Page 45 of His Ex's Little Sister
“Why would hebehere?”
“Get out of there now! Get in my car and bring your sister and parents to my place. Now. I’ll explainlater.”
“You’re not makingsense,Reid.”
“Robin! Listen to me. Leave thehousenow!”
“We’re not in the house. We’re in the apartment above thegarage.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that Danielle is jiggling the door knob. “That’s strange,”shesays.
I cover the phone ear speaker to block out Reid’s hysterics. “Whatis?”
“It’s not opening. Mom?” she calls through the door. “Really funny, Mom, locking us in from outthere.”
No oneanswers.
Danielle pounds on thedoor. “Mom?”
I swallow hard. “Reid?” I shout into the phone, but the call must have disconnected. Reid’s words sink in when I start to smell smoke. I hear a car horn blaring from outside, so I look out the frontwindow.
GoodLord,no.
Dave?
Hasn’t this man done enough?Apparentlynot.
“Call 9-1-1!” I tell mysister.
Sliding open the double-hung casement window transports me back to my panic-stricken state as I relive the last fire he caused. Except now, Danielle is with me, we’re on the second floor, this window is metal and only opens about four inches, and Reid is not here tosaveus.
“Dave, unlock this door right now!” I scream downathim.
“Or what?” he smuglyshoutsback.
“You won’t get awaywiththis!”
“I have before, and even if I don’t, I’ve got nothing moretolose.”
“Please, just open the door. Danielle is here. She’s done nothingtoyou.”
“Collateral damage is inevitable,Robin.”
“Why do you want to hurt me like this?” Iplead.
“Maybe you should give me an answer to the samequestion.”
“Please don’tdothis.”
“Tell me something. Do you think I’ll miss you whenyou’regone?”
I don’t have a comeback for that stupid question. Dave is not going to let us go. I ignore him altogether and turn to Danielle after she ends the 9-1-1call.
“What do you have around here that can break through the glass in thiswindow?”
It’s time for us to saveourselves.
Otherwise, one wrong move and we both go up inflames.
