Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
So what was the solution then?
I climbed off the bed, making my way to the bathroom, and finding the fresh tee I’d been about to put on when he’d broken in.
The solution, I knew, was to get the hell out of here.
I understood all too well how much of a threat there still was. For me. And my grandfather. But I couldn’t stay here forever anyway.
I could, I don’t know, call Lauren. Ask to borrow money. I knew she would give it to me. As much as my pride would hurt to have to take it from her.
With that, I could hire private security.
For myself and my grandfather.
It wasn’t a permanent solution.
But maybe if I invested in cameras for the shop and my home, I could get proof that the brothers were stalking me, and make the police do something about it.
It wasn’t a great plan.
Hell, it likely wasn’t even a good one.
But it was something.
A plan of action.
A way of getting the hell away from Cosimo Costa, and reclaiming my damn life.
Looking at myself, I gave my reflection a nod.
It was a plan.
I didn’t sleep that night, worrying myself to a stomachache about making my escape.
I cursed these stupid new buildings that didn’t have fire escapes anymore. Stupid innovation and their damn fireproof stairwells and their positive pressure and fire doors.
Because, of course, the stairwell was located out in the hall.
Beyond the guards.
I heard Cosimo moving around upstairs at around six, going through his morning routine, getting dressed, making coffee, talking to Miko who he’d let in like he’d been expecting him.
I waited until the voices disappeared.
Then added another half an hour for good measure before grabbing myself a cup of coffee, knowing I would need it after not getting any sleep.
Then I took myself back into my room, carefully choosing an outfit, doing my hair, then slipping into my heels. I tucked my stolen phone into my pocket, even though it would likely be useless unless I went somewhere with access to wifi.
Then, with a lot more confidence than I felt, I strode through the apartment, and out the door.
The guards jumped and straightened, both sharing a worried look.
“What do you think you’re doing?” one of them asked.
“Leaving,” I said, taking steps toward the elevator, only to have my arm snagged by one of them.
I carefully lowered my gaze to that hand, then just as slowly back to his face.
“I don’t think Cosimo would like you putting your hands on me,” I said in a ‘cold, hard, bitch’ tone I’d heard Lauren need to adopt from time to time when someone was disrespecting her.
When I say he dropped my arm fast, you would have sworn I’d burned him.
“I’m leaving. You can follow if you want to, but I’m leaving,” I said, hitting the button for the elevator.
I wasn’t surprised when they joined me, though I was a bit disappointed. I kind of hoped they would just accept that I was a free woman, allowed to come and go if she wanted to.
Apparently, that was not the case.
But it was fine.
I had a plan.
One I was crossing my fingers would work.
I strode down the street, feeling one of them beside me, and the other behind.
I had to admit that it felt good just to be outside, to be moving, to feel the damn sun on my face. I don’t think I’d ever been stuck inside for so long before.
“I need to go in here,” I declared as I turned into the pharmacy.
I’d been there a million times before. I knew it like the back of my hand.
I was counting on their discomfort as I led them confidently down the feminine care aisle, and I wasn’t exactly disappointed by how tense they seemed as I grabbed a box of tampons off the shelf, then opened it, and pulled one out.
“I have to run to the bathroom,” I told them, waving the tampon at one of them while pushing the box into the other one’s hands.
Then I made a beeline for the bathroom. Much like a woman in need of a tampon would.
The thing was, the ladies room was down a hallway that opened up at the other end as well. So I just kept walking, tossing the tampon into the trash, then emerging behind my guards who were so busy feeling uncomfortable about holding a box of tampons that they weren’t scanning the store like they might normally be.
I just… walked right out.
Back into the crush of people.
I had no money, so I couldn’t escape into a cab or the subway like I could if I did. But I’d chosen the most understated outfit I could when I’d chosen what I was going to wear.
I reached up, twisting my hair into the claw clip I’d had hanging off the bottom of my sweater, hoping that they wouldn’t be smart enough to spot the difference in a crowd as I picked up the pace.