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“I’ll set an alarm so I can say goodbye.”
My hand moved into her hair and pushed it behind her shoulder, revealing the feminine curves of her high cheekbones, her slender jawline. “Sleep, chérie.” My thumb brushed across her bottom lip, feeling my lungs suck in a gulp of air when her beauty left me breathless. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“When will you be home?”
I sucked in another breath as my thumb stilled against her bottom lip, cherishing her choice of words. This palace was her home. It was the place where we both belonged. “I don’t know.” I never knew. I never made plans, because plans could be tracked and traced. Keeping everyone on their toes was how I kept my power.
“Be careful…”
I felt my lips lift with a slight smile. “Always.” My hand cradled her face and neck, and I turned her toward me, giving her a soft kiss that lasted for several seconds. My eyes closed briefly as I enjoyed it, as I felt that lightness in my stomach, that tightness in my chest. I opened my eyes and saw that hers were closed, that she loved the kiss the way I did. I pulled away and kept my hand on her neck. “Je t’aime, chérie.”
Her eyes opened and met mine, her lips lightly parted from the kiss. While her eyes showed affection and desire, there was no recognition, like she had no idea what I just said.
I left her on the bed and rose to my feet.
A knock sounded on the door.
My entire body tightened at the sound. My muscles prepared for an invisible fight, and I instinctively moved in front of Melanie so she would be blocked from view.
“I’m so sorry to disturb you like this,” Gilbert said as he opened the door. “But it’s urgent. Magnus needs you.” He kept his eyes closed as he held out his personal cell phone, doing his best to protect my privacy.
I snatched the phone out of his hand and pressed it to my ear. “Are you okay?” I could still feel the weight of his body in my arms when I’d lifted his lifeless form off the bed. I could still remember the feeling of ineptitude when I dropped him on the stairs. I could still remember looking behind me as we ran for our lives, making sure my little brother was still with me.
“I’m fine.” He took a second to breathe into the phone, as if my question put him off.
“Then what is it?”
“She escaped.”
My eyes narrowed on the wall in front of me.
Gilbert silently excused himself and stepped into the hallway but left the door open, so he’d be prepared to take orders.
I didn’t need to know who she was. “When?”
“A few hours ago.”
The anger in my veins was instantaneous. “Then why the fuck did you wait a few hours to tell me?” With flared nostrils and bulging veins, I was a bull that had found its waving red target.
Melanie threw some clothes on then approached me.
I held up my hand without looking at her and marched into the hallway. “Why, Magnus? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me the second this happened?”
“Because she knocked me out with a goddamn pipe, and I was unconscious,” he snapped. “I have a fucking concussion and a migraine that can’t be fixed with pills. The men found me and went after her. The second I realized what happened, I called.”
I marched into my bedroom and grabbed my clothes. “Where is she?”
“They don’t have her yet.”
“I’m on my way. And when I get there, she’ll hang. You can’t save her this time, Magnus.”
His silence lingered like he wouldn’t say anything. Just hang up and get back to work. “I know.”
I hung up then pulled on my clothes as quickly as possible before I kneeled and got my boots on, the veins in my neck bulging, my gums aching because my teeth were so tightly clenched together.
This bitch had humiliated me—again.
I stood up and grabbed the phone. When I turned to the door, Melanie stood in the doorway, in a wrinkled nightgown with one strap down her shoulder, hair and makeup in the same mess I’d left her in just a moment ago.
But that beauty meant nothing to me now.
The stress on her face had turned her ugly, because she already knew exactly what had happened based on my conversation with Magnus. “What’s…what’s going on?”
I grabbed my bomber jacket and forced my arms through the sleeves as I threw it on my body. I stared her down as I walked to the door, silently commanding her to get out of my way.
She didn’t call my bluff and moved aside.
“She ran.” I moved down the hallway and to the top of the stairs.
Gilbert was down below, shouting to the valet. “Get the car around. Now!”
