Page 258 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

"Here,” Nash said, hiking a foot onto the ledge and taking the stick from her. He grabbed the gun next and tucked it into the back of his jeans.

“Climb on up.” He urged her to stand on his knee, and Ellie did that very thing.

With Nash’s help, she griped onto the rungs and pulled herself up.

“I’ll be back,” Nash said, but Ellie spun around to stay him. She couldn’t let him stay on the ground and get himself killed. She’d seen it too many times, and that wasnothow this story would play out.

“Nash, no. If you don't come up here with me,” she warned under her breath, “I’ll come right back down.”

Nash glanced over both shoulders, contemplation etched on his face.

Her heart thundered in desperation.Please, Nash, just get up here with me.

At last, he did, handing up the stick. “Lay flat,” he directed and pulled himself onto the rooftop in two swift moves.

The train’s roof was scorching hot, but it was also a good foot and a half deep, meaning if they remained flat on their backs, they’d go unnoticed.

Unless the men chasing them got back in the chopper to gain a birds-eye view.

"How the crud did you manage to lose them?" a man screamed.

A stream of curses came back in reply, grumblings about how they’d poured acid in his face, and he could hardly breathe.

"You won’t be breathingat allif we don't find those two."

Gravel shuffled beneath their pursuers’ steps, letting the pair know how close their captors really were.

Please don’t climb up. Please don’t climb up.

Ellie kept her breaths even and shallow, hoping the pounding of her heart wouldn't become audible against the metal roof, praying that the heat wouldn't become so scorching that she had to move or yelp out in pain.

The footsteps were still close by, first on one side of the train and then on the other.

“You think they went inside one of these things?” one asked.

“Don’t ask me. Test all the doors and see if any open.”

She waited for something further, for one of them to notice the ladders and to start checking the rooftops as well.

“This thing goes on forever. They’re probably way out there by now.”

“Then get moving,” the other grumbled.

Ellie stared up at the blue sky as the sound of their footsteps waned, then further and further away.Let help come for us now, please, please, please…

Nash, who'd laid closer to the edge by the ladder, reached a hand her way, softly grazing her leg.

Ellie knew just what he was in search of; she extended her hand and sighed when his fingers slid soundlessly through hers. He was there. They were alive. And they were united.

The scene was about to end, Ellie just knew it.

And like an answer to that inner prayer, sirens sounded in the distance.

These, she told herself, were not the sirens from the stolen patrol car. These sirens meant that help was on its way, help that had no doubt been sent by Wyatt and Wade.

Nash’s brothers may not have been able to thwart the abduction, but they most definitely had, in part, aided their rescue and helped save their lives.

Ellie closed her eyes and prayed that it hadn’t been at the cost of their own.