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“Knock, knock,” Gina calls out while tapping her knuckles on the door. “Can we come in, and are you decent?”
“Baby, go see who that is.” Liam’s voice is rougher than usual.
“Coming!” It’s hard to hold in my snort, but I do while Gina rolls her eyes. It doesn’t take more than a minute for Stacy to peek her head out, but when she spots me her polite smile turns into cheesiness. “Get your butt over here and give me a hug, stranger.”
“Hi to you too!” I laugh, walking in for the tight squeeze. “How have you been?”
“We’re good except for Liam. He’s a bit cranky after getting a root canal earlier today.”
“Am not!”
“Yeah, he is.” Stacy takes my hand and pulls me in behind her, leaving Gina to close the door. My eyes take her in then and notice this is the most clothing I’ve ever seen her wear: slacks, a cardigan, and a thin scarf around her neck. Like this, she looks like the average girl next door. When I look at her face again, she’s smirking. “Shut it. I had to drive him to and from his appointment. Tassels and a thong would be frowned upon by the uptight trolls out there.”
“Who are you…hello, Miss London.” Liam smiles at me and stands, coming around his desk to shake my hand. “How have you been, sweetheart? That Malcolm being good to you?”
“He’s perfect.”
He eyes me for any deceit and when he finds none, he gives me a nod to sit down. “Good. That makes me very happy, kid.”
I take the seat directly in front of his desk. His eyes are on mine as I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “First, I want to thank you for hiring me. For helping me the only way you knew how, Liam. My contract wasn’t like the rest of the employees here, and I appreciate that.”
“None needed.” He waves me off. “You’re one of the good ones, and while I knew the men here would salivate and it’d bring me money, I made sure it was at your pace. Your call to—”
“You didn’t have to,” I interrupt, because while he isn’t one hundred percent noble, his chance saved my life. Gave me an out. A path to leave or, how fate played it out, toward Malcolm. “I know money was involved, but knowing who my brother and father are, you stuck your neck out for me, and nothing in this world could repay that. Thank you.”
“Forget it.” He levels me with a look that says I won’t win. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“How hard would it be for you to gift me the items in Mr. Asher’s private room? For me to pick up my costumes?” I ask, sitting forward toward him. “I’m trying to surprise the man—”
“Done.”
“Thank you…oh my God!”
There’s blood everywhere. On me. On the walls. Oozing from the bullet hole in Liam’s head. Another three shots ring out and I throw myself to the ground. The person on the other side is hell-bent on emptying their clip before coming inside.
Screams come from what sounds like every direction. Stomping—it sounds like a scared herd of wildebeest racing through the mansion. Everyone here is running for their lives while this person continues to give us everything his weapon has.
My eyes find Gina’s and she’s reaching for her gun. “When I say the word, you duck behind his desk and don’t come out. Got it? No matter what, stay hidden.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t come out.” The fact she ignores my question fills me with dread—more so than the bullets flying throughout the room.
A shriek rents the air, and Stacy’s body hits the ground. She’s been hit in the shoulder and bleeding profusely. I crawl to her, ignoring Gina’s curse or the way she tries to block me with her body as best she can.
“Look at me,” I whisper to her, taking the loose scarf around her neck and using it to put pressure on the wound. “We need to get you with me behind his desk. Help me get us back there.”
“It hurts to breathe. I can’t.”
“You have no choice, or we all die.” My fingers are bathed in her blood. It’s dripping down my wrist as I hold the fabric in place. “We don’t have time to lose. Crawl and I’ll follow.”
Stacy takes ahold of the scarf and turns to crawl when the door is kicked open. Wood splinters and flies around the room. More shots are fired as Gina takes the first man down with a bullet to his neck. The one that follows manages to respond, but his shot barely misses her, and the flesh wound on her arm pisses her off.
The sound of empty shells falling fills the room and when all is said and done, the man is dead and so is the attendant from the employee parking area. He didn’t have the chance to shoot.
“London, we need to go now.”
“I can’t leave her here by herself!”
