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Ariana could hardly believe her eyes. She ran to the boy. “Are you okay?”
“Where’s Papi?” He rubbed his eyes.
“He’s looking for you. Everyone has been so worried! Where have you been?”
“I was playing hide and seek, and I fell asleep. Nobody ever found me.”
Ari wanted to call Rita, but none of the phones had a signal. She scooped him up into her arms. “Let’s find your dad and Rita. Everybody will be so happy to see you’re safe!”
“You do that,” Damon said. “I’ll take Bella back to her room and then meet you in the ballroom.”
Ariana was halfway there when she remembered that she and Damon were going to stay together because of the killer.
ChapterTwenty
Ariana nearly crashed into Rita and Emerson as she neared the ballroom. Alonzo squirmed to get out of her arms. After she let him down, he threw his arms around Rita’s legs.
“Mama!” He buried his face against her belly.
Rita picked him up and squeezed him. “Where have you been?”
He started crying. “I didn’t mean to worry you and Papi!”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re safe. We need to find your dad and let him know we found you.”
“On it.” Emerson ran down the hall without another word.
“How’d you find him?” Rita asked Ariana.
“Damon and I were taking Bella to her room, and he just showed up.” She told him about the game of hide and seek that went wrong.
Rita squeezed the little boy again. “I’m so happy you’re back!”
They made their way to the ballroom. Instead of the lull of conversation from before, now it sounded like people were arguing.
“You should’ve been watching your own mother!” Grayson’s dad accused Rita’s dad.
“And you were responsible for your grandson. Everyone knew you and your wife were watching them this weekend. Your loudmouth wife wouldn’t stop bragging about it.”
Grayson’s dad held up a fist.
Rita stuck a finger and thumb in her mouth and blew an ear-piercing whistle. “Stop! Everyone go to your rooms until we figure out who killed Mateo!”
“You found Alonzo!” Grayson’s dad ran over. He took his grandson from Rita. “Don’t ever do that again. We were so worried!”
The boy burst into tears again.
Rita gave him an annoyed glance. “Now isn’t the time for a reprimand.”
“You’re going to be too easy on him. I can tell.”
“How dare you!”
“Stop!” Ariana got in between them. “This isn’t the time to turn on each other. Not when there’s a killer among us. We all need to return to our rooms now to stay safe. Everyone go!”
Not one person moved. Almost everyone turned back to the person he or she was arguing with before she’d interrupted them.
“Did anyone hear me?”
