Page 4 of Healed in the Alpha's Embrace
“Zoey! We’ve been so worried about you. Are you okay? Where are you?”
“Heather, I can’t... I don’t have much time.” The words tumbled out, laced with fear. “He’s getting worse. I need to get Ro and me out of here.”
“Zoey, listen to me,” she said firmly, her tone sharpening with determination. “We’re going to help you. We’ll get you both out, I promise.”
The line crackled slightly, and another voice came through. Deeper, steadier.
“Zoey, it’s Sam.”
“Sam.” Hearing his voice brought a surge of hope. Despite that he was my stepdad, I’d never imagined he would be willing to assist me. The animosity George had caused had created such a rift that I’d feared Sam had completely severed ties with me.
“Tell me everything. We’ll make a plan. But be quick, be concise. I figure you don’t have much time,” he said, his words efficient like the lawyer he was.
I relayed the details between shallow breaths, each word filled with desperation. When I finished, there was a brief silence on the line.
“Can you tell me if he has a set routine? Maybe a meeting or a golf game, or a specific time when he leaves you and Ro?” Sam asked.
“He sees his accountant on the last Friday of every month,” I said. “He usually spends most of the morning there.” George liked to know where his money was, so he monitored his finances closely.
“Okay, that’s good. We have eight days...” The line went quiet, and I feared the call had disconnected.
“Sam? Are you still there?” I asked tentatively.
“Sorry, I was lost in thought. I can fly over and hire a car. Can you and Ro get out? Go shopping? Then I could meet you at the supermarket, and we can leave.”
“Not alone. The staff does the shopping. If I want to go anywhere, I have a guard. He’s… he’s paranoid, Sam, and he’s getting worse,” I whispered. Despite that I was in the bathroom, with the shower running and two closed doors separating me from the main areas of the house, I was very aware that it was occupied by shifters with exceptional hearing. If any of them heard me, reported me to George… I didn’t want to think of the repercussions.
“Can you go anywhere without the guards?” Sam asked.
“Only here on the compound, but he has cameras everywhere and guards patrolling regularly, and they’re on constant surveillance,” I said, the flame of hope inside me sputtering.
Sam cursed under his breath.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I shouldn’t have called you. This is useless.” Through tears and a simmering anger, I muttered, “I’ll figure something else out.”
“We’re getting you out of there. We just need to plan it out first,” he reassured me. The sound of his pacing echoed down the line, and I pictured him, phone in one hand, the other tugging at his hair. He’d done that so many times when I was a teenagerand he was dealing with a difficult client. Remembering it broke my heart a little. “First, we need a way to communicate without the risk of being overheard,” he said. “Even texting is risky. Even if you deleted the messages, if that bastard got his hands on the phone, he could still recover them.”
“I could set up an email,” I suggested. “There are plenty of ways to make an anonymous account.” I’d studied computer programming in college and knew my way around the internet. I was confident I could hide it from George.
“Okay, that’s good.” He gave me his email address, then made me repeat it until I’d memorized it. “I need you to watch the guards’ schedules and routes, but don’t take any risks. Stay safe. Check the timing of their patrols and the intervals between each one.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“Find a weakness in their patrol, maybe during changeover when they’re busy. All you need is a ten-minute break in their rounds. Then you and Ro go out for a walk. We can arrange somewhere to meet, and by the time they realize you’re no longer on the grounds, you’ll be long gone,” Sam said, his composed and confident explanation making it sound so easy. That flame of hope inside me flared brightly again.
“Can you do this?” he asked me.
“I can,” I said, my conviction surprising even me.
“Stay strong. We’ll bring you home,” Sam said before ending the call.
I opened a browser and found a site that offered a free email account. After setting up an account with a username that was a mix of letters and numbers so nothing could be traced to me, I sent Sam a message with the address. Then, I deleted my browsing history. I wasn’t taking any chances.
After four days of closely watching the patrols, I roughly timed the routes and discovered that during the shift change,they placed guards at the front of the property, leaving the back unattended. However, there was still the issue of the cameras. I couldn’t risk everything on the assumption that the person monitoring them wasn’t paying attention, which was where my computer skills would come in handy. George liked having the most up-to-date gadgets, and his security system was no exception. That meant everything was online so he could monitor it no matter where he was, but it also meant I could access it. With just this phone, I could easily manipulate the cameras so whoever was watching would see a recorded loop.
George, so sure of his men and their total loyalty to him, had created a blind spot. All his system needed was one domino to fall. Lucas may have done nothing more than provide me with a phone—something people today took completely for granted—but in less than a week, I had an escape plan.
I emailed Sam the information I’d gathered and resisted the urge to constantly check for his reply. With only two days left before George’s meeting, the hours dragged on, each one stretching across my fleeting resolve.
