Page 45 of Deposed

I rushed over to the window, the soles of my boots crunching over broken glass, and twisted a metal lever on the window lock. Like the one on the door, it was stuck fast. I peered at its mechanism and found a tiny keyhole. “It’s locked.”

“Climb out, then.” He raised his head, as though looking over my shoulder. “Hurry, before he comes back.”

Jagged shards clung to the window frame, looking like they would slice me open if I dared to climb out. “We have to clear the glass.” I glanced over my shoulder at the dust sheet. “Hold on.”

Blake picked at the pieces of glass with his gloved hands and threw them down into the room. I picked up the cloth in my arms, rushed back to the window, and with a combination of fingers and teeth, I wrapped it several times around my hands, so it resembled a mitt. While I removed the pieces of glass in the lower part of the window, Blake took care of the ones above. All throughout, my hands shook, and my heart hammered against my chest, urging me to hurry the fuck up before the return of Mr. Carbuncle.

As soon as I cleared all the bottom shards, I wiped the glass from the top of the electric heater, hoping I’d caught the worst of them. “Th-that will have to be enough. We can’t risk him coming back.”

Blake offered me his gloved hand. “Take it slow,” he said in a voice too panicked to be soothing. “I’ll catch you.”

I stepped forward, but my mind conjured up an image of a long, rubber ladder that would sway like an upside-down pendulum the moment I added my weight to Blake’s. One foot stumbled over the other, and a band of panic wound around my chest and squeezed my lungs, making me grip the windowsill.

“W-what are you standing on?” I asked.

“A balcony. Hurry. We still have a way to run.”

The tightness around my chest loosened, giving me the courage I needed to crawl out. I grasped Blake’s hand and placed a knee onto the electric heater. The movement sent pain lancing across my ribs, making me hiss and flinch.

He drew in a gasp. “Emilia, are you—”

“I-I’m fine,” I lied.

With Blake’s help, I hoisted my other knee up onto the top of the electric heater. Blake reached through the window and wrapped his arms around my back. His touch aggravated every single bruise on my ribs. A whimper caught in my throat, and I stiffened with the pain.

He stilled. “I’ve hurt you.”

“Keep going,” I said between clenched teeth. “Please.”

He continued pulling me through, each touch exacerbating my already battered body. Mr. Carbuncle had either bashed me about while I was unconscious, or I’d been too scared to feel the extent of his blows during his interrogation.

My feet cleared the window sill and they landed onto the concrete floor of the balcony with a thud, giving my insides an agonizing jolt that made me double over and clutch my stomach.

“Emilia!” Blake grabbed my arm, his voice breathy with concern.

“I’m fine,” I gritted out. “We have to keep moving.”

A four-foot-wide, concrete balcony stretched across the side of the building, ending in a metal partition, where it continued over the territory of the next apartment. My stomach clenched painfully at the thought of all that climbing. I could barely walk in my battered condition.

Blake crouched onto one knee. “Get on my back.”

I drew back, wrapping my arms around my middle. “But I’ll slow you—”

“Now. You’re clearly injured and can’t move fast.”

I edged toward his back and placed my arms over his shoulders. He was right. But I hoped I wouldn’t weigh down his movements or cause him to overbalance as he traveled through the balconies. Blake hooked his arms under my knees and stood. My insides groaned with the pain of being jostled, but I pressed my lips together and breathed hard.

Blake turned to the left and hurried toward the barrier separating the apartment from that of its neighbor’s. Each footfall made my insides hurt, but I tightened my aching stomach muscles to lessen the impact.

Behind us, a door from deep within the apartment yawned open.

My heart jumped into my throat. “He’s back!”

Blake scrambled over the partition of the first balcony and sprinted across the second. From further away, another door slammed open.

“Fuuuck!” shouted Mr. Carbuncle.

My insides turned cold, and a whimper reverberated in the back of my throat. “H-hurry,” I whispered. “He’ll be at the window, now.”