The Impossible

A short story by Ash Emerson

This story contains: her and him, contemporary romance, star crossed lovers, enemies to lovers, shower/bath, forbidden, goodbyes

To everyone partying at the hotel’s rooftop bar, they must look like a couple in need of a room. But Julianna knows her companion will never use a bed again. When the Chancellor stops twitching, Julianna eases him back against the loveseat’s cushions and slips her favorite garrote free from his neck. 

Though she’s eager to leave, she pauses to wrap the thin silver wire around her wrist like a bracelet and waits for the right moment to blend into the crowd. She checks in with herself—no remorse, no regret. With the Chancellor dead, she’s free from entanglements until the next job. 

Julianna catches sight of a woman wearing a sparkly tiara and a bright-white sash. Unease prickles across her skin. A wedding is one of the many things she’ll never have. Close, intimate relationships fall under the category of the impossible. In exchange for this sacrifice, she lives a comfortable life paid for by those who can afford her services. 

The bachelorette party heads past her toward the exit. Julianna rises and trails along behind them. At the elevators, she splits and ducks around the corner to the service area.

She texts her extraction team to let them know she’s in position and waits for a coded reply that doesn’t come. The lack of immediate response puts her on high alert. With no time to waste, she pulls a stolen employee-issued passkey from its hiding place. A quick wave of the card across the service elevator’s sensor turns the light from red to green.

She returns the card to its spot next to the small pistol strapped to her thigh.

Faint dings announce the elevator’s impending arrival. One of two things is about to happen. The doors will open and the elevator will be filled with her escape team, or it won’t. 

The elevator clanks to a stop, machinery hissing, before the doors slide open.

Empty.

Shit. She has to assume her team is incapacitated at best, dead at worst, and that whoever got to them is still in the hotel. 

Julianna takes a deep breath. A glance at her watch sets a mental timer running. Without help, she’ll have at most ten minutes to get out of the hotel before her odds of escape go down to almost nothing. 

Wary of her surroundings, she steps onto the lift. A master key for the elevator hangs as a pendant from her necklace. Using it will override the system and prevent anyone else from accessing the elevator. It will also notify security and give away her position, cutting her time even shorter. Julianna fingers the slim metal cylinder. Not yet. She pushes the button for the employee area on level two. There’s still a chance she can slip free without anyone noticing. 

The doors slide shut and the elevator begins its descent. 

25

17

8

Much to her dismay, the elevator chimes, announcing its early stop. She shifts her focus to the doors, prepared for the worst.

They open to reveal a lone person.

Garrett.

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