Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
But first she had to reach it. And she was still weakened from the muscle relaxant. Weak and clumsy. But not useless.
The credenza she was tied to was huge and solid and had to weigh three hundred pounds. Even if her muscles had been at their prime, she couldn’t have managed to pull the heavy piece of furniture toward the window or the door. Both of those were too far. The wall, however, was closer.
Hollis’s voice rose, muted through the glass, but also powerful as he geared up for his closing remarks. Even in the midst of her hatred and disdain, she recognized how handsome he was, how charismatic he could be. His mother stood slightly behind him now, her haughty chin raised as she surveilled the crowd. The sight of Felicia Barclay, the one who’d ordered a hit on her child, gave her a burst of fortitude.
Cami set her eyes on Rex, who’d turned and was slowly moving in another direction.
And then she used all her strength to hurl her body toward the wall. The chair tipped, wobbled, and then Cami went crashing to the ground, the air knocked from her lungs as the rope at her waist bit harshly into her skin.
She lay there for only a moment, bracing against the pain and finally pulling in a ragged breath as she gripped the floor and pulled her body, the credenza scraping over the tile.
She’d moved it!
Just an inch, maybe even less. But if she’d done it once, she could do it again.
Hollis’s voice boomed, the crowd roared, and the vision of Rex moving farther away from her all prompted her forward. She used strength she didn’t think she had, pulling her body over the floor, still bound and tied to the chair and dragging what she’d determined to be an immovable piece of furniture behind her.
I am coming home to you, Cyrus.
Rex, I’m here. I’m here.
Sweat dripped down the side of her face, and her hands became slippery. Just another inch. Just . . . Cami stretched both hands in front of her, the zip ties cutting into her skin. The grunting sound that accompanied her effort turned into a shriek as she grasped the lamp cord with her fingertip. She stilled then, panting, shaking as she pulled it toward her.
Hollis’s voice. Music. Applause. So much applause.
Her movements were still uncoordinated, and so when she attempted to pull the lamp closer to her again, her hand jumped, and the lamp swayed.
No, no, oh God no.
The lamp tipped and fell toward her, Cami letting out a high-pitched squeal as she turned toward where it was falling and barely caught it before the bulb hit the floor.
She allowed herself only a moment to get control of her shaking before her fingers found the switch, and she turned the lamp on. She squinted and groaned as the light hit her eyes, sudden and intense. But it worked. It worked. She’d been worried she’d turn it on, and the bulb would be dead.
She turned it off and then waited a second and then turned it back on. She couldn’t see out the window now from the floor where she lay. She couldn’t tell if Rex had seen her signal from below. She only had a view of Hollis’s enlarged face as he grinned and laughed and said words he didn’t mean.
She focused on her breath, and only that, as her fingers turned the switch one way and then the other.
I’m here. I’m here, Rex.
Only he would understand. Anyone else catching sight of the flickering light from above, through a tinted window, might think it was a reflection, or a response to Hollis’s speech perhaps. A way to applaud from afar.
A way to show their support.
On. Off. On. Off.
Slow and steady. Slow and steady.
She heard feet pounding down the hall, toward the room where she lay, and a sob burst from her mouth.
Rex. Rex.
He’d found her. He was here.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Rex kicked the door down, calling her name as the frame splintered, and he burst through before he’d even fully cleared it.
“Rex!”
His heart lurched when he saw her on the floor, a rope around her waist that tied her to a chair, that chair attached to a massive reception desk. She had her arms outstretched toward a lamp, and when he went down on his knees beside her, she turned her tear-streaked face to his. “Cami, oh my God. When I saw that flashing light, I knew. You did so good.” She was amazing. The bravest woman he’d ever known. He glanced over his shoulder. “Where are they?”
She nodded toward the huge screen out the window and across the way. “The rally. I think they’re all at the rally. Seraphina brought me here. But Hollis’s mom is involved, too, and maybe Hollis, but I’m not sure about that.” She was rambling, and her voice was shaking from the adrenaline dump, and he was dying to hold her in his arms, but he needed to get her out of these ropes first.