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“Carter Ramsey.”
Blinking several times, I was stopped in my tracks. “What? Oh, God. I called him. I asked for his help.”
“How? When?” He was furious. “The man is dangerous. Deranged.”
“I don’t know. A few hours ago. I wanted him to help me find answers. I used Zoe’s phone.”
“Fuck. Lock the doors! Secure the system. I’m going to tell you how to get into a safe. Do you know how to use a weapon?”
Oh, my God. “Carter knows I’m here.” The dream. It was Carter chasing me, just like he told me he’d do when I told him it was over. What was wrong with me?
“Yeah, my guess is he tracked her phone somehow. It doesn’t matter. I’m on my way. Just stay behind closed doors.”
I moved to the foyer, glancing at one of the almost transparent sidelights. What the hell? I could swear there was someone lying on the front porch, the body covered in blood. Oh, no, no. That was crazy. My hand shaking, I did what I could to figure out the system. “Yes, I can shoot. Daddy made certain I could.”
“Raven. There’s smoke!” Zoe raced into the foyer, her entire body shaking.
“What? Where?” I pulled the phone away, taking a deep whiff. Jesus. She was right.
“What the hell is going on?” Arman demanded.
“There’s smoke coming from somewhere. We need to get out of here.”
“No. Don’t go outside. Not yet.”
I could barely keep the phone in my hand as I raced after Zoe. Smoke was billowing in from under the kitchen door leading to the garage. I knew better than to open it. “The garage is on fire. We need to get out. I need to call 911,” I told him.
“No. I’ll call 911, Raven. Listen to me and follow my directions. Go into my office. You need to protect yourself.”
“The smoke is bad. Where are the men? I have to get someone. We need to get out of here.” Zoe bolted from the kitchen.
“Shit. Zoe’s trying to get out.” I was frantic, barely able to move. But somehow, I found a way to fly through the house. Unfortunately, she had her hand on the door, ready to open it when I screamed. “No!”
She threw it open as if in slow motion, racing outside. Then I heard her scream.
“Zoe!”
“What is happening?” Arman hissed. “Talk to me.”
I heard voices and almost panicked, refusing to allow anything to happen to her. As soon as I bolted outside, I tripped, flying into the air.
And straight into the arms of a masked man. Zoe screamed, flailing her arms.
“Zoe! Zoe!” As the phone slipped from my fingers and I was shoved inside the back of an SUV, I could still hear Arman’s anguished cry.
“Ra-ven!”
* * *
Arman
Dead. They were all fucking dead.
Eight men with weapons. I stood with my hands on my hips, watching the firefighters putting out the fire in the garage. The cars were totaled, along with the other contents and a good portion of the building itself, but it would never have made it into the house even as hot as the fire had obviously burned.
I’d had a thick firewall installed because I knew the garage could be a target.
“We’ll find them, Arman,” Francois said, his tone as exasperated as I felt. We’d dragged Ramsey onto the plane, Devin not bothering to fight us. I had no doubt at that point he’d realized that he’d been under investigation, although by now I wasn’t certain I could trust anything that came out of Ramsey’s mouth.
