Page 20 of Hot for Hostage

“Thank you.”

He waited till I walked further into the room before closing the door behind me. A quiet click sounded before footsteps echoed away.

The doorknob didn’t budge when I tried it, and my jaw dropped. The lock was on theoutsideof the door?

The nerve of these men.

But I didn’t have time to fume about it.

I needed to escape.

I ran over to a window, rushed to unlatch it and let out a sigh of relief when it unlocked without setting off an alarm. I heaved it open and stuck my head out just far enough to see the ground.

It was pretty far down.

Thinking fast, I hurried to the attached bathroom and switched on the tub before skidding back into the bedroom. I flung the comforter off the bed, then stripped off its sheets.

I might love making yummy treats, but crafts had never been my thing. And there was nothing skilled about the knots I used to tie the sheets together.

Racing back over to the window, I looked outside for any of the guards Davian had mentioned—but the coast was clear.

Unless they were hidden?

It was too late to worry about that.

I quickly tied one end of my makeshift rope to the radiator before flinging the rest out the window. The end still hovered a decent height above the grass, but I was confident I could drop the rest of the way without hurting myself.

Hopefully.

Crawling out the window was the easy part, then I shuffled around until my legs dangled awkwardly over the ledge. If therewereguards outside, they’d have a great view of my butt from this angle.

I really should’ve thought this through.

But I forced myself to soldier on. With no experience in rappelling, I clung to the rope for dear life. It was slow going down the sheets.

Sweat dripped down my back by the time I’d hobbled down to the end of the blankets.

I glanced down, and the ground looked very far away. Much further than I’d thought it’d be.

“Bear needs me,” I reminded myself, and it was enough to make my fingers unclench from the sheet.

I dropped like a sack of potatoes and landed on the grass with a soft “oof.”

Looking around to make sure no one had seen, I scrambled to my feet and brushed off my overalls before making a dash for the garage—keeping close to the walls. There wasn’t any sign of guards patrolling I could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

Luck was on my side—Davian hadn’t closed the garage door, and it only took a little hunting to find Daisy’s keys on a row of hooks near the door.

But I paused before getting into her.

What was my plan once I got to the car wash? The gun had given me confidence earlier, but I doubted I could find another one here before someone noticed me.

I cursed Davian for taking my gun. Well… Vince’s gun.

Out of options, I grabbed a broom from a shelving unit and tossed it into the car, then hopped into the driver’s side. An extra leash from the shelter was in the center console, and I stuffed it into my overalls for when we got Bear back.

Daisy was a little loud when I started the ignition.

“Shhh,” I whispered soothingly, praying no one heard her. “You can do this.Wecan do this.”

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