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It’d been eight days, two hours, and thirty-six minutes since we last spoke.
I only hoped I wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER40
Xavier
“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t let you go up,” the concierge said with zero traces of sympathy. “You don’t have authorized access.”
“I’ve been coming here for weeks.” I tamped down my frustration in favor of a smile. Catch more flies with honey than vinegar and all that. “Apartment 14C. Call her. Please.”
“I’m sorry, sir.” This concierge was different from the one who’d let me up when I thought something had happened to Sloane, and he proved remarkably resistant to my powers of persuasion. “Ms. Kensington specifically left instructions stating that no guests are to be admitted without her explicit written approval.”
“She’s my girlfriend. I have written approval,” I said. I wasn’ttechnicallylying. We were dating, and I didn’t know for sure that shehadn’tadded my name to her list of approved guests. “Perhaps you lost it.”
“I didn’t.”
“Perhaps another concierge lost it.”
“They didn’t.”
I gritted my teeth. Fuck honey. I wanted to shove this guy’s head in a bucket full of raw vinegar, but I didn’t have the time for petty violenceorarguments.
“Let me up, and this is yours.” I slid a hundred-dollar bill across the counter.
The concierge stared at me, stone-faced. He didn’t touch the money.
I added another hundred to the pile. Nothing.
Three hundred. Four hundred.
Goddammit.What was wrong with him? No one said no to Benjamin.
“Ten thousand cash.” That was all I had in my wallet. “That’s tax-free money if you let me up for just a few minutes.”
I could bypass him physically, but without a resident key card, the elevator wouldn’t budge, and I wouldn’t be able to open the door to the stairwell.
“Sir, this is unnecessary and inappropriate,” he said calmly. “I do not accept bribes. Now, I must insist you vacate the premises, or security will have to escort you out.”
He nodded at the pair of Hulk-sized security guards who’d seemingly popped up out of nowhere.
Sloane’s buildingwouldbe guarded by two stone mountains and the only incorruptible concierge in Manhattan.
However, I wasn’t leaving without seeing her, which meant I needed a plan C. I scanned the lobby, searching for another plausible avenue when my eyes fell on a small plaque mounted on the wall.
The Lexington: An Archer Group Property.
My pulse jumped.Archer Group.
There was only one person who could help me in that moment. Asking him for a favor wasn’t the smartest idea considering I’d just burned down one of his properties, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
One call to an annoyed Alex Volkov and one very bitter concierge later, I stepped out into Sloane’s hall.
Surprisingly, Alex hadn’t given me a hard time, though I suspected he was saving that for our meeting. But I’d worry about that tomorrow; I had something more urgent to attend to.
I rapped my knuckles against Sloane’s door. No answer, but she was in there. I could feel it.
Another knock, my gut contorting into more and more knots as the minutes passed. It wasn’t like her not to answer the door. Perhaps the concierge called up to warn her I was coming?
