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Excerpt from page 18

“Help me,” I worded silently, hoping he would understand. He smirked and bent down to my level. Putting his lips close to my ear, he whispered in a seductively thick accent, “$100 and I’m set.” I nodded stiffly in response. He stepped aside to let me walk up to the register. I snapped out of the shared secret and stumbled back to get the goods that I had set down. I walked back up to the counter to place my items down for purchase and impatiently watched the cashier scan them one by one. The cashier stared me down with that creepy smile as he blindly picked up items to place in a bag. I couldn’t tell if it was more suspicious to look away or maintain eye contact with him. Laughter that once rang in the back room died down. Realizing the counter was in clear view of the room; I hesitantly looked behind me and noticed all of them were standing up from their wooden chairs, eyeing me. My light brown hair gave me away quickly, I guess. Lucky kept making noises with his mouth, but at least he wasn’t crying. My heart was ripping out of my chest from all the throbbing. I heard footsteps walking down the aisle toward me. I glanced over to the man I had begged for help and he just laughed and shrugged his shoulders. Now I definitely had a problem. I thought he was safe, but after thinking about it, I was just an idiot. How could I have put my trust in a stranger? A strong force from behind grabbed my head and bent me over the counter causing the side of my face to slam against it. I could feel his body behind me and the grip on my head was so strong, it was firmly planted between his hand and the counter and I couldn’t move. Still on my hip, Lucky was sideways too and hit his head on the edge. I didn’t mean to, but when I saw Lucky hit his head on the counter, I instinctively kicked my good leg behind me aiming for my aggressor’s shin. ‘Lucky’s a baby! How can you use such force against a baby?’ I thought enraged. I left $2,900 of my money back at the rock, so they could rob my $100 and I’d still get away with money. I think that’s what they wanted to do. I looked back over at the guy who was supposed to help me in tears and disdain.

“$300 and I’m in,” he whispered with a grin and raised eyebrows. The man holding me down turned to him and began to yell in Amarian. My supposed rescuer raised his hands up and spoke back, still holding his stupid smile. Whatever he said made the man even angrier which caused him to press a gun against my head with his other hand. Lucky wouldn’t stop screaming. This was how I was going to die. I put mine and Lucky’s life in this idiot’s hands. He looked back at me, waiting for my response.

“$300!” I shrieked, clenching my eyes shut, anticipating my head to explode any second.

Excerpt from page 25

I heard Aro speaking in a raspy tone. I slowly crawled across the roof toward his voice, but despite my best effort, I was making sounds with every move. Sweat dripped from my brow, more from raw nerves than the heat. I found a hole that I could see him through. Both Aro and the mystery man were badly beaten. Their hands were tied by ropes behind their backs. He could barely speak to the men from his bloody swollen lip. The other one just remained silent, looking at the ground. One last word came from the men and they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.

“Psst,” I said loud enough for them to hear. Aro peered up and caught sight of me. His face grew pale and grim, his eyes darkening as he looked at me. He moved his head back and forth, keeping a stern face. His expression made me feel anxious, but to reassure him I showed him the gun with a smile. That made him even more upset. Why was he so angry? I was here to save him. I ignored his cold stares and slowly pulled the strap off my shoulder. Aro kept repeatedly shaking his head, now begging with his eyes for me to leave. He was making me mad. I couldn’t concentrate with him doing that. I pulled the knife Aro had given me from my belt and waved it over the hole. Aro shook his head ‘no’ and pulled his arms from behind his back to show me his cords were already cut before placing them behind his back again. I should have known he was already working on his escape.

I crawled a little further towards the hole when a loud crack broke beneath me and sent me tumbling down through the roof, landing in front of Aro and the stranger. “You really thought that would work?” he whispered harshly.