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I picked up my pace, pushed past a group of people, and ran. I squeezed into the elevator before the doors closed, falling against a group of surprised men in doctor’s robes before I regained my balance.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, quickly turning my back to them. The doors opened on the main floor, and I rushed out.
“Lose them,” Dom hissed. “Fast.”
Trying to keep my pace from breaking out of a quick stride, I walked in circles, stalking the corridors until I lost my sense of direction. When I was sure no one followed me, I steered toward the first restroom sign I could find.
Back in the burka, a sense of safety settled over me. They would be searching for a nurse. But I still held my breath as I forced myself to stroll causally across the main hall and toward the exit.
No one stopped me. And when I was back in the car with Max, the driver, I let everything out. Gasping for air under the suffocating black fabric, I tried to keep from crying. But the pressure was too much. Everything I contained. The icy cold fear of being caught. The guilt. Those things I said to Alex. The thought of what my disappearance would do to Marc.
“You’re safe now,” Max promised. “We’re going straight home.”
I closed my eyes and focused on breathing as the car rolled into the traffic.
When I opened them again, nature rushed by, replacing the cityscape. I blinked away tears, sucking in a deep ragged breath. Max was right. I was safe. We were far from civilization now. Everything worked out the way Dom planned. I did it. I slumped in the seat, trying to breathe, to soothe my nerves, and hold myself together. Everything would be all right.
Max cursed out loud. My gaze darted to him. His eyes were in the rearview mirror, and the alarm he couldn’t hide made me bolt upright.
Before I could ask, he tapped a few buttons on the wheel and spoke. “Dominic. We’re tailed.”
It took too long. The fucking silence drove me slowly out of my mind. Not knowing whether she was dead or alive was the worst kind of torture. Izzy stayed with me, pretending to keep me company. All she did was make sure I wasn’t doing anything stupid. What that would have consisted of, I wasn’t sure. If I could have, I would have gone after her and never left her side.
Instead, all I could do was pace until I ran out of energy. Hours dragged by in slow motion. What was worse? The pressing silence that made my skin crawl from unease or Izzy’s attempts to distract me with small talk?
I hated how she could read me despite my best blank expression. To anyone else, I looked like I didn’t give a damn. It was what I made everyone believe. And it wasn’t hard, given the fact I usually didn’t. I never had anyone worth worrying myself to pieces about. Not since Julie. And after that, I swore never to get attached to anyone or anything again.
I laughed at the irony. Fucking laughed. Izzy looked at me, worry shining in her dark orbs.
“What’s taking so goddamn long?” I snapped before she had a chance to ask how I was doing. The question itself made me want to scream or punch something.
She glanced at her cell resting in her lap, and the look on her face made my stomach tighten into a knot of cold dread. She tried to hide it and brush it off with a reassuring smile, but she was worried, too.
Something was wrong.
If her expression didn’t give her away, her suddenly standing and excusing herself before running from the room sure did. I was on my feet in a flash, following her across the foyer, and through a dark passage into a room I never saw. It looked like some sort of high-tech office. Monitors covered a big portion of the left wall. Each of them showing different rooms in the house and outside. A brief feeling of unease flitted over me. The number of hidden cameras all over the mansion didn’t surprise me. But the one showing our bedroom did. I tore my gaze off the screens, sweeping it across the wide space to land on Dominic. He sat behind a massive black desk, barking orders into his phone while staring at a computer screen.
“What’s going on?” Izzy rushed up to him, and he pushed himself out of the chair in one fluid motion.
“Take over,” he hissed at her before returning his attention to the phone.
Izzy scrambled to sit. “What’re the coordinates?” she asked, as if she had no problem picking up where he left off. I stared, frozen to the threshold as Dominic ordered whoever was on the other end of the line toshoot to kill.
“Anywhere safe,” he hissed at Izzy, who nodded.
“What can I do?” My voice was surprisingly calm when on the inside, I was panicking. I didn’t need details to know they were in trouble.
Dominic cut the call, turning to me. “Stay out of the way.” Before I could reply, he dialed another number and within seconds a male voice replied. He gave him coordinates and the same deadly order before shoving the cell back into his suit pocket.
“I swear to hell this is the last time he fucks with us,” he growled, and Izzy shot him a look.
“Can someone tell me what the fuck’s going on?”
Izzy flashed me a sympathetic smile, then she returned her focus to the screen, and I pinned my gaze on Dominic.
“Where is she?”
“If you must know, she’s being chased down and shot at.”
