Page 58 of Remember That Time

"Get out of here before I call the police!"

The man smirked at me, letting out a vicious sounding laugh. "You think they can stop me? I've been planning this for far too long to let a couple of glorified mall cops stop me now."

Wow, bitter much?

I did the only thing I could think of and darted out of the room, running toward my bedroom. I hated leaving Tony alone with this freak, but I needed to get to a phone and mine was on my nightstand in my bedroom.

I raced into my bedroom and slammed the door closed just as Doug reached it, quickly turning the lock. For good measure, I pushed my dresser over in front of the door.

I hurried over and grabbed my cell phone, dialing the police.

"Police, fire, or medical?"

"Police," I replied. "My name is Dr. Gianni Galeazzi. Someone just broke into my apartment and attacked me and my roommate. My roommate is unconscious and I'm barricaded in my bedroom." I glanced toward the door, wincing at the pounding noise. "You need to hurry. This guy is really pissed about something."

"Police are on their way, Mr. Galeazzi."

"Doctor Galeazzi," I replied automatically.

"Yes, sir."

"Sorry. Habit."

"I understand, sir."

I jumped when I heard a loud crashing noise. My eyes rounded in shock when I saw half of the door smashed in. "He's breaking through the door."

"Do you have anywhere you can hide or anything you can defend yourself with, Dr. Galeazzi?"

"No." I glanced around my room, but nothing looked like a weapon.

Wait.

"Maybe."

I ran over to my nightstand, dropping to my knees before yanking the bottom drawer open. I kept a small emergency first aid kit in there. I grabbed it and opened it. It took me a moment to find what I was looking for.

A small sense of relief filled me as my hand closed around a scalpel. It might seem weird to some people to keep something like this in their first aid kits, but not me. I never knew when I might need to cut someone open.

Now was a perfect example.

"Okay, I have a weapon, but you might want to dispatch the paramedics. If I am forced to protect myself, it's going to get messy."

"Dispatching paramedics now, sir."

This lady was good.

I swallowed tightly when Doug broke off another piece of the door. "Does this thing record?"

"All emergency dispatch calls are recorded, sir."

"Great, I need you to record something for me."

The woman's voice was more solemn when she spoke again. "Go ahead, Dr. Galeazzi."

Tears sprouted to my eyes, my fear that I wasn't going to make it out of this alive riding me hard. "Whoever hears this, tell Janos that I love him and I really, really wanted to marry him and that I was looking forward to raising our baby together."

"Baby?" the dispatcher asked. "Is there a baby there, sir?"

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