went on.

They moved further, slipping between subsequent rows, gaining as much distance as they could.

"They went this way,” a man hollered in the distance.

Gunshots sounded, the blast echoing off the metal trains like clashing cymbals.

Nash stopped short and changed course. "This way,” he said, ducking behind one of the double-stacked train cars. He stopped in front of a ladder that led to the top of the second train. The only trouble was, it was so high she wasn’t sure she could climb it.