Page 48 of The Naughty One
“No, they shut the power down on the doors to contain the shooter, which knocked out the alarms. But this door has always beentricky.”
She followed him down two flights of stairs then as he passed the OR floor, she faltered. “Warren?”
He turned and grabbed her hand, pulling her after him. “We have to go down to go up,Rome.”
It took a second to process what he’d called her and a wave of utter horror swept over her. “What did you callme?”
Warren’s hand tightened on her wrist as he turned back towards her. “Miss me,Rome?”
It couldn’t be … Romy stared at the big man in horror, and began to see it. Dacre had completely changed his body type; his hair was gone; the thick beard; the piercings … but yes, it was her ex-husband.
“How did I not see it?” she said out loud and as Dacre pulled her into his grip, helaughed.
“Because you didn’t want to. You’ve only had eyes for the Italian, haven’t you, whore? His hands all overyou?”
He was dragging her down the stairs, her petite body no match for his strength. “They’ll find your body in the basement, Rome, gutted, bled out. Of course, by that time I’ll be long gone. They’ll still be looking for whoever is shooting up thehospital.”
“Motherfucker, that was you? Killing more innocentpeople?”
“Dumb bitch, there is no shooter. The dumb security team is going through the hospital trying to find someone who isn’t there. I set it up so someone would fire blanks nearby and paniceverybody.”
Confused by his certainty, Romy was trying desperately to put her hand in her pocket. She had a hypodermic needle in there—if she could just reach it, she could use it as a weapon … her fingers closed around it and with all her might, she gripped it in her fist and plunged it backwards, aiming for Dacre’s face. She felt resistance then, as Dacre howled and released her, she knew she’d hit her mark. Dacre jerked back, the needle piercing his left eye. “Fuckingbitch!”
Romy didn’t wait around. He was blocking the way upwards, so she went down, practically flying down the staircase. In her pocket, her cell phone began to buzz.Blue.
“Baby, where are you? The freakiest thing, there’s some kindof…”
“Blue! It’s Dacre … he’s here, he’s after me… I’m in staircase C and I don’t know where I can get away fromhim.”
“God, baby, go down as far as you can, to the basement, you can get to the foyer. From thereI…”
There was a scuffling noise and she heard Blue cry out in anger and pain and Romy screamed. “Blue!”
“Romy ...” And then the phone went dead. What the hell was going on? Behind her, she heard Dacre crashing down the stairs after her. What the hell had happened toBlue?
She pushed her way into the basement of the hospital, a vast labyrinth of pipes and dank corridors. Romy ran as fast as she could, towards what she thought was the front of the hospital. Dacre was almost on her as she flung the door open and ran out into the foyer of thehospital.
Dacre grabbed her and they both tumbled to the floor, Romy struggling with his vast weight on top of her. Even a glimpse at the blade of the knife he pulled out made her mad rather than scared and she kicked and bit and clawed at him as he tried to subdueher.
“No,” she screamed at him, “You don’t get to win this time, Dacre. Neveragain.”
He laughed at her, cuffing her viciously around the face. “Give it up, bitch; it was always going to end thisway.”
He was winning, his sheer physical size overpowering her. He bounced Romy’s head off the cold hard floor and as she reeled, he pinned her. His mouth ground down on hers, his tongue penetrating her mouth. Romy bit down on it as hard as she could, tasting blood, and Dacre roared in pain andanger.
He drew back his arm, ready to stab her, but then everything stopped. Dacre’s eyes widened suddenly as blood began to pour from his chest. Romy whimpered as he fell forward onto her, then kicked him off of her, her eyes whirling wildly around theroom.
Behind them, Gaius Eames lowered the gun he was holding. Romy hadn’t even heard theshot.
“Gaius!”
He came to her immediately, helping her to her feet, his expression incredulous. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Who the fuck wasthat?”
Romy leaned against him, relieved to find a friendly face even if it was Gaius. “My ex-husband. And no, I’m nothurt.”
“Good.” He pressed his lips to her temple, wrapping his arm around her, and Romy feltcomforted.
“Blue. I have to get toBlue.”
