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Nicole’s hand tightened on her champagne glass. “Yes, the Gala. How could I have forgotten something so unforgettable.” She jerked her attention to where her son stood silently watching the exchange. “Andrew, finish with Mr. Archer while I have a word with the congresswoman.”
Jane’s bodyguard stood a few feet behind her. I quickly moved to him, angling as best I could to be on the side away from Brian and the Sabers. “You need to get her out of here,” I told him in a low, urgent voice. “Please, trust me.”
Victor glanced at me and frowned, but to my relief he didn’t question or protest before moving to Jane’s side and touching her arm.
“The car is out front, ma’am,” he said. “You should probably leave before your headache grows worse.”
She met Victor’s eyes, then looked past him to me. I gave her my best Gah! Shit! You need to get the hell out of here ’cause there’s danger! look—but in a calm and socially acceptable way, of course.
“Thank you,” she murmured to Victor. “Yes, I should be going.” She returned her attention to Nicole. “I’m so sorry, but I’m simply not feeling well at all.”
Nicole darted a look toward Andrew and Brian, and gave Jane a smileless smile. “Certainly,” she said stiffly, clearly not at all happy to let Jane go but unable to physically stop her. “You take care of yourself. Perhaps we can do lunch tomorrow?”
“Perhaps,” Jane echoed. “Have your people call mine. Have a good evening.” And with that she turned away to allow Victor to guide her to the exit while I quietly died of relief.
Jane paused by me, leaning close and lowering her voice. “I expect you to explain all of this as soon as we’re outside.”
“Yeah, you got it,” I said with a firm nod, though my attention remained on Brian. He was watching me again, but at the moment I’d take that as a good thing since it meant he wasn’t going after Jane. I tore my gaze away from Brian long enough to check and see that yes, Jane was at the double doors and leaving, then allowed myself a brief sigh of relief. Now I simply had to get myself out of this mess.
Chapter 20
I felt Brian’s eyes on me like a knife sliding through flesh. He was obviously up to some shit with the Sabers, but I had zero desire to stick around and confront him. Yet at the moment he was between me and the doors, which meant I needed to find another way out.
The crowd had abruptly grown thick as everyone began working their way toward the ballroom—where I most certainly did not want to go. Gut tight, I turned and started swimming upstream through a river of overdressed people in the direction of a side door. Someone stepped on my toe, and I resisted the urge to drive an elbow into their ribs to get them off me. I settled for their hasty apology, quickly lost in the chatter and music as I slipped between bodies, grateful I was slim, and even more glad I was short enough to get lost in the crowd.
Didn’t matter, as a glance behind showed Brian heading my direction. He didn’t seem to have any problem getting people out of his way without making a scene. I tripped on the hem of my skirt, seized it up while cursing the stupid heels and barely avoided crashing into a tittering woman. I finally made it to the side door and burst through it, then had to stop for a second to get my bearings and figure out where the hell I was.
Restrooms. And down at the end of the hall was a sweet and glorious EXIT sign. I still couldn’t run without attracting a bunch of attention, and I certainly didn’t want to risk being stopped by security, but I did a goddamn Olympic speed walk in my pretty, sparkly shoes toward that sign.
Less than ten feet from the exit I heard a door open behind me, accompanied by a brief outpouring of music along with voices and polite laughter. A quick glance back as I hit the bar of the exit door confirmed it was Brian, and right before I slammed the door behind me I saw him start my way. A quick look around told me I was on the deserted sidestreet near the sewer worksite I’d seen earlier, and nowhere near where I was supposed to come out, which meant that none of my people were anywhere around. I knew I only had seconds before Brian caught up with me, and I used two to kick off the shoes then pelted barefoot toward the main street.
The sound of the door echoed along the buildings. “Angel!”
Shit! I tried to pour on the speed and instead got my legs tangled in my skirts. To my horror I went sprawling, scraping palms and knees as I slid a few inches in some nasty gunk on the pavement. I was like one of those stupid teenagers in a slasher movie, with extra grossness.
Before I could scramble to my feet Brian was on me, literally, with a knee in the middle of my back, pinning me down firmly as I twisted and struggled.
“Angel, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, voice urgent but low. “Don’t run away from me. We need to talk but first we need to get away from here.”
“Get off me!” I snarled as I fought to get out from under him, which only served to grind the yuck more thoroughly into the dress. “I swear to god, I will scream bloody murder.”
“Angel, stop! I’m trying to get Mr. Ivanov back, and I know you are too.”
I twisted my head to glare at him. “You’re fucking up the dress! And I saw you being all friendly with the Sabers here, just like I saw you kidnap Dr. Nikas. I watched the video!”
Shifting off me, he seized my upper arm and pulled me to my feet. “I was trying to determine if the Sabers would work a deal to release Mr. Ivanov,” he said, maintaining an iron grip as he slapped my purse into my hand. “And, yes, I kidnapped Dr. Nikas. It was that or risk Saberton abducting him as well. He wouldn’t get into the car, and I couldn’t let him stay.”
“How did you know he was at risk?” I snarled. Maybe I could bite him and make him behave the way I made Philip behave? Desperate, I lunged at him, teeth bared.
“Jesus Christ, Angel!” Brian growled as he evaded my bite, then twisted my arm up behind my back. “Would you stop?” He glanced back over his shoulder at the door we’d exited from. “I knew he was at risk because ten minutes earlier I defused a bomb under my Escalade, then tried to call Mr. Ivanov and got only voicemail.”
I stopped struggling, bit my lip har
d to try and stop the damn tears of frustration, but I felt a couple sneak their way down my cheek. How did all this get so fucked up? “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” I asked, voice quavering.
He began walking me toward the main street while he continued to shoot wary looks behind us. “No one to tell. No one to trust. There’s an unknown insider. At least one. And you need to get away from here.”
“You couldn’t even trust me?” The hurt in my voice wasn’t faked one bit.
