Page 86 of Her Noble Protector

“Okay, okay. I’ll be there in twenty,” Raiden told Zed.

“Keep it together, Raiden. Nic is on meltdown; we can’t have two of you off the rails.”

Raiden let out a long stream of air.

“I hear you.”

Zed hung up and Raiden veered off into the shoulder again to pass a few more cars.

* * *

“That wasn’t very smart,” the behemoth said. Lisa looked up at him from the floor. Her face felt like it was on fire.

She turned to the guy holding her cell phone, the one who had knocked her out. “Maria isn’t going to like that you hit me,” Lisa taunted. “Knowing her, she wants to inflict all the pain herself.”

She liked the fact that he looked worried. At least something in this damned mess made her happy. Lisa tried to sit up, but it made her dizzy and she fell back down onto her forearm. She turned to search for Cami and Ezio. She saw that Ezio was still lying in the same exact place on the floor while Cami was now on the couch, staring up at the third man with a look of terror on her face. He was yelling down at her.

“If you scream again, I will slit that man’s throat, are you hearing me, bitch?” he snarled, spittle landing on her face.

Cami nodded.

“The cops are on their way,” Lisa reminded the men in the room.

The man who had been yelling at Cami turned to her and laughed. “No, they aren’t. Told them it was a mistaken call. They get them all the time. Too bad for you, no cops.”

Lisa thought back to what she’d said to the 9-1-1 operator. There was no way they could have discounted what she’d said. They had to be sending help, right?

Behemoth jerked her up off the floor by one arm, nearly dislocating her shoulder, and threw her onto the couch next to Cami.

“Just sit here. Your hostess will be here shortly.”

Cami reached out her hand and Lisa grabbed it. “Let Cami go,” Lisa begged.

All three men turned to look at her. The one that hit her finally spoke. “No.”

“Maria wants me, not Cami.”

“Then she’ll get a bonus.”

Lisa’s eyes darted over to Ezio. He needed to be in a hospital. Cami’s hand squeezed hers tighter and she caught her eye. Cami glanced over to the door, then Lisa remembered. There was a panic button at the control panel near the front door. Somehow, one of them needed to get over to it.

Lisa jolted when the big man who’d had his gun shoved into Cami’s head sat down right next to her and reached for the television remote. The TV blared to life and he started flipping through channels until he found a wrestling match.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Cami said. She pushed herself up from the couch.

“Sit down,” the guy standing next to Lisa’s laptop growled.

“I can’t. I have to go,” she insisted. He opened his mouth to say something more, then she leaned forward and let out a mini tantrum. “I have to pee. How am I possibly going to foil your plans if I go into the bathroom and pee?” She stepped around the sofa and walked wide around Ezio, then she lunged toward the front door.

The big man sitting next to Lisa had been watching Cami, and as soon as she made her move, he leaped over the sofa and tackled her Cami’s head hit the marble floor with a sickening crack.

The doorbell rang.

“Ah, fuck,” the man on top of Cami muttered.

The cell phone guy quickly walked past the sofa and looked down at the couple on the floor in disgust. He looked through the peephole, then opened the door.

Maria stepped into the condo. Her eyes took in everything and she turned to the man who had just opened the door.