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"There are two men in the house," I repeat, squeezing my eyes closed like that's going to make the situation any better. "I came home early, and they broke in. They don't know I'm here, but they were talking about kidnapping me. I'm hiding in the closet. Please hurry."
"Fuck," he swears, terror in his voice. He repeats what I just said to someone else, and then I hear him moving. It sounds like he's running. "I'm coming for you, baby. I swear, I'm coming."
"Hurry, please."
Something else shatters downstairs, and then something else shatters. The sound of objects being thrown around and broken grows louder and more frantic. It's so loud that it sounds as if they're ripping the house apart. Glass shatters again and again as they break things, and loud thumps rattle through the house. I think Roman hears them, too, because he growls, the sound completely feral and terrifying.
"Please hurry," I whisper as the sounds downstairs continue.
"Do you remember the combination to the gun safe?" he asks me.
"Y-yes," I say, taking deep breaths because I feel like I'm going to faint. I hear his truck engine roar to life, and I know he's coming for me as quickly as he can. The sound melts a little of the ice freezing me from the inside out. Roman's on his way, and I know he'll do everything he can to keep me safe because that's who he is, and that's what he does.
"Good," he says, talking really softly like he's trying to keep me calm. "That's real good, baby. I need you to open it up for me and get a gun. You shoot if anyone comes through that door before you hear my voice. You don't fucking stop pulling the trigger until they quit moving."
"Roman." Another wave of fear hits me at his words. I don't want to shoot anyone, but he isn't here yet, and I'm completely on my own. If they make it upstairs before he gets here, I'm going to have to defend myself.
Please, God, let him get here before they find me.
"Do it," he demands.
I squeeze myself out of the corner as soon as I hear the command in his voice. I punch in the code—Tahani's birthday—and then pull the safe open. He's got a small arsenal stored inside. I don't know anything about guns, so I just blindly grab one that looks like it'll comfortably fit in my hand and then push the safe door closed and scramble back into the corner.
"Take the safety off, baby," he instructs me when I tell him that I have the gun. His voice is calm and steady as he guides me through the process of sliding the safety back.
My hands shake so hard that I have to try twice before I manage to pull it back.
"Got it," I whisper when I'm done, and then I pause. The sounds downstairs stop as quickly as they started. "They stopped breaking stuff," I tell him. "I don't know if they're still inside."
"Jesus Christ, move out of the fucking way," he barks, and then I hear his horn blare. "Baby, I need you to hang up and call 911 for me."
"No," I whimper. Tears pour down my cheeks at the thought of hanging up with him, pleading with him not to make me. I'm so fucking scared that I'll never hear his voice again if I hang up the phone. "Please, Roman. Please don't make me hang up."
"Calm down, baby," he says and then makes this sound in the back of his throat like I'm breaking his heart. "You don't have to hang up; just calm down for me, sweetheart." His voice sounds again, a little further away, and I know he's talking to someone else, that someone else is with him.
I take another deep breath and smell…something. Smoke.
Something's on fire.
"Roman," I whisper, my heart stalling. "I smell smoke."
"What?" he asks me, and I know he didn't hear me the first time.
Before I can answer him, the smoke alarm downstairs begins shrieking. The smell of smoke grows stronger quickly. Then a harsher odor fills the air, choking me.
"Roman," I whisper, trying not to panic as my eyes start to burn from the fumes. "I-I think they set the house on fire. I smell gasoline and smoke."
Oh God, they set the house on fire with me inside.
I can't fight back the terrified whimper that crawls up my throat.
"Motherfucker," Roman swears, and I know he's scared too. I hear it in the way his breath rasps down the line and the way his voice shakes. "We're fifteen minutes out, baby."
I don't think I have fifteen minutes, and I think he knows that too. The smell of smoke intensifies quickly. Within seconds, the smoke alarm in the hall outside the bedroom begins shrieking. I have no idea if the two men who set the house on fire are still out there, but I have to get out now, or I'm going to die in here.
"Roman," I whisper as I crawl out of my hiding spot. "I love you."
That broken sound echoes down the line again, rumbling from his lips. The painful whimper shreds my heart into tiny little pieces. He's so big, so fucking strong, and he's breaking, terrified I'm not going to make it.
