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One text to Atlas and then I dive into my workload. I get off the phone with a client and swivel in my chair, when Joan runs in, dark eyes filled with panic.
“Cole just walked in, and he has a gun. Jaxon is trying to talk to him now.” She makes a noise but covers her mouth to conceal the sound.
“What?” I ask, standing up. I reach for my handbag, but remember I stopped carrying my gun around when I took this new job. Then I remember the Taser that Atlas gave me is in there, so I grab the bag.
Hunter, one of the partners here, rushes in and opens the closet door. “Get in, both of you now!”
He ushers Joan and me in before I can say anything.
“Stay in here, I’m going to try to stop him,” he says quietly before he leaves.
The door is closed, and locked.
Jesus Christ.
“Cole walked in here with a gun?” I clarify.
Joan nods.
“By himself?”
“Yes,” she cries. “Do you think he wants to kill us?”
I don’t bother answering that question. Instead I pull out my phone and call 911, and when I get off that call, I ring Atlas next. His work isn’t too far away, and he could make it here before the cops.
“Hello,” he answers.
“Atlas,” I whisper. “I just called the cops. Cole is here and he has a gun. I’m hiding in the fucking closet right now.”
“I’m on the way,” he replies without hesitation, and then ends the call.
I quickly send out a message to Cara, and then hide my phone back in my pocket. I put the Taser in my other pocket, grateful that I wore pants with pockets today. A second later, my office door is kicked. Each bang makes me wince, until it finally slams open.
“Natalie? I know you’re here, because your car is here. Show yourself and no one gets hurt! Or do you want to get everyone else killed?” Cole calls out.
Fuck.
It’s just me he wants.
I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me.
I’m about to call out and let him know that I’m in here when Joan does it instead. “She’s in here! Let me go, Cole, please. She’s in here!”
Well.
I get that loyalty isn’t one of her qualities.
Cole unlocks the door and pulls Joan out. “You can leave.” She runs off.
“But you,” he says as he grabs me, “are going to stay. You and Jaxon.”
“You said everyone else could leave,” I point out as he drags me to Jaxon’s office, where he’s sitting there tied up.
Fuck.
“I lied,” Cole murmurs, sitting me next to Jaxon. “The two of you have ruined my career, and now you’ll both pay for that.”
He obviously has zero accountability for his actions, but right now is not the time to point that out.
