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Hazel’s eyes widened, and she gripped onto my arm a second before I closed the door as if she’d just figured out what I planned to do. “Don’t leave me,” she shouted, stressed.
I checked the small room to make sure it really was empty and then dislodged her fingers from my skin. “I promise you’ll be safe here. It’s the best spot on this floor. I need to check the place and contact Ridge.”
She stared at me, looking so deep I swore she saw to my soul. But when I didn’t give in, she eventually stepped back and allowed me to close the bathroom door on her, locking it from the hallway.
How did any of the Grandmaster’s assholes get past building security? Jerome didn’t have anyone stationed in the lobby yet, but he had security cameras everywhere. Someone watched them on twenty-four-hour duty.
Jerome and his new girlfriend lived on the top floor. He didn’t take her safety for granted. When he told us about the precautions and how he wanted to bring in Ridge’s men rather than a regular guard, I’d laughed. It sounded absolutely insane.
Why did a small-town florist need a bodyguard from Pelican Bay Security?
Now, the ideas sounded absolutely perfect. I’d hire one and have him follow Hazel around at all times. Even Drake, who assisted me occasionally and lived in Pelican Bay, might agree to a full-time position. I’d never needed a bodyguard before, but now I wanted the extra safety.
I passed a large window in the hallway and glanced at the street. Empty.
Jerome and I were going to have a lengthy talk once he and Lily returned from Paris. He wanted her to see the City of Lights and stare at the flowers at their summer height. I figured he considered it one last vacation before he returned home and refocused on world domination. He was a Kensington, after all.
This hallway had too many damn windows. I stopped by another one to scan the sidewalks. Originally, I’d loved the bright open spaces, but now I swore danger waited for us right outside. I fished my phone from my pocket and selected Ridge’s number. He wouldn’t be happy to hear from me so soon again.
Did the Grandmaster use the confrontation with Hazel at the bakery as a distraction while they raided my office?
Or had it only been a happy coincidence? When was my office broken into? Was someone watching us right now?
I slipped my attention behind me to the bathroom door. It was still closed, locked, and safe.
“There’s been a break-in at the office building,” I said after hearing Ridge’s brief hello.
He hung up, and I waited, knowing he’d follow directions and figure out where to find us. I waited by the elevator, tracking the cars as they passed on the road four stories lower. Something to the far left, at a side window, caught my attention. A ray of summer light flickered off it like a shiny diamond.
In the far corner of the open space, sitting on the windowsill as if forgotten by a child, sat a white chess piece. A knight. The horse stood tall and loomed at me from the space on the other side of the room.
I didn’t touch it, hopeful Ridge might lift fingerprints off it. We knew the Grandmaster had his hands in this, but this was more proof. If we figured out who the Grandmaster had sent to take out Hazel and retrieve the thumb drive, we’d get an idea of how big an issue he considered her.
I walked backward, putting myself in front of the bathrooms to be closer to Hazel in case she needed me but where I could still see the elevator. I leaned up against the wall and waited for Ridge. Once I retrieved the files from the drive, we’d know what the Grandmaster wanted to keep hidden so badly.
Seconds passed and a small smile grew on my face as I watched the knight chess piece. I might be a full step behind the Grandmaster, but he didn’t consider me a pawn—like he threw at Hazel after the drive-by. Good to see he knew who he was dealing with.
I wasn’t a fucking pawn.
And we both knew it.
CHAPTER13
HAZEL
“Ihope I don’t see you again today,” Ridge said, looking at me with his arms across his chest.
I didn’t even take offense at his words. “Agreed.”
The day turned out to be one of the longest of my life. I’d only met Ridge a few times—all of them under poor conditions—but I learned quickly if you saw him more than once a day you were having a shittastic time.
He stared at me for another beat as if he had something more he wanted to say. But he eventually shook his head and watched as Corbin loaded me into the Escalade and set the box of pastries on my lap. One way or another Corbin wasn’t leaving his sweets behind.
Corbin paused at his side of the vehicle with his door open while he and Ridge finished the conversation.
“Drake will call you back and stay parked outside. I’ll get the place wired tomorrow,” Ridge said, sounding as gruff as he did earlier.
I waited until Corbin had the Escalade started and in reverse before I questioned him. He was easier to question when he focused on driving.
