I stopped. The footsteps stopped too.
My heart started racing. I told myself not to panic. According to Lucas's previous arrangements, this should be the security he'd assigned to watch me.
To shake off surveillance, I deliberately took a shortcut—an alley between buildings, complex and winding. Once inside, it would be hard to follow.
But when I entered the alley, the footsteps behind me suddenly ran.
I spun around in horror and saw two men charging toward me.
My first instinct was to run. My heart pounded like it would burst from my chest. But the alley was filled with dumpsters and cardboard boxes. My foot caught on something and I nearly fell.
"Don't run," a voice called behind me. "We just want to chat."
I heard more footsteps. I turned and saw another person emerge from the other end of the alley.
Three men.
I was trapped.
The three men blocked my way forward and back. They wore dirty jackets and ripped jeans, hair greasy and unkempt. One wore a crooked baseball cap, revealing half a stubbled face. Another held a beer bottle, spinning it between his fingers.
These weren't Lucas's surveillance people. Those people always dressed neatly, clearly had legitimate jobs as cover. But these men were real thugs.
"Hey, miss," the guy in the cap spoke, voice raspy with an uncomfortable laugh. "Where you running to? We know these streets better than you."
My hand went into my canvas bag, found my phone. I watched them warily while my fingers fumbled to unlock it, but my hands were shaking. I entered the password wrong twice.
"What are you feeling for?" Stubble-face grinned. "Pepper spray? You pull that out, I'll shove it down your throat!"
"Come on, come on!" I begged myself.
The third time, the screen finally lit up. I didn't look, just blindly hit the recent calls button and dialed the first number.
Then someone kicked me hard in the back.
I slammed face-first onto the pavement. My knees hit the concrete, pain blacking out my vision. The phone flew from my hand, skidding away.
"Ella?" Lucas's voice came through the speaker.
I screamed, "I'm in the alley near my apartment! Help me!"
A foot stomped on the phone. The screen shattered with a crisp sound. Then silence.
"Everyone around here knows us," Beer Bottle Man crushed the phone, eyes flashing viciously. "Anyone who tries to save you is asking to die."
Cap Guy bent down and blew a lungful of smoke in my face. I smelled an intense, choking chemical odor mixed with tobacco and alcohol that turned my stomach.
"You be good," he said, voice laced with nauseating amusement. "We'll make you feel real nice."
I turned to crawl away. But the other two had already blocked my path.
I was trapped in the middle.
My breathing became rapid. Heart pounding in my chest so fast it might explode. My legs shook, my knees throbbed with piercing pain.
I wasn't sure if Lucas had heard me. Even if he had, could he get here in time?
He'd told me his hotel wasn't far from where I lived. But this neighborhood was for ordinary people—full of run-down apartment buildings and cheap convenience stores. No five-star hotels here. The nearest upscale hotel was downtown, at least a twenty-minute drive.
