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He brushed a strand of her golden hair from her eyes and allowed his fingers to caress her smooth cheek. At least he didn’t need to worry about Lillian fleeing his house in the middle of the night. Which would give him time to convince her to confide in him.
He filled a water glass and placed it and two aspirin on the bedside table. He had a strong suspicion she’d have one hell of a headache in the morning. Then he left the door open a crack in case she needed him while he changed his clothes, and tiptoed to his own bedroom down the wide hallway.
The first thing Lillian noticed when she opened her eyes was daylight streaming through the large window. The next thing was the dark-haired man with high cheekbones and swarthy skin sitting next to her bedside in sweatpants.
She wrinkled her brow. “Tristan? What are you doing in here?”
“Watching you sleep,” he said, his deep voice sending shivers down her spine.
“What for?” She started to get up.
“No, don’t get up. Take it easy. How are you feeling?”
A fuzzy memory surfaced of Tristan carrying her up the stairs. “You put me to bed last night. What…what happened to me?”
He frowned, but the tone of his voice remained gentle. “I found you last night passed out on a couch in an alcove at the party. I carried you out of the place to get you home and into bed. Don’t you remember?”
She rubbed her head, trying to make sense of his words. “Not really. It’s all kind of hazy. But I don’t drink as a rule, and I don’t remember drinking anything but water last night.” She rubbed her eyes, her contacts burning. “Were you in here all night? What time is it?”
“Yes, and almost seven.”
“Seven?” Adrenaline raced through her system, her heart thumping in her ears. “I missed my flight.”
“Yes, and it’s a good thing. You were in no condition to fly. Do you remember where you got the water you said you drank?”
She wrinkled her nose, bringing in a fuzzy image of a waiter handing her a glass of water from a tray. “Yes, a waiter was passing by and offered it to me.”
“Did he have dark hair and a mustache?”
Lillian rubbed her head and tried to visualize the fuzzy image more clearly. “I didn’t look that closely at him…but I think so. Why?”
Tristan stood and whipped out his cell phone. “You may have been drugged.”
Drugged? Oh, shit.Kinetica had found her. It felt like an icy hand reached into her heart cavity and squeezed, and for a moment, she couldn’t think or move or breathe.
“Brian,” Tristan barked into the phone. “A waiter at the party last night may have slipped something into Zoey’s water glass. He had dark hair and a mustache—about five ten. Check to see if the facility has video surveillance.”
There was a short pause, where Lillian suspected Brian agreed. The room closed in around her, cutting off her oxygen.
“Contact the police if necessary and call me pronto if you find anything.”
“I was drugged?” she managed to choke out the second Tristan ended the call.
“If you weren’t drinking, then it’s likely. How else to explain your symptoms? The only way to know for sure is to have you checked out in a hospital.”
“No. No, I can’t.” A sick feeling of dread settled in Lillian’s gut. Kinetica had found her. Every minute she stayed in this house was jeopardizing Tristan’s safety and her family’s lives. She didn’t let herself think further but moved as quickly as she was able in her current state to rise and pack her things.
“Zoey, what do you think you’re doing? You need to rest.”
“No. No, I…I can’t. I need to leave right now. I’ve already stayed much longer than I should have.” Her voice shook. My God, what if Kinetica were outside right now?
She looked down at her outfit, noticing for the first time she was still dressed in her party clothes. Did it matter? She couldn’t afford the precious time it would take to change.
Lillian began shoving clothes into her suitcase, not caring if it was neat or not, not caring that tiny hammers were pounding her skull. Although she was still not quite steady on her feet, it didn’t take long since she only had the one suitcase, and she’d never fully unpacked.
Tristan placed his hand over hers, where she gripped her suitcase. “Stop this. You don’t feel well, and there’s no need to panic. I have my security firm checking into the situation and keeping an eye on us. They’re top notch. You’ll be safe here until we get to the bottom of this. You have my word.”
As much as she wanted to believe him, Tristan didn’t understand how ruthless Kinetica could be when they wanted something. And they wanted Lillian.
