“I’ll be gone a week.”
“A week!”
“Five days if I can get business wrapped up quickly.”
“Rome. Seriously?” I didn’t want to come off whiny, but he knew I hated being in the house by myself for a long time. He didn’t have to travel a lot for work, but when he did, it always made me uneasy.
“Don’t do that, Nakyra. You know if I didn’t have to go, I wouldn’t. It’s a few days.”
“Then let me come with you. I can get packed up and ask Summer to keep Bella?—”
“No.” He shut me down, causing my mouth to clamp shut. “I’ll be in meetings all day and it wouldn’t be fair for me to drag you with me.”
“I don’t mind.” By the look on his face I could tell his mind was made up. My shoulders fell forward. “Yeah, okay.”
I walked past him, not wanting to hear anything else. He called my name but I ignored him, reaching up and turning my aids off in the process.
Rome’s last minute trips always bothered me and I hoped once he took over they would become a thing of the past.
____
I was half asleep when the vibration on the bed next to me alerted me of my phone. I reached aimlessly for my phone until I located it. With one eye open I noticed Rome’s mom calling. My brows furrowed as I became more alert.
It was going on twelve at night. I had taken a sleeping pill around eight and the effects were still there.
The sleepiness I once felt quickly disappeared as panic sank in. My heart raced and my stomach tightened. Quickly sitting up, I reached for my aids, to put them in, and answered the phone. Instantly they connected to my phone using Bluetooth.
“It’s about time you answered!” My panic increased hearing the distress in Marisol’s voice. It was clear she was crying. Her pitch was high and her words came out shaky.
“I was sleeping. Is everything okay?”
“No! Rome was in an accident and is in the hospital. You need to get here now!”
“An accident? The hospital? But I thought he had a flight.”
It was around six when Rome left for the airport. I didn’t ask but I assumed his flight was around eight since we typically left two hours prior to our flights.
“None of that matters right now! You need to get here now!” I winced at her loud voice. A sharp pain shot through my brain.
“Yeah, okay. Is he okay?” My heart raced as adrenaline pounded through my veins.
Hurriedly, I scrambled out the bed, almost falling in the process. Bricks piled up in my stomach as she cried in my ear.
“Just get here.” Silence came next.
“Hello? Marisol?” I called out but she must have hung up.
“That woman!” I cried out as tears clouded my eyes. I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down, but it was growing harder to focus. My lungs were having difficulty collecting and releasing oxygen. It felt like my chest was weighed down by boulders.
I knew right now I couldn’t break down. Not when Rome needed me. The way Marisol was on the phone I felt as if I needed to prepare for the worst. Just the thought sent my nerves into a frenzy and caused my stomach to grow queasy.
Racing to my walk-in closet I snatched the door open and raced inside. There was no time to waste.
Chapter 3
Creed Thornton
Standing to the side, with my brows creased and my mouth in a straight line, I ran my eyes down the silhouette laid in front of me, face up on the bench. Her arms were spread and attached at the wrists by a red rope to the spreader above her head. Her feet were tied to the lower spreader at her ankles. A red and black silk scarf was tied around her eyes.
