Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
He doesn’t sound shocked—just surprised.
“I . . . I think I would yes.”
“Being here with all these girls is making you uncomfortable, isn’t it?”
“A little,” I admit.
“My angel,” he murmurs, running his thumb over my bottom lip, “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
Oh, thank god.
“There’s a new Italian restaurant in town. That might be a good place to start . . .”
He grins, slow and a little wicked. “I like your thinking. I’ll find a nice room, something worth your while. I’ll make it a night you’ll never forget.”
Ditto, buddy.
Ditto.
“Do you need me to do anything here before we go out?”
“I have a phone call to make; I’m going to the study. After that, we’ll take a walk, and you can help me prepare some food for the girls to get them through the evening.”
That will be the perfect time to get the key.
“Okay.”
He smiles at me, then disappears into his study. I glance at the camera that’s pointing down the hall, and quickly get out of its line of sight. I know the security system panel is in the kitchen, so I rush in there, peering behind me. I need to figure out how to bring the cameras down. I pray I don’t have to cut wires, but I do know how to do that if need be. I find the panel and look behind me once more before opening it.
There’s a keypad and a heap of other buttons. God damn, if I knew the code it would be so much easier to turn it off for a few hours. I bite my lip and look at the screws that I would need to undo to get to the wires at the back. It would take some time, at least twenty minutes, maybe more. I’m not sure I’m going to have that long. My heart pounds against my chest and I catch sight of something on the inside door of the panel.
A four-digit number written in black ink, right down the bottom.
3587
No way in the world that’s the code. No way he’d be stupid enough to just write it on the panel. Although, by the time someone got in here to see this, or to be able to turn it off, the alarms would have well and truly been raised, so really, who is going to be able to access this who isn’t invited into the house first? Maybe he’s confident that he has enough cameras on the way in, that he doesn’t need to worry about this?
Could it be that easy?
I look behind me again, and with a racing heart, I punch in the numbers. I hold my breath, for what seems like seconds, waiting for an alarm to sound that will give me away. It doesn’t. Instead, the machine gives off a little beep and before I know it, I’m in. I want to squeal with delight, and laugh at how simple that was, but I don’t have time for that. I flick through the options, and find the option to turn the cameras off for a few hours, like a timer.
Instead of turning them all off now, I’ll just set them to go off overnight, while we’re not here. That will work perfectly and raise no suspicion because they’ll be back on by the time Dax returns in the morning. I get to work programming the system, and then pause once I’m done, wondering if he has access to see things from his phone. A lot of systems you can log in and see the cameras, even when you’re out and about.
If he does that, he’ll see that they’re off and might want to come back.
I exhale. I guess my distraction techniques are going to need to be very, very good.
I feel a little sick at that thought, but I have no other choice right now.
I close the panel when I’m done and step away from it just as Dax walks into the kitchen. I jerk a little, and he narrows his eyes. “Did I startle you?”
“I didn’t hear you coming,” I say. “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous. I never know who is going to walk in here, with the amount of people you have locked in that basement.”
He laughs, and it’s a laugh that sends shivers down my spine. He walks over and leans down, putting a kiss on my lips that has me wanting to scream and jerk away. “You should know my locks are unbreakable, angel. Nobody is getting out of here.”
God.
I swallow and then pull back, forcing a smile. “So, what are we baking for the girls?”
We get to work preparing some meals, and thankfully for me, Dax talks the entire time and I find myself distracted from what’s about to go down. I sneak a bathroom break mid-way through, and text Alarick that the system will be down overnight, and that we’re leaving for dinner soon and he’ll be able to come in.