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“…ten-million-dollar reward for information that leads to his safe return,” the blond said.
My head was spinning. All of this was too much.
“Only ten million when each of them is worth over a billion?” Layana snorted, then turned to me, her eyes wide.
“Carrington was located at the Southern Suites hotel last night when he called the authorities himself and was taken into custody,” the newswoman said.
“So the only one who can claim the reward is the man himself.” The male news anchor laughed.
The segment changed to something about flaming paper bags left at playgrounds, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Oscarhad called the police? My mind flickered through the events that happened last night—him being escorted out of the hotel, me chasing after him and the way I’d been questioned when I’d tried to see him. Had he not explained who I was? Why hadn’t I been allowed to see him?
There were no new answers in this news segment, only more questions.
A pounding sound came from the hall.
Layana checked through the peephole.
“You’re going to want to see this.” She opened the door.
I joined her and saw a man standing at what had been my hotel room door, desperately swiping a keycard that wouldn’t work anymore.
“Morgan.” He pounded on the door. “If you’re in there—”
“I’m here!” I practically leapt through the hall to reach him.
He caught me in a big hug. He felt warm and strong and safe. In his arms, I felt like everything was going to be okay, like we were back in our bubble and nothing could touch us.
“Hi,” he whispered into my hair.
“Hi,” I whispered into his chest.
There were a million things I wanted to say, a million questions I needed to ask, but as I held tight to him, I couldn’t think of a single one.
THIRTY-NINE
OSCAR
Layana wasn’t the only one opening her room door to stare at the two of us in the hall.
“Can we go into our room?” I asked. “My keycard is broken. I’d prefer to speak to you without an audience. And I could really use a shower.”
Morgan laughed and twisted her fingers tighter into the fabric of my shirt. “There is no room anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m off the show. I lost. It’s over.”
“I’m sorry.” I hugged her tighter.
“I’m not,” she said, her voice rough. “It’s a relief. Kind of. Mostly. More so now that you’re here.”
I was glad to hear my presence offered her some solace. But if we no longer had a room here, I wasn’t sure where we would stay.
“I was moving our stuff to Layana’s,” she said.
Oh. That made sense given the circumstances, but I wasn’t so sure Layana would appreciate me crashing her hotel room.
