Page 57 of King of the Cage

“Where do you think you’re going, bitch?” he breathed in my ear, dragging me back against him.

I fumbled with the cloak clasp for a few seconds before it came free.

I slipped out of the garment, leaving the guy holding it, and ran. I’d dropped my candlestick, so I had nothing to defend myself with.

I ran down the hall and leaped up the stairs, two at a time.

I found myself in a long hallway with doors dotted along it. I had no idea what was in those rooms, and given the history ofthe hotel, I could guess that every floor was the same. Hadn’t the suicides been women jumping of one of the top floors? I hadn’t paid attention to the dates the suicides had happened. What if it was the same tradition that I was now a part of?

I ran down the hall, trying the doors. Aldo had stashed Sol somewhere, and I was willing to bet it wouldn’t be that far from the action.

The guys who had attacked me climbed the stairs noisily behind me, muttering all kinds of promised violence. Finally, a door opened under my hand, and I fell into a room.

It was dark, but the curtains were open, and I could just make out a figure on the bed. All the movies I’d watched as a child that had given me sleepless nights threatened to return. I stared at the dark figure lying on a bed in a creepy abandoned hotel and questioned all my life choices. Every single one. I’d really done it this time.

Then a soft moan filled the room, and my fear fled. Locking the door quickly, I ran to the bed and pulled the gag off Sol. She was handcuffed to the headboard by her wrists. I immediately pulled a hairpin from my hair and got to work on the lock.

“Jesus, what’s going on?” she cried as soon as she recovered from being gagged.

“Shh, keep it down,” I murmured, casting a quick glance behind me.

The two guys who were following me were probably working their way down the hall, trying all the doors like I had. We couldn’t let them find us.

“What’s happening is that Aldo Sepriano is an even bigger piece of shit than his brother, and I should have made sure you went home,” I muttered, furious at myself all over again.

Tears filled Sol’s eyes. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have just gone with him… it’s pathetic. After what happened with Enrico, I thought maybe hooking up with his older brother would be a real ‘fuck you’ moment. Pathetic, like I said,” she whispered.

I shook my head vehemently. “You’re not pathetic, they’re insane. I didn’t tell you how bad Enrico was because there didn’t seem like a need for it. I had no idea Aldo would pull this shit. None of this is your fault, got it?”

Sol shrugged, clearly unconvinced. “What do we do now?”

I set the handcuffs aside and went to the window, staring downward. We were two floors up. It wasn’t that far. There was a very nice tree pretty close to the window, as well.

“We’re getting out of here,” I told her firmly.

“Um, how? It doesn’t seem like the kind of situation where we can just walk out the door.”

“It definitely isn’t, but we can’t let that stop us.” I pushed at the window, and to my relief, it moved up. Not much, but enough to get Sol’s slender body out.

I gestured her toward the window. “You know how you were always great at climbing things, and gymnastics, while I was always falling on my face?”

She nodded, eyeing the tree outside the window doubtfully.

“Well, you need to dig up those skills, because this is the way out.” I patted the window ledge. “Jump on up.”

She stared at me, aghast. I tapped my lip.

“Oh, wait,” I said and quickly crossed to the bed and tugged the sheet off. I tied the end of it around Sol’s waist.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“In case you fall.” I stood at the window, wrapped the sheet around my arms, and nodded to her. “Go on now.”

“This is nuts,” she said slowly.

I nodded again. “Yeah, but it’s the only way right now. I’ve got you.”

She hesitated in the opening. “But who has you?”

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