Page 64 of Deadly Protector
Her heart was a staccato beat in her chest and she could only hope an opportunity to escape would present itself. She also hoped Dimitri had called the police or something. Though she had a feeling he would show up.
And that scared her as much as it gave her hope. He was deadly and capable, but Ryba had a gun and was on edge. So much could go wrong so quickly. Fear squeezed her throat; regret made it worse.
“What is it?” Ryba asked as they stopped under the panel.
“Just thinking that my kids are going to grow up without both their parents when you kill me.” Maybe he had a heart hiding in that hollow chest, would feel a little guilt and second-guess killing her. She’d try anything at this point.
“I’m not going to kill you,” he snarled.
But she didn’t believe him.
“If you help me find what I’m looking for, I have no need to hurt you,” he said as he climbed the ladder. “I just want what’s mine, and then I’m getting out of the country. That’s it.”
Yeah, right.She was a loose end and she knew it. But she didn’t respond. She cleared her throat, stepped back as he pulled the rope. The panel opened and the stairs unfolded with a squeak. “Does your aunt know you’re here?” she asked, thinking of what Dimitri had told her. Please get here, Dimitri.
Ryba snorted and motioned for her to climb up first. “She’s got enough problems of her own. And soon I won’t have to listen to anything that bitch says.”
As she climbed up into the dusty space, she felt around for the switch on the nearest wall. As soon as she hit it, the dim bulb came on with a buzz, illuminating the dusty plastic bins stacked around the room.
The first stack was all Christmas and other holiday decorations, each one clearly labeled. Though the contents were visible. “Behind the Christmas stuff are a couple of bins of Lucas’s stuff. Yearbooks, baseball cards, other random things.” She had no clue if a password might be in there, but it was the only thing she could think of where he might have kept something. No one would ever look there—and she hadn’t wanted to just toss his childhood things. She’d wanted her kids to be able to look at old pictures of their father.
“You should have brought them to the storage facility.” Ryba’s voice was a low growl as he stalked across the wood flooring toward the bins.
“I didn’t think about this stuff.”
He simply made a grunting sound and kicked one of the bins out of the way.
She winced at the sound of something breaking, but gritted her teeth. A few broken bulbs were nothing. He could break everything. She just wanted to escape. To live.
She looked down at the opening, knew she’d never make it down the stairs. He’d shoot her before she got onto the ladder, no problem. With the light streaming up from the hallway, she’d basically have a spotlight on her.
No.
She watched as he ripped off one of the tops and pulled out a yearbook with his free hand.
He paused, then looked at her. “Why don’t you get your ass over here and make yourself useful?”
She forced a nod, and when he looked back down at the yearbook, started shaking it to see if anything fell out, she lunged back, flipped the light switch off. She might not be able to escape through that exit, but there was another way.
Another exit. But she’d have to crawl through her attic to get to it. And she’d have to do it in the dark, would have to blind him so she could escape.
And this was her only chance.
Little bits of light still shone from the hallway, but it was from below. She was completely hidden now as she inched backward, farther into the shadows.
“Turn it back on,” he snapped. “You can’t escape and I don’t want to shoot you.”
The word yet seemed to suspend in the air, unsaid but heard. She stayed quiet and took another step back.
Bang!
She jumped at the gunshot, dove to the ground as insulation splintered all around her. Heart racing, she stayed low and started crawling in the opposite direction, the darkness her friend.
Ryba snarled behind her and she knew she had a limited time before he found that light switch. Then it was game over.
“Fuck!” There was a crash behind her, then a clattering sound.
She crawled faster, her heart in her throat as she hurried across the wood beam. The attic floor wasn’t completely finished so if he tried to follow her in the dark, he’d fall through the ceiling below. Hopefully break his legs.
