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Ray turned to her, and her breath caught in her throat.
“Welcome back,” Ray said. He walked over and stopped at the edge of her bed. “Thought we’d lost you for a second.”
“I need help, Ray,” she said, her voice cracking. She felt weak, and the pain was excruciating while her breaths were short and getting harder to take in. “Turn yourself in. Let me get help.”
“And go back to jail?” He snorted. “That won’t happen. Now let’s try this again. Get up.”
He raised a gun and pointed to her. Her vision blurred. She blinked the tears away. With a sigh, she bit her lip and slipped toward the edge of the bed.
“I’m no good to you if I die, Ray,” she whispered.
“I just need you to transfer that money to me, and then you can die for all I care.” He smirked.
“There’s cops outside,” the bearded man snapped from his position by the door. He moved away from it and stalked toward Ray.
“Don’t worry.” Ray waved a hand at the men. He turned toward Aspen with a sinister grin. “We all know how the police will work. They’ll call us and try to bargain with us. Once they do, we’ll play the hostage card and demand—”
The lights went out, casting them into darkness. Curses went around the room. The tension palpable before was now suffocating.
Aspen couldn’t see anything in front of her face, much less where Ray or any of the men were. The sounds of glass breaking filled the air. Even in the dark, Aspen could tell the men were scrambling around the room.
“They’re going to call and bargain with us, eh?” a man shouted.
“Let’s go, Aspen,” Ray snapped.
A firm hand gripped her arm and dragged her to the edge of the bed. She was surprised by the strength of the older man. He must have benefited from the gym while in prison.
If she wasn’t in so much pain, she’d roll her eyes. This time, he forced her up on her feet. She cried out and fell into his body.
There was no way she’d be able to walk.
“Just leave me,” she begged, gripping his shirt in her hand to try to hold on to him.
“Not a chance.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her along next to him.
Something pressed into her side, and she instantly knew what it was without needing to see it.
A gun.
“I’m going to slow you down. I can’t even walk,” she cried out.
“Shut up!” he hollered, digging the barrel of the gun deeper.
The sound of pounding thudded, and Aspen’s heart jumped. Wood splintering met her ears, and it was a noise she’d never thought she’d be glad to hear.
“CPD!” a deep voice shouted. “Freeze!”
Ray turned around and brought her body up in front of him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The pain rippling through her body was unbearable. Her breaths were coming fast while her body trembled uncontrollably.
She jumped at the bang of a gun firing. Return fire could be heard with shouting. Men cried out in agony, followed by the sounds of bodies crumpling to the floor.
Aspen fought to stay conscious. There was no way she could afford to pass out now.
“Don’t shoot! I have the girl!” Ray shouted.
She whimpered as the gun was pressed farther into her side.
“And turn the damn lights on! I’m sure you wouldn’t want me accidentally shooting her.”
