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Three minutes wouldn’t guarantee them anything. That asshole could take her hostage. He could still hurt her. The police could only ensure that he didn’t get away. They couldn’t promise to save her.
That was up to him.
“Sebastian, you can do this,” Taggart said, his voice as steady as his former CO’s.
One bad day. He’d had one bad day and it didn’t have to ruin the rest of his life. But this one—oh, if this one turned bad, his life might be over because she was the one. She was everything he’d never thought he wanted in a woman and everything he absolutely needed to be whole.
He didn’t need his damn legs. They were incidental and he could see that now.
He needed her. Only her.
“I have a corkscrew in my pocket. I would go back into the kitchen for a knife, but the block is too close. He would see me so it’s me and the corkscrew. It’s fitting since it’s my favorite tool. I have a decent line of sight on him. Everything else will be pure luck and willpower. Thank you, Tag. For everything. You take care of her if anything happens to me.”
“Understood, but you’re a badass and he’s a fucker who could barely handle minimum security prison. Take him out.”
He hung up the phone. He wouldn’t need it.
Or maybe he would. After all, a smart man could do amazing things. All he had to do was try. He’d spent the last few years hiding away, taking very few risks.
It was time to take the biggest of his life.
He wheeled slowly toward the living room and prayed he would be in time.
* * *
She was surprisingly calm once she realized Sebastian wasn’t going to come charging out to save her. That had been her moment of pure panic. She’d seen the knife in Bobby’s hand and envisioned him gutting Sebastian with it.
“Bet you didn’t think you’d see me again.” Her ex stared at her like she was a deer he was about to skin and mount to his wall.
“I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to show up on my doorstep.” She’d thought he was so smart, sure of himself. He’d been a twenty-four-year-old in charge of his own brokerage firm. Of course she should have known it had all been a scam. Still, it had required some brainpower, and he was showing none of that now.
His hand curled around the knife. It was a nasty-looking thing that most people would have used for hunting, though she supposed he was kind of hunting her. “I told you I would be back for you.”
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Fear was there, but Sebastian was in the back of the apartment and he would wait until the time was right. He would come in and save her. There was no way he didn’t do that. It was odd, but she’d never trusted anyone the way she did Sebastian. He was solid no matter what his wounded psyche might tell him. He was also strong as hell and obviously way smarter than her old boyfriend. All in all a real upgrade. “Everyone knows you made that threat.”
He shrugged, the knife still glinting. “And I wrote to you many times explaining about how I only want to see you to make amends. Tell me you didn’t believe me.”
“Of course I did. I’m eternally optimistic and I get the feeling I’m going to pay for that later on today.” Her Master was going to be so pissed when they got through this. “But you should know that everyone who knows me knows that if I die after the man who threatened to murder me gets out of jail, they should probably give you a look. Also, I’m not planning on letting you kill me.”
He took a step forward. “I’m not giving you a chance. And I’ve planned this out perfectly. I’ve got ten people who will swear I’m at a family dinner right now. Unlike you, you little traitor, my family sticks together.”
“And my weird work family is totally paranoid, so while you might have some people willing to lie for you, this building has so many cameras you won’t have been able to avoid all of them.” Anger thrummed through her. How dare he? He had zero right to invade her space. She’d done the right thing. He’d been a bad person. “You know you could have done your fairly easy time and still had a life.”
“I don’t have a life,” he snarled back. “They took everything from me. They took all my money. All my power.”
What a pathetic shit. She was going to have such a talk with Sebastian. He’d lost everything and still made a life for himself. He’d lost his legs and his family and his view of himself and he’d still found a way to survive.
The man in front of her didn’t have half Sebastian’s strength.
“You’re going to go back to jail if you don’t get out of here.” It would be best if she could scare him away and never have to put Sebastian in harm’s way.
“I didn’t see any cameras.” He glanced back at the door as though trying to figure a way out of the trap.
“There are a bunch. They’re placed throughout the building.” She almost felt sorry for the asshole. There really were carefully placed cameras just about everywhere. He might have avoided some of them, might have kept his head down, but there was zero chance he wouldn’t have been caught by at least one security cam.
“My boss’s brother owns a security firm.” She kept her voice quiet, soothing. Anything to keep him from using that knife. Where would Sebastian come from? Not the kitchen. He would probably come from behind, from the hallway where he would be able to maneuver more freely.
She needed to turn them around. If he came out of the hall right now, Bobby would see him.
