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When the bathroom remained silent, he tried the handle. Unlocked. And there wasn’t a soul inside.
His frown deepened. Nell hadn’t returned to the party—he was absolutely sure of that. He’d been standing right by the doorway, and he would’ve passed her in the hall on his way here.
Maybe she ran up to their suite to grab something?
With no other ideas, he made his way down the rest of the hallway and out to the lobby. He’d just rounded the corner and climbed the first stair when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he looked across the cavernous room, past the reception desk to the closed door beyond.
Light shone out of the crack under that door, too, but he knew Zach wasn’t in there. He saw him as he left the party, laughing with Olivia, Gabriel, and Gabriel’s sous chef Sienna.
It was probably nothing. Zach must’ve left the light on by mistake.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Particularly since he couldn’t remember the last time he saw that door closed.
The rubber soles of his boots didn’t make a sound as he crossed the marble tiles. Slipping around the edge of the reception desk, he opened the door without knocking.
Nell jumped so hard, the desk chair rolled backward into the mail table, making the shelves wobble ominously. “Jesus!” She slapped a hand over her heart. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Resisting the urge to comfort her, he kept his voice neutral as he said, “I thought you were going to the bathroom.”
“I was.” A hint of color appeared along her cheekbones. “I mean, I did. I was just taking a minute before I went back in there. It was kind of overwhelming.”
Rafe’s gaze flicked toward the open laptop on Zach’s desk. The screen faced away from him. “Were you using Zach’s computer?”
“No.” The blush covered her entire face now.
“And what if I asked you about stealing my phone Monday night?” Why she thought she could get away with such a ridiculous lie was quite beyond him. She must have been itching for a spanking. “What would your answer be to that?”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out.
“I’m going to ask you again. And this time I want you to tell me the truth.” His mind raced with possibilities. Punish her right here, or march her back into the party and put on a bit of a show? He supposed that depended on the reason she was sneaking around. “Were you using Zach’s computer?”
Lower lip trembling, she whispered, “Yes, Sir.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to check my email. But I haven’t even signed in yet. I’ll turn the computer off and—”
“Stop.”
She’d started inching toward the desk, but froze at his harsh tone, one hand still outstretched. Only her eyes moved, shifting back and forth between him and the laptop.
Nell shrank back in the chair as he went to the desk, spinning the laptop to face him. As he expected, she was already signed into her email. But it wasn’t the same one he’d seen her using all week. The background was plain black; the other inbox had a picture of a beach.
Forehead creasing, he leaned down for a closer look. When he saw the email at the top of the inbox, the blood in his veins ran cold as ice.
The sender was Micah O’Neill. For one fleeting second, he held onto hope. Who gave a shit if Micah emailed her. That didn’t mean anything. But then he read the preview:It’s time for us to stop emailing and meet face to face. I don’...
His gaze raked down her inbox, finding her ex’s name two other times. Both emails were marked as read.
His gaze bore into hers with such intensity she flinched. “You’ve been emailing Micah.”
“No!” She surged to her feet as she said it, reaching for him with both hands.
Grabbing her wrists, he held her several inches away. “Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“He’s been emailing me ever since I left. But I never emailed him back, I swear. The rest of his emails are in the trash. You can see for yourself.” Desperation added an edge to her voice. A plea burned in her eyes. And he had absolutely no idea if any of it was real.
“Okay. I’ll see for myself.” He flung her away from him with enough force that she toppled into the chair. It rolled backward against the table again, making envelopes flutter down to the floor. But he didn’t open her trash folder. Instead, Rafe clicked on the oldest read email—the first of three with the subject lineI see you found all my emails at last. “Dearest Noelle,” he read aloud in a mocking voice. “I can’t tell you what a relief it is to know you’re safe. I’ve worried each and every moment since the day you disappeared.”
