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The steps drew closer. And closer. And closer.
The whites of Ari’s eyes became more visible as his eyes widened. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his neck. He was nervous. Tense. About to explode.
Without warning, Arilunged. His chair clattered to the ground as he sprinted for the door on the far side of the room. Leo leaped from his own seat and tore through the door behind him, screaming, “Stop! Ari! Stop!”
Chaos exploded. Cora made a noise of dismay. Amelia jumped out of her seat and ran for the doorway, only to be jostled out of the way by Rob, who sprinted faster than she thought a man his age would be able. Utensils clattered. A glass broke. Screams and murmurs competed for attention.
“Leo!” Amelia screamed.
From the opposite doorway—the one where the footsteps had echoed—three men appeared. Fred and two gruff, grizzled men who could only be police detectives. They wore slightly oversized suits and deep scowls.
Amelia hugged the wall as Gregory and George froze halfway to the door, caught between stopping for the police and following the action.
“It was Ari!” Mark yelled, thrusting his hand toward the door where Leo had chased the other man. “He heard you were coming, and he bolted.”
The detective to Fred’s left took off like a shot. His brown blazer flapped around him as he ran, reaching for the gun holstered at his waist. Holy freaking moly. Amelia’s eyes were wide as saucers, her palms flat on the wall. There weregunshere now. Sure, they were in the hands of the police, but the danger of the situation had just ratcheted up a thousand notches.
She stepped into the hall to see the detective disappear around a corner, quickly followed by his partner. “Stay here,” the man barked at her, then followed his partner into the bowels of the house. They were headed toward the backyard.
“Don’t shoot Leo!” she yelled, like some kind of hand-wringing miss who didn’t know what to do with herself. She realized she was, indeed, wringing her hands, and forced herself to hold her arms by her sides.
A stampede followed the second detective, with everyone from the breakfast room tearing down the hallway after the men, clearly unwilling to stay where the detective had told them to. After a brief hesitation, Amelia followed. She made it to the French doors at the back of the house in time to see Leo let out a gargled scream as he made a last, desperate leap toward Ari.
Leo’s armsclamped around the other man’s torso. His lungs burned as he threw all his weight into the tackle, his muscles screaming from the long sprint. He yelled as he brought Ari to the ground, using the full force of his lunge to make sure the other man didn’t get away.
They were halfway across the lawn when they landed in a heap. Ari screamed, his eyes wide with panic, and threw an unexpected right hook. It caught Leo in the eye socket. Pain bloomed across his temple as he yelped, loosening his hold on Ari’s waist.
Ari punched again, but Leo turned his shoulder to block the hit. He jabbed at Ari’s kidney, trying to get the other man to settle.
“You piece of shit!” Leo yelled, incensed, hitting Ari again.
Ari, in a feral rage, clamped his teeth around Leo’s forearm and bit down hard. Leo shrieked, trying to fling the other man off.
It was only when strong arms clamped around his shoulders and pulled him off that he realized they had an audience. Panting, he looked up and saw every staff member, every guest, and Fred himself jogging toward them. Leo collapsed on the ground, breathing hard, and the world spun around him.
Ari had clocked him hard.
“What the hell is going on here?” Fred demanded.
“He did it,” Leo wheezed, pointing a shaking hand at Ari. “He took the ring. The coins. Everything. He’s trying to start a rival company by taking all your clients.”
“What?” Fred’s entire head turned flame-red.
Ari, who had been struggling against the policemen’s hold, suddenly stilled. “What?” he demanded, eyes wide. “I didn’t steal the ring! I didn’t take anything! Someone stole fromme. My watch is gone!”
“Cut the bullshit, Ashfield,” Leo spat.
“I’m not a thief.”
“You were stealing clients.”
Ari’s eyes narrowed. “You took my list.”
“What kind of moron brings that to a company retreat? And on paper? It’s the twenty-first century. Ever heard of a computer?” Now he sounded like Amelia.
“Didn’t want to get hacked,” Ari gasped, his body jerking as the detective pulled him up to his feet with a rough tug.
“Hacked?” Leo scoffed.
