Page 119 of Missile Strike

“We’re only missing four guests. Everyone else is here.”

He checked his watch. Ten more minutes until the reception ended, and the guests entered the ballroom for dinner. Then he could breathe a sigh of relief. They’d have containment and could shrink the security perimeter. Keep the threats safely outside.

Unless the threat was already here.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Isabella summoned a polite smile, though her attention drifted from the dinner conversation at the table she shared with her parents, the mayor of Charlotte, and the chairman and CEO of Providence Bank and his wife.

Danny lingered in the shadows, a silent sentinel.

No matter how hard she tried to focus, her gaze kept finding him.

Glancing over her shoulder, she spied Danny’s boss, Nathan, with his wife. The casual intimacy between the two tightened something in Isabella’s chest. She’d met Emily a handful of times over the years because of their fathers, and she’d always envied the other woman’s fearless independence.

Interesting that she’d ended up with a former Navy SEAL, considering Admiral Dane’s domineering ways.

Isabella understood the impulse to break free. Lately, she’d been feeling it herself.

Across the room, Olivia Flores stood apart from the crowd.

Watching.

As if sensing her stare, Olivia looked her way.

Their eyes met. Held.

A flicker of unease tightened Isabella’s lungs.

After what Danny had told her, she wanted nothing to do with the woman.

“Excuse me.” She pushed back from the table and made her way to the podium.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the reporter move in her direction.

Danny closed the distance in seconds, his strides long and purposeful. He reached her before Olivia did, cupping her elbow as he helped her up the steps onto the stage.

The chill on his face was enough to make Olivia stop short, her features pinching.

At the podium, Isabella aligned the speakers’ notes with careful precision, buying herself a moment. She tapped the mic softly with her fingernail, listening to the soft echo.

Everything was set.

Danny took up position near the stage steps.

As did Olivia, at a distance.

Irritation pulled Isabella’s muscles tight. Chin lifted, she kept her attention on Danny, sliding her hand into his as he helped her down the stairs.

Olivia inched forward. “Ms. Strickland.”

Danny shifted, placing himself just ahead of Isabella. “She has nothing to say to you.” The frost in his tone chilled the air.

Isabella stepped around him, her face settling into a serene mask. People were watching.

“Not here.” She indicated the door leading out to the main hall, and without giving Danny time to veto her, she moved to the door.

Danny muttered something under his breath, but instead of trying to stop her, he followed.