Love & Redemption by Chantel Rhondeau

me a sec. I need to find a way to tie myself off, but I’ll have you safe soon. Sit tight.”
    Not that she had much choice about that. She sure hoped he had a plan to get her inside. She’d never be able to contort her body the way he had or scale the wall. He hardly seemed human.
    “Terrance!”
    Shelley jumped and her stomach felt like it lodged somewhere in her throat. Stephen’s voice came from directly above her. She huddled closer to the wall, ducking into a tighter crouch.
    “I found a woman’s suitcase over here,” he said. “Shelley can’t be far away.”
    Her best chance would be if Stephen assumed she was inside his floor of the garage. If he continued searching down the row of cars, thinking she hid behind one, maybe she could still get out of this without taking another bullet.
    Then again, the bullet didn’t scare her too badly. She survived a bullet wound before. It was the fall down five stories that would finish her off.
    The police sirens came steadily closer with each passing moment. Stephen and Terrance couldn’t stick around too long or they’d be caught. Perhaps that fear would make them hurry, and they’d give up before finding her.
    “I’m ready for you,” Gavin called from below. “Just drop the way I did.”
    Shelley shook her head as frantically as she could without dislodging from the side, trying to signal to Gavin to be quiet.
    “Come on,” he said, even louder. “Don’t be afraid. I’ve got you.”
    “Shhh...” she cautioned.
    “Did you hear something?” came the terrifying words from above her.
    Though her legs shook with fear, Shelley knew she had to drop. Now. If she could slow her fall by catching the ledge, at least a little, she hoped that would help Gavin enough to haul her inside.
    Never the type to pray, she sent up an unspecified plea for help. At this point, it couldn’t hurt.
    Edging the toe of her shoe to the end of the narrow ledge, she tried not to think about how wrong this could go. Her right foot slipped completely away and the left held on only by a slim margin. It was now or never.
    “That’s it,” Gavin said in an encouraging tone. “I’m right here to catch you.”
    Though she knew she needed to go for it and let herself fall, Shelley hesitated. This wasn’t a good idea. She couldn’t willingly drop.
    “Gotcha!”
    Fingers gripped her wrists and squeezed harshly. Shelley screamed as her left foot lost its purchase on the wall. She didn’t free fall long. Stephen jerked her upright by her wrists, slamming her knees into the wall.
    His blue eyes twinkled with malicious glee, and he smiled that all-American grin, deep dimples and perfectly straight teeth. “Going somewhere, Shelley? It’s been far too long since we caught up with each other.”
    “Eat shit and die, asshole.” Shelley spit in his face. If he was about to throw her to her death, so be it, but she wouldn’t beg him not to hurt her.
    Stephen was a sadistic jerk. He thrived on causing fear in a woman and loved hearing them beg. That was why he was so hung up on Carlie. He wanted to kill her in some twisted way. He had fully expected he would get that chance three months earlier, but Shelley stopped him.
    Now that she was in his power, Shelley wouldn’t give him a smidgeon of satisfaction if she could help it.
    His smile twisted into a grimace, and he jerked her closer to the top of the wall. His fingers gouged into her wrists, flaring pain. “Show some manners to the man holding your life in his hands. I can make this worse.”
    Shelley laughed, scrambling to get her feet onto the ledge. “Man? I don’t see a man here. Just a prick.” Though her left foot settled into place, her right high heel caught on the landing. The shoe slipped off, falling to the sidewalk below.
    Without warning, he dropped her wrists, throwing her off balance.
    She clawed at the cement in an automatic reflex, breaking several nails while fighting for purchase on the wall.
    “Just drop!” Gavin