visible, maybe they would pass her by, guessing she had somehow slipped past them to escape outside.
Too scared to move, she kept her phone pressed to her thigh with one hand, her purse clutched in the other.
I have to get the stun gun out. If she were discovered, they would drag her out of the closet. She had to have her only weapon out and ready to use.
It’s not the only one. Wrenching her eyeballs to see her phone’s screen without moving her head, she texted Mason, 911. Then she turned the phone to silent before dropping it next to her so she could use the hand to feel around the bag’s interior for the stun gun.
Her hand closed around the weapon’s base at the same moment the door swung open. The sound of it banging against the wall made her blood freeze. Laila desperately clenched her muscles, suddenly worried she would pee herself and the smell would give her away.
Holding her breath, she waited as they searched the room. From the bangs and grunts, it almost sounded as if they had flipped the bed, tossing it to the side to make sure she wasn’t hiding underneath.
Blood rushed through her head. It was so loud she was deafened by it.
Calm down. It would help if you calmed down.
Focusing on her breath, she worked to keep from gulping the air. The slightest noise could mean her death.
Then she heard the wail from the kitchen. The fire alarm had started, but she’d been so freaked out she was only noticing now. Her cookies were burning—she’d been hiding for longer than she realized.
“Laila!”
Startled, she jerked. That was Mason. Fingers moving like molasses, Laila edged away from the duffel bag so she could peek beyond it.
Laila almost cried out. One of the intruders stood just below her. Nerves screaming, her heart almost stopped when she saw him raise his gun, his legs bending to crouch behind the door.
Mason wouldn’t see him there. Seeing the nightmare in her mind, Laila quietly lifted the duffle and blanket, their combined weight making her muscles shake as she set them away from her, attempting to untangle her legs so she could climb down the shelves.
Praying the man wouldn’t hear the creak of the wood over the blaring fire alarm, Laila swung her leg over the edge. A trickle of wetness ran down her thigh, but Laila didn’t stop climbing until her feet were back on the floor.
There was no way he wasn’t going to see her, but Laila forced herself to walk, stun gun out as if she were a priest holding a cross to ward off evil. She was almost directly behind the intruder when Mason appeared at the threshold.
Out of time, Laila lunched forward, pressing the button of the stunner to activate its potent voltage.
Finally hearing her, the man spun, meeting her halfway. His move closed the distance, so the stunner pressed right into his neck.
“Laila.” Mason’s hand closed over the stunner as the man jerked, his bulk and the door trapping him so he couldn’t fall to move out of range.
Despite Mason’s superior strength, Laila didn’t let him pull the stunner away until the gunman had collapsed, slumping against the corner.
Hands ran over her face. Mason touched her everywhere as if to convince himself that she didn’t have any bullet holes.
Then he turned and took care of the intruder, searching his bag of gear for some kind of restraints.
“Don’t worry. The other one is already down.”
Trembling from head to toe, she watched in a daze as he grabbed the duffle from the top shelf. He pulled out long plastic zips, using them to hogtie the bad guy while keeping up a steady stream of conversation.
She didn’t hear any of it. Not until the sirens sounded in the distance.
Then she burst into tears. “Mason, I was so scared I peed a little,” she gasped as he clutched her to him.
He laughed with tears in his eyes—he was so relieved she was speaking again. “It’s okay, baby. You have time to change before the cops get in here.”
A freshly showered Laila sat in the circle of Mason’s arms as a veritable swarm of police officers milled around them. Her haziness was finally clearing up now that she’d finally stopped trembling.
“It’s shock, baby. It’s normal,” Mason had explained when she’d started shaking after the fact. He’d refused to let go of her, holding her close the entire time he’d been explaining to the cops—even when the cops had