Had they left me? They wouldn’t. How did the door close anyway?
“I’m sorry, Ava.”
My knees gave in. No. Something must have gone wrong.
“I’m so sorry, baby.”
No, he wouldn’t. There had to be an explanation.
I ripped the useless earpiece from my ear and threw it across the vault, watching it fall behind a shelf. I tried to push the loose strands of hair back in place with shaky hands. I backed away from the door.
Stay calm. You have to slow your breathing.
They will get me out of this.
I scooted to the middle of the space and clutched my knees to my chest. There was nothing I could do but wait. He will get me out.Rule Number One—Protect each other at all costs.He would come for me.
There was no telling how long I sat there. It could have been seconds. It could have been hours. But finally, the vault’s lock clicked loudly. I jumped to my feet, relief flooding me. Grayson did it! He got me out.
But when the door swung open, it was Wesley’s face that stared at me in shock.
“Ava. I thought they took you too.”
There was a crowd of people behind Wesley. My eyes scanned through their faces. Searching for him. But he wasn’t there. It was men dressed similarly to Wesley, and police officers.
Wesley shook my shoulders, and I slowly focused my attention back on him. “Who did this? Who took him, Ava?”
I just stared at him as my brain spiralled. Where was Grayson?
“Hey! Calm down. She’s clearly in shock. You won’t get anything out of her like this.” A man stepped forward and put his arm around my shoulder. A police officer. “Let’s get you out of this box, Miss.”
I let him lead me through the office, him and Wesley still arguing, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying over the roar in my ears.
“Sit here, Miss. The EMT is going to look you over and give you something for the shock.” I let him push me down into a chair. We were somehow in the lobby, chaos reigning around us. Lights were flashing, people were running. Dead bodies everywhere. Some on gurneys, some still sprawled on the floor.
I hadn’t expected so much blood. It marked every inch of the foyer floor. The police and Charles’s men, who hadn’t been in the building at the time, were leaving bloody footprints all over the floor, being unable to dodge all the blood.
I watched as a medic threw a sheet over the guard that had greeted me by the door. His throat was slit.
Gods!This was…
“Ah, fuck. What are the feds doing here?” the policeman groaned as a black SUV came to a standstill. He walked over to the car, his chest puffed out.
I shut my eyes as the EMT started prodding at me, asking me questions I didn’t have the strength to listen too.
Grayson wasn’t here. None of them were.
“Ava. You’re alive!” an unfamiliar voice called out.
I opened my eyes to see a man in a suit stare at me, shaking his head in awe.
“Do you know her?” the police officer, who had taken me from the vault asked. He was standing next to the suit-man.
“Yes,” he answered. “Now cuff her.”
“What?” the policeman inspected the man next to him, as if he was looking for signs of drug use.
My body felt too heavy to react, so I just kept the suited man’s stare.
