Page 58 of Callum
Then Amanda hung up. Just…hung up.
Well, if the woman thought Fiona was going to rearrange her life so she could announce something, she was wrong. Especially after what she’d told their cousins at the wedding.
Fiona: No. I will not be coming this weekend. I have work. You have important information for me? Text it.
She stabbed the send button like it was a weapon. There. Sent. Done.
Heck, after everything, she shouldn’t even be talking to the woman!
She was just about to start the car when she realized she didn’t have the book she’d promised to bring home for Callum. Crap. Her gaze flicked to the building. She reallydidwant him to read it. It was a good one.
Quickly, she grabbed her keys and phone, climbed out of her car, and jogged back to the building. The door unlocked with a click, and she stepped into the library, then ran to the staff room. She was in such a rush, she didn’t see the person until she stood in the doorway. Her feet ground to a halt, cementing to the floor, and her breath caught in her throat.
Because there, standing in front of her locker, was a figure dressed in black clothes. It was dark, so they were little more than a shadowed outline, but that outline was clear as day.
Fear washed over her like acid.
Suddenly, the person turned. Fiona only had time to make out the balaclava over their face before the person grabbed something from the table.
It took her brain a second too long to realize it was a heavy-duty stapler.
They turned and hit her so hard, she dropped, her head hitting the doorframe on her way down.
Pain radiated through her skull. The pounding of steps through the back of the library barely registered.
With trembling fingers, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, but her eyes were too blurry to make out the call function.
Nausea crawled up her throat and darkness hedged her vision. When her phone started to ring, she touched the screen, hoping she hit answer and not cancel.
“Fiona?”
His voice sounded distant to her ears. She tried to get out words but barely breathed them. “Callum…help.”
* * *
Callum’s jawclenched with worry as he sat behind the wheel of his car. Where the hell was she? She lived a couple of minutes from her work. If she’d left when she’d said she was, she should be home by now. He looked in the rearview mirror. It was too late and too dark. The woman knew she shouldn’t be out alone at night, not with the texts and the perp entering her home.
He waited one more beat, then called her again. The phone rang three times before it was answered…then there was silence, bar some heavy breaths.
His gut tightened. “Fiona?”
One more heavy breath, then two words. “Callum…help.”
Callum started the car and slammed his foot on the gas, everything inside him tightening at the pained fear in her voice. “Fiona? Are you okay?”
When there were no more words from her, his muscles bunched, and he forced the car to move faster. “Fi, honey, talk to me!”
Silence. It was so fucking loud, he could have drowned in it. As much as he wanted to stay on the line, he needed to call his team for backup.
“I’m gonna be there in two minutes, honey. Hang on.”
He hung up and called Liam.
“Hey, Cal, what’s—”
“Fiona’s in trouble. She’s at the library. I’m driving there now.”
There was a rustle of movement over the line. “What kind of trouble?”
