I managed to get some air into my lungs.
“Let’s do a little circle of the room,” Lark murmured.
I followed the women, doing another scan. No Ava-Jane. No Cole either.
Lark nabbed a flute of champagne, but I noted she didn’t sip it. She was doing a good impression of a bombshell out for a good time, but I didn’t miss that she kept her eye on the room. She was focused on the job.
Then suddenly, the crowd parted.
Across the room, I saw Chadwick Goodyear.
He was guffawing at something one of his cronies had said. He was wearing an expensive suit, the lights gleaming off his hair. I glared at him. God, the hatred I felt for the man was so big it almost choked me.
Then the crowd shifted and blocked my view of him.
I’d make him pay.My hands curled into fists, my nails biting into my skin. Somehow, someway, I would stop this man’s path of destruction of hurting those less fortunate than him.
“This way,” Lark said.
We kept moving.
Then I felt something. A prickle on the back of my neck. It intensified, until it felt like a burn. I swiveled.Oh no.I choked on a gasp.
Cole was striding toward me.
His face was set in hard lines, his eyes dark.
He was pissed.
“Uh-oh,” Georgie murmured.
I stayed there as his scorching gaze raked my body. God, he looked so fine in his dark suit and white shirt. He reached me and gripped my arms.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he growled.
The other men joined us. Nash was scowling at Georgie. Bastian was actually smiling at Lark. He didn’t look surprised. Landon looked like he was fighting a smile.
“This is Lili’s fight,” Lark said. “And we can help.”
Cole growled.
“Look, big guy, I know you’re protective instincts are in overdrive.” Lark tapped Cole’s chest. “But she needs to be a part of this. And we all know Goodyear can’t do squat to her here with so many witnesses.”
A muscle worked in Cole’s jaw. He scanned the room, then looked back at me.
“Please,” I said quietly.
That muscle ticked again. “You stay at my side. Don’t move. Do exactly what I say.”
I nodded. “Have you found Ava-Jane?” A look crossed his face and despair hit me hard. “She’s not here.”
“Not now, but she was. Looks like we missed her by thirty minutes.”
I pressed my face to his chest, and he wrapped an arm around me.
“I think we should ask Goodyear where she is now,” Lark said silkily.
Nash shifted closer, his voice a murmur. “He just took a phone call and ducked into an adjoining private room.”
