#Chapter 74 – Secret Hideaway

As I regain my feet, Victor grasps my hand and pulls me to my bedroom door. The alarm is blaring – I’m struggling to think beyond it. He cracks the door open, peeking outside, and slams it shut. “s**t,” he says.

“What?”

“Your fathers Betas, coming down the hall. Quick, Evelyn, is there another way out of this room?” He twists the lock on the door, but I know that won’t hold them long. I’m the obvious flight risk in this house – if there’s an alarm going off, everyone knows it’s for me.

“Um…” my eyes scan my childhood bedroom, which still has its pink four-post bed, complete with gauzy white canopy, and pink flowered wallpaper on every wall. “No,” I breathe, “there’s no other way out. When I look towards my closet, though, I’m struck with an idea. “But we can hide.”

I pull Victor towards and into my tiny child’s closet, which still holds important outfits from my years living in this house. I push past my graduation gown, my first work uniforms – god, my wedding dress – and yes, there, at the back, is the little catch panel that I found as a child and never told anyone about. It was my secret hiding place, for myself as well as for contraband.

I slip my fingers behind it, my body remembering how, and pull the wood forward. “There,” I say, swinging the panel out to reveal a tiny, bare space behind. It was probably meant, at one point, for electric panels or plumbing, but it was never used. “It will be tight, but we’ll fit.”

Victor nods and ducks into the compartment. He does his best to make his large Alpha frame as small as possible, but I grimace to see that he fills up three quarters of it. But suddenly the Betas are at my door – pounding – working their way in – so I squeeze myself in as well, pulling the panel after me until it fits back in place.

It’s pitch black in the little space and I find myself curled up against Victor, sitting between his legs, panting with anxiety. He wraps his arms around me, finding no other place to put them.

The two of us sit there, silent, trying to slow our breathing, listening to my father’s Betas search my room. I can imagine their movements from the sounds they make. Pounding feet cross the room – they’re looking out the window.

“The window is open, Sir! And there’s a rope here!”

“How could she have defied me.” I go rigid, recognizing my father’s growl. Victor tightens his arms around me, supporting me, encouraging me to stay the course. “I expressly ordered her not to escape,” he snarls.

“Sir, your words will stop her from leaving your grounds, but it won’t stop her from being kidnapped from them.”

My father laughs lowly. “We’ll see about that.”

My breath comes faster. What does he mean by that?

silent. “They’ll hear you. Close your

him, but I hear the Betas stomping around the room, looking for more evidence. God, if they find us

my father – a gun to his head

whimper escapes

and slowly up my neck. He stops when he is cradling my face in his hand, his thumb resting on my lips – begging me, achingly,

the panic in my body, the sounds in my room – the noise of a Beta approaching, now only two feet from us – then, inches– poking

trust Victor in this moment. Trust him to take care of

track of time, concentrating only on my breathing, on the feeling of Victor’s

house. We can still hear sounds – I think they’re coming from outside the house now – but my

into my ear. “It’s time to move, Evelyn. Can you get us out

reason, I can’t will myself to get up. It’s safe in here, in our little hiding spot, and a big part of me wants to

pauses. “Are you okay? Is everything all

laugh because, obviously, nothing is all right. But I know what he means. “Just…give me a moment, Victor.

they’re home having pizza with Edgar.” I sense a little

I shift my weight forward and move to open

says,

little at the absurdity of this. I shake my head, looking back at him – Alpha Victor Kensington, crouching in the tiny hiding spot where I used to come as a teenager to read books that

little light hits his beautiful, earnest face, and I smile at him. “Thank you for coming back

for a minute. “Come on,” he says, nodding forward. “Time to

crawl out of our hiding spot,

in my closet and peeking out

window, looking out and noting that the majority of my

really needs to work on his force, Evelyn,” Victor murmurs, unraveling a rope from its

Victor, I’ll give

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