Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“I’ll be right back,” he stressed and let her go get ready for tomorrow’s party.
Zara shook her head when the doors closed. “I think he worries more about me than I do about myself,” she told her friends.
“One thousand percent,” Celeste agreed as Sadie nodded.
“I’m going to run and brush my teeth before I blow up balloons,” Zara said.
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Sadie agreed. “I always feel better with that done.”
The three ran into their own apartments to clean their teeth before decorating. Zara forced herself to ignore the boxes in their apartment and was the first one back. She looked at the bare table and smacked her forehead. No one had gotten the tablecloths for the tables. Running back into their apartment for her phone, Zara turned it on to call her Daddy. Something was wrong with it—the screen stayed black.
Crap! It isn’t charged.
Her Daddy had accompanied her everywhere. Zara hadn’t used her phone for days. She hated for her Daddy to make a trip up and back down again for tablecloths. She knew exactly where they were in the laundry room. It would just take a second.
Hesitating at the elevator door, Zara swallowed hard. Could she get in there by herself? She could take the stairs.
“What’s wrong, Zara?” Sadie asked behind her.
“We don’t have the tablecloths for the table. I know where they are. Would you run down with me to get them?”
“That’s not a good idea. You’re not supposed to be in any of the guest areas,” Sadie reminded her.
“I know. But you said at dinner that you haven’t seen anyone suspicious checking in for a while,” Zara reminded her. “Maybe, they’ve figured out I’m too well-guarded here.”
“That’s a big risk. We can just wait for a minute, and Kestrel will be back.”
“Or we could go get them…”
“Go get what?” Celeste asked.
“Tablecloths. They’re just down in the laundry room. That’s super close to the elevator,” Zara urged. “We need them now to set all the decorations on.”
“Magnus will never open the elevator for us,” Celeste pointed out. “We’d have to take the stairs.”
“They’re always deserted. Come on!”
“We’re going to get in so much trouble if we get caught,” Celeste pointed out.
“Just tell your Daddies that I left and you followed me to make sure I was safe. You’re like my bodyguards,” Zara suggested.
“Oooh, that helps us but not your bottom,” Sadie pointed out.
“We’ll have to be fast and get back before anyone notices we’re gone,” Zara urged, clattering down the stairs with the others on her heels.
“Kestrel, the three Littles headed down the stairwell.” Magnus’s voice sounded urgent.
“What?” Kestrel barked into the phone from where he stood in the elevator. “Couldn’t you stop them? How long ago?”
“Fifteen minutes. I’m sorry, I was on a sweep outside and just got to the interior feeds.”
“Push the button for the next floor and take the stairs,” Magnus urged.
“We may have a spanking party,” Kestrel suggested as he pushed the button. “Better notify the others.”
Dashing out of the elevator when it opened, he ran to the stairwell and listened. Silence. They were outside in the resort somewhere.
“One bottom is going to be so red,” he muttered as he descended.
Reaching the bottom floor, he tried to decide which way they’d gone. What could they have been after?
Guests milled around the lobby. He dodged between vacationers as he looked over their heads. Kestrel spotted Hawking coming from the elevator.
“Magnus says the laundry room,” the large man called to him.
Immediately, Kestrel headed that way, dodging guests. His phone buzzed, and he answered on the run.
“My camera’s been knocked out in the laundry room,” Magnus reported. “Something is blocking the signal.”
Bursting into the large space, he looked around. “No one’s here,” he told Hawking as he arrived a few steps behind.
At the sound of his voice, a banging started. Following the sound, he spotted two worried faces in the window of the enormous door on the industrial-sized dryer and ripped it open. “What the fuck!”
Celeste and Sadie talked over each other.
“It’s Mark,” Sadie shouted.
“He’s got Zara,” said Celeste.
“He dragged her off that way!” Sadie pointed to the back door.
“I’ll get them out. You go. I’ll be right behind you,” Hawking called out as Kestrel pelted from the room.
“He made us climb in here,” Sadie exclaimed.
When his phone buzzed, Kestrel answered, “Magnus, where are they?”
“My cameras are going out sporadically. I’m having trouble watching everywhere,” Magnus said softly in his ear. “Rocco’s on his way to stay with the other Littles.”
Kestrel could hear the frustration and concern in his voice. A thought burst into his mind. “Do the disruptions form a path?”
“Crap! That’s it. Head toward the parking lot by the pool!” Magnus ordered.
As Kestrel dashed in that direction, Magnus said, “He must have some kind of blocker that is taking out the cameras along his path. I can’t see if he is armed or if there’s anyone besides Mark. Back-up is coming, Kestrel. Be careful.”