“Okay. I will.”
They hung up and Kayla started her workday. Surprisingly, the day passed quickly, and sure enough, at the end of her workday, Ronan stood next to her desk.
“Hey, Kayla, what’s shakin’?”
“Hi, Ronan. Thanks for pick—”
Ronan held up his hand and said, “No. Just no. You’re not thanking me. I’m glad that I could help out, really I am. And as a plus, we can have dinner together and get Duncan insanely jealous. And on top of it all, I’m getting paid for babysitting your ass. This is going to be the best job I ever did for Mills Security thus far.” He smirked while getting Kayla’s coat off the hook and holding it up for her to slide in.
As she put her arms in the sleeves, she noticed that Ronan was the same height as Duncan. He towered over her, and she was glad that he would be escorting her. It was reassuring for sure that this big MMA fighter would hang around.
The drive in Ronan’s truck to her apartment was fun, oddly enough, as he kept bantering to distract her. Coming into the downstairs hall of her apartment, they bumped into Caitlin, who was waiting on the elevator to arrive.
“Hi, Cait.”
“Hi, Ro. Hi, Kayla. I heard about Tom. I’m so sorry. Dec said that if they can’t find Tom within the next twelve hours, Donovan is going on a plane to your family and that he will protect them himself. I’ve heard that Donovan even threatened his lifelong friends in New Jersey, as they let Tom out of their sight.”
“I know, Caitlin. He’s doing everything he can. I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Me neither, and I’ve known the guy all my life,” Ronan cut in. “That’s one cool dude, you know? Never lets anything get under his skin. Except maybe that sister of yours. That quiet one.”
“Her name is Kate, you big ape.”
He chuckled at Caitlin’s name for him. “Yeah. Pretty little thing.”
“Am I going to regret letting you stay with me, big ape?” Kayla said and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Jesus, you’re a real ball buster... but I already knew that about you, didn’t I?” He barked a laugh as he stepped into the elevator. He wasn’t paying attention to a dark figure in the elevator, and before Kayla could recognize Tom in the dark hoodie, he stabbed Ronan in the neck with a syringe.
The doors closed behind Caitlin and Kayla, and Caitlin tried to jump Tom, but he sidestepped her and hit the back of her head with the handle of a gun. He pushed the emergency button and the elevator came immediately to a halt.
“So, two down and one to go.”
Kayla had screamed when she identified Tom as the one in the corner, but before she could scream once more, she was roughly turned around, and a big hand went over her mouth as she was dragged to the back of the elevator. Kayla kicked and fought, but the large hand kept her screams barely audible. Glancing sideways in the mirrored walls of the elevator, she tried to see what kind of shape Caitlin and Ronan were in.
“Shhh. We have some unfinished business, you and I. I guess that you did your best in making it hard for me to contact you. Were you playing hard to get, dear Kayla? You know that you can’t escape me. After all this time, you’re still mine. I don’t know what you think you were doing with these Mills brothers. Those fuckers tried to scare me off, but you can’t break the bond we share. The idiots didn’t know I was tracking Kate’s phone. She led me right here to you.”
Kayla was still eyeing the mirrors and noticed that Ronan was out cold with his mouth agape. Caitlin had landed with her back against the elevator wall, and she sat with her legs stretched out in front of her. Her head was bowed, and Kayla couldn’t see her face. She had no idea how she was doing.
Kayla nodded as she tried to cooperate with him so he would let down his guard long enough that she could do something. She had no idea as to what exactly, but she had to try. She wasn’t going to suffer another attack from Tom and just stand there frozen. This time, she would fight for her life. And the lives of Caitlin and Ronan.
He let go of her mouth and let his hand rest on her throat before he whispered in her ear, “If you scream, I’m going to cut our rendezvous short. And you don’t want that.” He waved the gun around by its barrel, and Kayla saw some blood on the handle of the gun.
“Please, Tom. We have to get them some help. I’ll come with you, but we have to help my friends.”
“Your friends?” He screeched the words, and the grip he had around her throat tightened. “I was your friend. But you left me! I told you that night that we could be together, but you threw my words back in my face. You ran from me. I can’t have that, Kayla. You are mine.”
Kayla nodded, but before she could say anything, her phone rang in her purse.
“Fuck. Fuck!”
She eyed Tom in the mirror. His frantic eyes were scaring her. “It’s going to be okay, Tom. We’ll just go down with the elevator, and I’ll leave with you. Let’s go back to New Jersey, together.”
Sweat dripped down from Tom’s face and fell on her neck. She closed her eyes and prayed that she could persuade him to leave the elevator so it was clear and help could reach Ronan and Caitlin.
Her phone rang again, and a moment later the phone in Ronan’s back pocket started to ring. She knew the sound of the phones was agitating him even more as he talked to himself. “Never again. I’m not going back there. If you’d just listened to me.... I can’t help it. I’m not going back....”
He threw her off him, and Kayla swirled before she landed with a thud against the elevator wall. She saw Tom aiming for Ronan as he lay on the floor. “Noooo.” Kayla jumped in front of Tom’s line of sight, and before she landed on the ground, she heard a loud bang and felt a harsh blow into her stomach.