Page 16 of The Stolen Dagger
But they weren’t from a number I recognized.
Unknown:
You’ve been a very bad girl, mi princesa. And bad girls get what’s coming to them.
Consider this your only warning.
There is nowhere you can run that I will not find you.
I will get what I want, and whatever blood is spilled along the way will be on your hands.
Give me the dagger, or my next visit will be to one of your new friends. - Adrian
My chest tightened as I read each text. Tears spilled over the brim of my eyelids and fell onto the screen as I hastily deleted the texts and blocked the unknown number.
Multiple thoughts crossed my mind at once.
A dagger? I don’t have any kind of dagger. What the hell is he talking about?
I had to run again. I had to leave everything behind, but what about Leah and Drew? Adrian knew about them. How was I supposed to protect them? I couldn’t let Adrian get to them. I had to?—
Heavy footsteps sounded outside like someone was rushing down the hall.
I froze and turned toward my open front door.
Shit. Why didn’t I shut the door?
My heart pounded. My breath came out in quick pants. I swiped at the tears on my face and dropped the flower onto the countertop.
Guarded by the darkness of my apartment, I ran out of the kitchen, past the balcony window, and into the bathroom farthest away from the front door.
The floorboards in the entryway creaked as the footsteps got closer and closer before they stopped.
Someone’s in my apartment!
The footsteps continued steadily inside. They were slow and deliberate as they maneuvered around the debris in my apartment. An occasional crunch and snap of broken glass were the only noises heard.
Once the steps sounded farther away, I peeked around the corner from where I hid. With the intruder’s back to me, I guessed they were a man with the large expanse of their shoulders and dominating stance.
When he turned, the light from the hall glinted off something in his hands.A gun!Then he entered my bedroom, searching.
Is he looking for me?
Careful to not make any noise, I tiptoed across the living room and stopped beside the doorway of the room he’d gone into with my back flat against the wall on the left side.
Shit! I left the pepper spray on the counter.
Adrenaline rushed forward and clouded my thoughts. I evened my breathing and waited. I clenched and unclenched my hands. Everything I’d learned from self-defense with Drew flashed through my mind.
When the intruder’s footsteps neared, he walked slowly through the doorway, pointing his gun at the ground.
That was when I struck.
Hidden in the darkness of the apartment, I stepped forward and hit his wrist hard, knocking the gun out of his hands. The weapon clattered to the floor.
Now caught off guard, the intruder turned, but I threw my fist into his stomach in an upward motion.
When he bent over, I grabbed the back of his head and raised my knee, aiming for his nose, but he shifted to the left, and my knee connected with his temple instead.
