Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Making a quick decision before she could talk herself out of it, she sent him a message.
To her surprise, he replied immediately with a name, address, and phone number.
All right.
Maybe she could meet with the older man who wanted to employ her. She looked up the address.
Shit.
It was miles away from town.
She would have to see if she could take a bus. There was no point in going for an interview if she couldn’t get to the job each day.
This was going to take some thinking about.
Still. It wouldn’t hurt just to go meet this guy, right?
He climbed the tree so he had a better vantage point to study her house.
Why didn’t she draw her curtains?
He could see straight into her living room from here.
The security looked fairly good. A tall, solid fence. An electric gate.
Those things could make taking her from her house more of a challenge.
Luckily, he liked a challenge.
Although he could just snatch her off the streets.
Shouldn’t someone be watching over her? Why wasn’t anyone taking care of her?
She was like a babe in the woods.
Which was quite surprising given what had happened to her. Hadn’t she developed a better sense of self-preservation?
Shouldn’t she be hiding away? Scared of the world?
Instead, here she was . . . walking along the streets of this small town in the middle of nowhere like she didn’t have a care in the world.
He’d followed her the entire way home today and she hadn’t even noticed.
Not once had she glanced behind her.
Really. This was going to be so easy that it was almost disappointing.
The light turned off and she must have moved to the back of the house.
Time to do some recon and plan his next move.
6
Nerves fluttered in her stomach as she waited at the bus stop. This was it. She was going for a proper job interview. She’d never been to one before and she wasn’t sure she was even wearing the right sort of clothing.
But at least she was tidy and covered up. This wasn’t an office job where she had to wear corporate attire.
Someone sat next to her and she attempted to sneak a peek without making it obvious.
Although it turned out that she couldn’t see much of him anyway. He had a ballcap pulled low on his face and a large jacket that seemed overkill for the heat of the day.
Could she shift away from him without making it obvious that’s what she was doing?
“You’re going for a job interview at the big house?” he asked gruffly.
The big house? Was that what the place was called? When she’d tried to look up a satellite image of the residence there hadn’t been anything much to see. Just a large rooftop.
“Um, why?”
“Don’t do it. Don’t go. It’s not safe.”
Huh?
Why would he say that? Before she could ask, the guy was gone.
That was . . . so strange.
Why would he tell her not to go to the job interview? And, also, didn’t he know that telling someone not to do something often made them want to do it more?
Unless it was because he wanted the job . . . but had it even been advertised? It didn’t seem like it had been.
Anxiety ramped up inside her.
What was she doing? This was crazy.
She wasn’t so desperate for a job that she had to go to a stranger’s house.
And she knew that she should have told Zander about this . . . that was making her feel guilty too. It’s just that he would turn it into a thing.
Maybe it was a thing, though.
Getting up, she saw the bus coming and made a decision.
She was going with her gut.
She wasn’t going.
Turning, she walked back the way she’d come. Her feet were hurting because she’d decided to wear her best shoes. The ones that pinched and rubbed.
What an idiot she was.
Nothing was ever normal for her.
Why should getting a job be any different?
By the time she turned onto her street, she was breathing heavily and sweating.
Not a great look.
A car with tinted windows drove slowly past her and she stiffened.
But it simply drove straight past her.
What was wrong with her?
Why was she so paranoid?
Well, life had kind of shown her that she had to be.
When she reached her electric gate, she quickly opened it, then shut it behind her and rushed into her house, turning off the alarm.
Silly her forgot to reset the alarm.
Silly her didn’t notice the man in her house until she was in her kitchen, getting a drink of water to try and calm her shakes.
And, silly her, dove for the panic button under the counter too late.
A few seconds more and she would have had it. Instead, a hand closed over her mouth and nose and then there was a pinch in her neck.
Then darkness.
7
Angie woke up slowly.
God, her head hurt.