Will You Marry Me, Again by Pear Heart

“Wait here.“‘

Baz would arrive soon with the bodyguards. Cedric knew he had to buy some time for Maia.

Shaking her head, she said earnestly, “No, it’s too dangerous. He has a gun!”

Cedric saw her gripping his palm with both hands and smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

He sounded casual and confident, but Maia knew how dangerous it was.

“Cedric-”

Before she could say anything further, the door was closed, and she was left alone in the cramped and dark room.

Peering out through a narrow gap, she watched Cedric move away.

Still feeling the warmth of his palm, she covered her mouth to stop herself from making any sound lest she would spoil his plan.

‘Pull yourself together, Maia! You must not cry or make any sound…‘

She kept telling herself.

However, she couldn’t hold back her tears. Suddenly, she heard a flurry of rapid footsteps.

Maia saw Theo chasing after Cedric.

As she was the one Theo wanted to kill, she knew she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. Biting her lips, Maia glanced around through the narrow gap.

She took out her phone to see where her car was.

Making sure that Theo had run away, she pocketed her phone and hurried toward her car in quick steps while staying low to the ground.

Having a good sense of direction, Maia was relieved when she soon found her car.

She got into the car in the dark.

She knew full well what would happen if she were to start her car now–Theo would be drawn by its lights and sound, and she would become a live target.

Yet, she knew she had to do it. Shutting the car door, she started the engine and floored the

gas.

Driving around, she searched around for Cedric.

she saw him, she quickly opened the

Don’t Be

down her pace and glanced to see who was behind her using the rear- view

black baseball cap and

his frame to

Who was he?

she knew

move.

to give herself away, she didn’t

she turned a corner, she swiftly removed her high heels and threw them to the other side to make

toward the

for her car.

car lights flashed a few times as she unlocked her car with the key fob. However,

Her plan had failed!

man charging over and ducked behind her car so

knew that it would not

herself from view and scrambled backward before breaking into a run–she knew the security

open door. Aiming his sight at

“Fuck!”

search the parking lot. “You can’t hide forever,

thrilled to see the security booth was lit, but as she hurried over, she realized there. was blood all over the glass door and a man was sitting

screaming. She should have seen this coming, as the security guard would surely have come running as soon as

breath, she hid

• 15 RONUS

out her phone and noticed she had several missed calls.

came in.

It was Couric’s number.

to send him her location. However, as the signal

several attempts, she felt a glimmer of hope as she finally saw that the

text that read, “Wait for me” and felt strangely

her guard down. Overcome

echoed in the empty

Maia. Do you

was stunned as she recognized

his frame looked

that Theo was trying to trick her into

in her direction and said, “You’re a smart and pretty woman, Maia, and I couldn’t bear to hurt

can continue to take money from Starlight and avoid paying you.