I laughed and crumpled the paper back up and tossed in on the floor of the truck.
Rachel.
Damn. I hadn’t even been close.
2
Charlotte
My eyes closed for like the fifth time since I sat down on the couch and turned on the nightly news. With a sigh, I pressed the button on my phone to illuminate the screen and check the time. It was after eleven. He wasn’t coming home.
Again.
Really, I wasn’t surprised. In fact, it surprised me more that I was sitting here waiting for him. I knew better. Usually, I would just take myself off to bed and not think twice about him being late.
Many nights spent at the office were pretty much required when you were on the fast track to becoming an all-powerful executive. It was common for Max to spend three nights a week at work and then spend many more here at home, working on a laptop into the early hours of the morning. I didn’t mind it. I worked a lot too.
A person didn’t become successful in their career without sacrifice.
I clicked off the TV and checked to make sure the front door to the apartment was locked. Leaving a small lamp lit in the living room, I headed toward the single bedroom with a yawn. As I walked, I made a mental list of things I needed to accomplish tomorrow and decided that getting up early would be a good idea.
After carrying out my skin care routine and putting on a fresh pair of silk pajamas, I climbed between the crisp, white sheets and laid my head on my pillow. With a final glance at the glowing red numbers on my alarm clock beside the bed, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
But sleep didn’t last long.
Something woke me. It wasn’t necessarily a sound or anything specific. It was a bizarre feeling, something close to intuition that had sleep fading away and consciousness taking over. Even with my eyes still closed, I recognized that it was too dark in here.
The blackness was more penetrating, more final.
I opened my eyes, wanting to confirm what I was feeling. The clock was no longer lit up. The dim light that usually filtered inside the bedroom from the living room was also not there.
The entire apartment was shrouded in darkness and shadow.
My heart began to thump unevenly as panic clawed its way into my chest. Calm down, Charlotte, I told myself. The power is just out. It’s not as if that has never happened before.
Yet something felt off.
Something wasn’t right.
Pulling back the covers, I swung my legs over the side of the mattress and stood. Creeping toward the window, I reached for the blinds, meaning to look outside to see how far the power outage reached tonight.
An ear-piercing sound split through the stillness and I shrieked and stumbled backward. My heel caught on the too-long hem of my silk bottoms and I landed on the bed. I lay there feeling my heart pound against my ribs as the fire alarms inside the building shrieked with urgency.
Was there a fire?
Out in the hall of the building, I could hear doors opening and closing, the murmur of voices as people made their way toward the exits.
Great. I guess it wasn’t just a false alarm. With a sigh, I pushed up off the bed and grabbed a super soft mohair sweater and slipped my arms through, wrapping it around my middle.
Yeah, technically the fire alarms meant to hurry, but I was in no rush to get outside in the middle of the night, on the sidewalk in the cold. No, thank you.
Navigating the pitch-black apartment shouldn’t be a problem; the furniture was always in the exact same spot. I stepped out the bedroom door and walked a few steps down the tiny hallway and into the rest of the apartment.
Where I collided with something hard and large.
What the hell?
I knew for a fact that my furniture was not in this spot.
A large, hot palm wrapped around my upper arm, hooking on like a vise, and jerked me forward. “If you scream, I’ll kill you.”
I screamed anyway.
I opened my mouth and let out a startled yell as my entire body jerked away from the voice. This was not furniture. This was not good.
His other hand covered my mouth, muffling my scream.
“I said shut up!” he demanded in a harsh whisper, pressing his palm hard against my mouth and jaw. His hand was sweaty and sticky. I wanted to gag.
I held myself stock still, partially in shock. Was there really a fire? Or was the alarm just so thieves could burglarize this building with the distraction of an emergency?
Now I was sorry I didn’t hurry down to the sidewalk like everyone else in the building.
The man pulled his hand away from my mouth.
“If you were going to rob the building, you should have done it in the middle of the day when most everyone was at work,” I told him.
I felt his stare through the darkness. I could barely make out his features, but he was a large man, likely over six feet and outweighing me by at least fifty pounds. His face pushed in close to mine and his very garlicky breath blew in my face.