Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (22 page)

Before she could even take a step, Robert shook his head. “I’ll feel better knowing you’re here. I’ll be right back, okay?” He pressed a quick kiss on her forehead. “I love you.”

Malia took a deep swallow, but before she could speak again, he was already out of the bathroom. She checked to make sure the door was locked. “I love you too,” she said softly.

“I didn’t realize you two were that serious.” Lindsey sat on the edge of the bathtub. Malia’s head fell as she tried to breathe and center herself.

“We’re... I don’t know what we are.”

“It might be nothing, you know. Just a picture sent to scare us.”

Malia nodded absently as she sat back down. Lindsey was right. Maybe it was nothing. “Robert told you about it already?”

“Yeah, when he practically forced me back inside.”

Malia sat against the far wall, keeping her towel under herself to protect her skin from the cold tile.
She hadn’t heard Robert talking...
She shook her head. This whole thing had her paranoid. Lindsey had no reason to go crazy on Robert. Besides, she was in the pictures that had been sent. If Lindsey was behind any of this, that would mean she had a partner.

Malia looked over at Lindsey and tried to keep her expression as calm as possible. “I bet you wish you were home with your husband right now.”

Lindsey smiled. “I’m not worried. He’s always close to me in some way or another.”

Malia took a nervous gulp. Somehow that didn’t make her feel better.

R
obert slowly made his way down the stairs.
Damn it.
If he was in New York, he would’ve had the small handgun he’d purchased years ago for home defense. But he was so rarely in LA, it didn’t seem worth it to keep a gun in a house he was never at. Especially considering vacant homes were so much more likely to be broken into, and he hadn’t wanted any guns to end up in the wrong hands.

He could handle himself in a fight, but he had a feeling whoever was fucking with him wasn’t going to be fighting fair.

It was dark outside, but there were enough lights on that he could take in the living room and kitchen area. From what he could tell, he was alone. Now he just needed to get to the computer. Alex was around his phone at all times. Once he contacted his brother, the police would be there in minutes.

Robert reached the bottom of the stairs, and after he glanced around to confirm he was alone, he headed for the office. He was only two steps inside when the sound of glass shattering echoed through the entire house. Robert twisted around to look at the door leading to the hallway he’d just come from. Someone was inside the house.

The computer was only a few steps away, but Malia was upstairs alone and defenseless.

Robert didn’t have to think twice as he went back into the hallway. The second he was there, he saw the hooded figure going for the stairs. “Hey!” he shouted. Anything to keep him from finding Malia.

The figure jerked at the shout and faced Robert. The right hand came up, and Robert threw himself to the side as the guy fired the gun right at him.

M
alia jumped at the sound of glass shattering. “Robert.” She started to go for the door, but Lindsey leapt up and stood in front of the door.

“You don’t know who’s down there. Robert told us to stay here.”

“He told us to stay up here while he contacted the police. He did not tell me to stay up here while someone tried to kill him.”

Lindsey shook her head. “No. Robert wouldn’t want you going down there and I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”

Malia squared her shoulders. “One way or another, I’m going down there and there’s nothing you can do to—”

The loud bang shook Malia to her core. She knew that sound. She’d lived in enough shitty neighborhoods to know a gunshot when she heard it. No more arguing with Lindsey. She ran for the door, but a fist came out of nowhere to slam into her cheekbone, pushing her back.

Okay, not out of nowhere, but the idea of Lindsey punching her just seemed so foreign. Before Malia could get her footing back, Lindsey hit her again; this time she flew back against the wall.

Malia winced as her vision seemed to spin, but she managed to bring her arms up so that when Lindsey tried to hit her again, she blocked the blows. Malia charged forward but couldn’t get much momentum in the small space. She pushed Lindsey back as hard as she could, slamming her into the door right where the handle was. Judging from the grunt, the blow had hurt like a bitch. Before she could revel in her small victory, Lindsey slammed something into Malia’s head with enough force to send her crumbling to the cold tile floor.

Malia tried to push herself up, but Lindsey slammed the thing into her head again. Her head started to swim, and that gave Lindsey enough time to start to move around. Malia knew she had to do something... She couldn’t just wait for something else to happen. Robert was downstairs and he could be hurt and she needed to push through this and do something.

She tried to stand, but her arms still weren’t cooperating, so she did the next best thing and kicked out a leg, connecting with Lindsey’s shin. The other woman grunted and stumbled. That was just enough time for Malia to get to her knees and turn the knob until the door to the bathroom opened. She managed to stumble out of the bathroom right as Lindsey grabbed her ankle. Malia kicked back again, frantic to get away. She didn’t aim; it was just an instinctual reaction to being grabbed. She didn’t land a solid blow on Lindsey, but she did connect. It must’ve been enough to scare her, because she let go instantly, and Malia scrambled for the door. The second she hit the carpeting of the bedroom, she pulled the bathroom door shut, containing Lindsey inside.

Now one crazy person was in the room behind her, but somewhere else in the house was someone with a gun. Maybe she should’ve taken her chances with Lindsey.

Malia only had a few seconds until someone found her, and as far as she knew, there was only a one in three chance that would be Robert. She needed to get something to defend herself with and figure out where Robert was as soon as possible.

Still holding the door tightly shut, Malia looked around the spare room. Everything was so neat; there was really nothing on the dressers she could grab. Even the lighting was recessed, so she couldn’t grab a lamp. If she wanted to defend herself, she’d have to get to a different room.

“Lindsey!” called an unfamiliar voice from the lower level. “I got Farrell. You okay?”

No, Lindsey was most definitely not okay. At least not in the head.
Malia needed to get out of sight before whoever that was came upstairs.

Lindsey pounded on the door. The wood rattled against Malia’s back. “I’m up here, Daniel.”

Daniel...her husband. Shit.
Malia had to take her only opening and ran across the hall and into the upstairs office right as she heard the loud steps on the stairs. Luckily the office was filled with things she could use as weapons.

The only light was spilling through the open door, and Malia pushed it shut, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She pictured what the room looked like from her brief memories of walking by.
The award.
She remembered the glass plaque on the desk. One of those ornate awards that bigwig business people always seemed to have. Luckily for her, Robert was one of those bigwigs. She grabbed the glass as she heard light footsteps passing in the hallway.

“Did you see her?” Apparently Lindsey realized she wasn’t stuck in the bathroom anymore.

“All I saw was the guy downstairs. He’s taken care of.”

Malia covered her mouth with her free hand.
Taken care of? No.
She wasn’t going to believe it.
If she could just get downstairs...

“She was just here. She couldn’t have gone far.”

Fear knotted inside her. They’d find her any minute, and at least one of them had a gun. She needed to figure something out.

Malia twisted around, her eyes starting to adjust to the dark. There didn’t seem to be anywhere she could hide. No closets in this room, or nooks and crannies. She held the heavy, cold glass against her, clutching it tight enough so her shaking hands wouldn’t drop it. She moved as close to the door as she could while still leaving enough space that she could bolt if they barged in. She kept as quiet as possible as she tried to listen over the sound of her pounding heart.

“Where did you lose her?” snapped Daniel.

“The bitch tried to kill me in the bathroom. I told you she was like this,” said Lindsey.

“Let’s just finish her and get out of here,” said Daniel.

“Fine. I was locked in the bathroom and haven’t seen her since.”

“She didn’t come downstairs. You think...”

He trailed off and silence fell. Malia held her breath, but no one pushed open the door to the office. She didn’t hear them at all.
They must be searching the bedroom.
If they were both in the spare room, this would be her only chance to get to Robert. She started to reach for the door handle, but none of her muscles worked. She took one deep breath to build up her nerves and then actually grabbed the handle to pull open the door.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the air from the moving door hit her face and no bullet greeted her. She ducked her head out into the hall and confirmed that Lindsey and the man were gone. She couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She could run left, to the master bedroom, but if she got to the balcony, the only place she could escape to was the deadly cliffs below. Her only choice was to pass the open spare bedroom door and hope they didn’t see her.

She steeled every nerve in her body and forced herself to move. Not an all-out run, but a fast walk, moving on the balls of her feet to be as quiet as possible. Out of some sort of fear or cowardice, she couldn’t look in the bedroom as she passed. She didn’t want them to feel her eyes or anything as she walked by. Instead, she kept her head down, clutching the glass award to her chest, as she made it to the end of the hall and started down the stairs.

She thought she was actually going to make it, but halfway down she heard a shout that filled her with fear.

“She’s there!” shouted Lindsey.

Malia bolted down the last stairs. Her foot hit something wet and sticky at the foot of the stairs, sending her sprawling onto her back. She winced at the pain in her shoulder blades as she hit the marble tile hard.
Move. She had to move. It was harder to hit a moving target.

“Shoot her!” cried the woman she used to think was her friend.

Malia scrambled onto her front and, still holding the award with one hand, used the other to get onto her knees and scrambled to the kitchen in some strange mix between a crawl and a run. Except there was nowhere to go. Everything was open in this beautiful deathtrap. The only thing that could possibly hide her from a bullet was the island in the kitchen. She got behind it right as she realized what she’d tripped in. Her one hand and her knees were splotched red with blood. “Oh my God,” she breathed.
But where was Robert?
There had been blood but no sign of his body.
Did that mean...

Right then, she heard a loud grunt and the sound of something crashing to the ground. She took her chances and poked her head out. Robert and Daniel were rolling on the ground, fighting over the gun. And Lindsey was running to them.

No.
Malia jumped up. She had no memory of running. Once second, she was behind the island hiding and the next, she stood over Robert and swung that damn award as hard as she could, hitting Lindsey right on the side of her head.

The woman fell into a crumpled heap right as the house was filled with flashing red and blue lights.
The cops. The police were here.

Just then, Robert managed to slam Daniel’s head into the marble and the gun clattered to the ground. Malia snatched it up before Daniel could make another move. She aimed it at him even while she glanced at Lindsey, who let out a pained moan. “Robert—”

“Stay calm.” He slowly pushed himself up, letting out a grunt as he stood. Red droplets fell from his fingers to the white floor.
He’d lost so much blood...
“Give me the gun and get outside.”