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“Rose! Good to see you back, how are you?” Louis always struck her as too young to be managing a hotel as big asThe Hart,but he’d proved over and over that he was more than capable. For anything to be rattling him it had to be big.
“I’m well, thanks. Is everything okay? Things seem a little… off.” A sigh slipped free from him and real worry began to drive at her.
“I’m sure it's probably nothing, but you know we take the safety of our customers very seriously here and, well, it’s justodd.”
“What is?” she asked, drumming her fingers anxiously against the wood in front of her before stilling her hand with a frown.
“Somebody pressed the alarm inside the elevator today.” Louis spoke like he’d eaten something sour, nose wrinkled as his eyes darted around to check that nobody could hear what he said next. “But once we got inside to see who was trapped… it was empty.”
“Empty?” Rose’s brow furrowed as she took in Louis’ agitation. “Was it a system fault or something? Maybe there was never anybody inside?”
“We have several witnesses who are certain they saw someone go in.” Louis shook his head and an uneasy feeling settled around Rose’s shoulders as it became clear that whatever this was, it had Louis rattled. “The system seems to be working. The lift stopped at floor eleven. The alarm was pulled, but when we called the lift back down it was empty and everything seemed fine. We’ve got a technician double-checking it now, but it doesn’t look like there’s a fault.”
“So you think someone stopped the lift intentionally?” Rose gasped, pressing delicate fingers to her mouth as Louis shook his head in worry rather than negation. “But why?”
“We don’t know, we’re reviewing the video footage from inside the elevator now, but I don’t like the thought that someone might be able to access your private floor without a key card by stopping the lift and climbing up the shaft.” Louis sank back against a fancy desk chair but immediately sat up straight again as a security guard made their way over. Rose’s head reeled. Had someone been trying to access her suite? “Any news?”
“Someone was definitely in there,” the man said, his face betraying no emotion and his deep voice even. “They kept their hood up and face turned away from the cameras, but when it stopped itdoesappear that they opened the access in the roof to slip out of the elevator. My guys are doing a sweep inside the access shaft now, and we will have extra bodies coming in and placed on every floor for tighter security.”
“What’s your name, sir?” Rose asked as she offered her hand and the man assessed her with cool, green eyes as he slowly took it and shook once, firmly.
“Noah Greene. I’m the new head of security. You’re the owner?” His face remained pleasant and calm, but a shrewd look in his eyes told her that he thought she was too young to call herself the owner of anything, let alone an entire hotel.
“Greene,” she said with a wry smile, “like your eyes.” Noah looked slightly startled, and Rose cleared her throat as she mentally shook herself. It had been a strange day, and now with the thought of her personal safety compromised or, worse, targeted… “Yes,” she said curtly a moment later, trying to forget the unsettling thought. “One of the owners, anyway.” Rose glanced at Louis and bit her lip on a smile as he gazed dreamily at Noah. “Please do keep me updated on your findings. I’d rather handle this in-house, and security is my top priority.”
“Of course,” Louis said and Noah nodded, still watching her intently.
“The sweep will be done within the hour,” Noah assured her and Rose smiled, beginning to walk away towards the elevator when Louis called out to her again.
“I’m sorry, Rose, but the elevator is out of order until we’ve got this cleared up.”
She grimaced, for once seeing the downside to living all the way up on the top floor. “You mean I have to take the stairs?”
“Afraid so.” Louis grimaced and Rose groaned, wrinkling her nose in distaste and making her way over to the sweeping marble staircase before nudging off her heels. There was no way she’d make it to the top while wearing them.
“I’ll escort you,” Noah called out, jogging towards her, and Rose nodded her thanks. He set a brisk pace up the stairs that had her nearly panting within moments, though he seemed unfazed. She supposed she could only be grateful that he wasn’t attempting to also make small talk too.
“Shouldn’t we pace ourselves?” Rose gasped a few minutes later, sweat pouring off her as they reached floor four, and she began to regret wearing the heavy blazer to Blake’s earlier.
“Sorry,” Noah said, a touch of amusement in his voice, “do you need to slow down?”
Rose’s back straightened, and she forcefully got control of her breathing. Twelve floors. It was only twelve floors. Eight to go. “No,” she growled. “I could do this in my sleep.”
“Good to know,” Noah replied, speeding up a little more and turning his face to hide the smile skating across it as she stomped up the stairs faster, trying not to slip in her own sweat on the gold-veined marble. “So how come you live in the hotel?”
Crap. Now he wanted to make conversation?“Travel a lot,” Rose said curtly, trying to maintain her breaths. “Like it here.”
Noah coughed to hide a snort and Rose glared.
By the time they made it to the top floor stairway, she was covered in a fine layer of moisture and was panting. Annoyingly, Noah looked like he’d barely broken a sweat. Rose shot him a narrow-eyed look and he smirked as he waved away her key card, instead reaching for his own to access the corridor outside of her suite. It was going to be a novelty coming in this way, she hardly ever saw her front door because the elevator opened up straight into the lounge when she used her card.
“After you,” he said politely, like they hadn’t just been through something harrowing together, and Rose snorted as her legs wobbled with every step she took. There was no way she’d be able to get her heels back on, but she also didn’t want to walk her dirty feet on her lush, cream carpet when she got inside, so she would have to settle for tiptoeing and cringing as she moved while her feet muscles spasmed.
Noah pressed a hand to her arm, preventing her from walking too far from the door they’d just exited. “I just want to take another quick look around here, okay?”
Nervousness coiled in her stomach as she nodded, remembering her own worries of the suite being targeted and smoothing the lapels on her blazer to soothe herself as Noah walked the short distance to where the corridor ended and checked the supply closet. Locked. A slow breath eased its way out of her and Noah gave her a smile as he walked back and ran a critical eye over the door to her suite. Apparently deeming it untampered with, he beeped his way inside and ignored Rose’s protests as his heavy boots left footprints across the pristine floor.
Rose brushed past the large potted plant in the corridor that stood nearly opposite her suite before standing awkwardly in her own doorway and fixating on the dark smudges across the floor.
