“Josiah? Is everything okay?” I ask, still thinking it might be about the twins.
“Where are you?” he snaps.
“I’m out. Why are you calling me?”
“You didn’t even tell your bodyguards where you were going. You left without your driver. You just disappeared!” he scolds me.
“Stop being so dramatic! And since when do I have to report to you on every movement I make?” I argue.
“Where are the twins?” he demands.
“Safe with Stella. Is something going on that I should know about, or are you just trying to pull rank like you did earlier this week?” I blurt out, agitated that he’s interrupted a lovely evening out with my best friend.
“Nothing is going on other than the fact that you cannot just leave without letting me know where you are. Send me your location, I’m coming to get you,” he snaps.
I laugh into the phone. “No, actually. You most certainly aren’t going to come and fetch me. I will find my own way home when Izabel and I are finished enjoying our night out.”
“What time?” he snarls.
“That isn’t your concern. But it will be late. Don’t wait up.”
I hang up the call, boldly punching my point into place as I slip my phone back into my purse.
“He sounds like a handful,” Izzie muses.
“A very sexy handful,” I groan. “I wish I weren’t so attracted to him physically. It’s a challenge to live in the same house with someone while trying to avoid them and while your body is sending off floods of hormones telling you that you want them,” I complain.
Izabel bursts out laughing.
“Just jump his bones and get it over with. It’ll probably ease some of the tension,” she teases me.
“Not a chance in hell.”
We laugh and have another drink, enjoying the evening. I let go of my worries and finally relax for the first time in ages.
Finally, later than I expected, I call it a night and tell her I need to get back home.
“We can share an Uber. I’m staying at a hotel close to your place,” she says, standing up and slipping her arm through mine as we walk to the door to leave the bar.
Outside, she pulls her phone out and starts searching through her apps to call an Uber.
A black SUV pulls up in front of us.
Instinctively, I take a step back, pulling her with me. My stomach knots as my intuition begins to flare.
Izabel looks up, confused about why I’m practically dragging her back to the bar.
“What…?” she stammers.
But everything is suddenly happening very fast.
Men pour out of the SUV, surrounding us. They tear us apart, and I let out a yelp of horror as Izabel is dragged away from me towards the van. I try to scream, but a hand clamps over my mouth.
Izabel is kicking and fighting hard. I do the same.
Gunshots are fired from the left, and the men who are trying to kidnap us are suddenly scattering.
“Who the fuck is that?” one of them shouts.
