Page 121 of Committed to You

Can I jump at her and take her down?Meredith is around my height and weight. We would probably be matched up in a boxing ring together. I’m not sure which of us is stronger, but I’m also not sure if I should take my chances of getting shot.

I’m lost in thought as Chase talks to her, saying God knows what, but Meredith looks like a lovesick puppy.

“Okay, I promise you I won’t do anything to her until you’re here to watch. You’re right. It’s better if we do it together. You can have your driver bring you here, but that’s the only other person.”

She looks so happy. Too bad she’s crazy.My gut flips some more.

“Okay. I’ll text you the address now. Are you leaving soon?” She giggles. “I promise, baby. It’s about an hour out of the city. I’ll see you then.” She makes kissing noises and hangs up. She sets my phone on the counter and opens a tote bag.

She pulls a thick rope out of the bag and wraps it around my chest and the chair. When she finishes tying me up, she slides the gun against my cheek, leans into my ear, and quietly says, “Don’t you want to know what Chase said?”

Do I want to know? What is the right thing to respond to her?

I’m still thinking about what to say when she makes my decision for me.

“He wants me to wait to hurt you until he gets here so we can do it together.” She cackles, and my insides clench, but Chase is coming for me.

28

Chase

All morning I feel off.I can’t put my finger on it, but something is nagging me.

I get to the title company early. I assume Vivian will already be there. Her appointment should have ended no later than eleven.

When I arrive, Vivian is nowhere to be seen. It’s 11:30, and I text her, but I don’t get a response. When ten minutes pass, I try calling her, but it goes to voice mail. I call Royce, her guard.

“Vivian hasn’t come back to the lobby yet.”

The hair on my neck stands up. “What do you mean she hasn’t come back? You aren’t with her?”

“She wouldn’t let me go. She said they had security in the building, and it wasn’t professional for her to show up to a listing appointment with a guard.”

“And you let her go by herself?” My blood boils in my veins.

Royce doesn’t say anything.

“You need to go check on her right now.”

“But I’m not on the security list for the building. They aren’t going to let me back.”

My gut drops. “Find a way,” I snarl. “There’s no way her appointment would take this long, and she isn’t answering her phone.”

Something happened to Vivian.I’m already in the elevator heading out of the title agency building before I hang up.

I run two blocks to the building Vivian is supposed to be at, and within minutes, I’m speaking with security. Video footage is blocked from the apartment Vivian was supposed to be in and through the staircase.

My heart thumps so fast I struggle to breathe. My mouth goes dry.

I run out to the street, calling Vivian several times, and it keeps ringing four times then goes into her voice mail. I text her, but I get no response.

I am about to call the police when her number pops up on the screen.

Meredith and Vivian are both on speakerphone. Meredith’s voice morphs from nice to mean to crazed.

Vivian’s voice is shaking when she asks me to listen to Meredith and do as she asks, and my heart bleeds.

God, please do not let anything happen to Vivian.

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