Chapter Three
Diana leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head. Other than a couple of trips to the employee room for coffee and one run to the restroom, she’d been sitting in the same position ever since she’d come back from lunch. The work wasn’t overly challenging — she was auditing a list of deposits and withdrawals for the previous month — but it was enough to keep her mind occupied, and that was of paramount importance after the lunch with Leo.
She’d hoped it would be different this time. She always hoped it would be different.
It never was.
Some deeply buried part of her soul responded to him, reaching for him like a flower to the sun. She kept hoping he would grow bald.
Or fat.
Unfortunately, she’d had no such luck. He was as beautiful as ever. In fact, the bastard seemed to grow even more sexy with age. His boyish face had somehow morphed into perfect cheekbones and a jaw that could cut glass. The eyes that had once been kind and guarded were now tempered with a kind of wisdom she only found more appealing because it spoke to experiences they hadn’t shared. To mystery in the lessons he’d learned and the knowledge he’d gained without her.
The knowledge of a man.
Her cheeks flushed at the thought — and its implication — and the cleft between her thighs grew warm. It was almost obscene to think about her childhood friend in such a way. And yet here she was, sitting alone in the office imagining Leo Gage naked, the perfectly formed muscles of his chest tapering to corded abs that would be hard and well formed under her tongue. His cock would be as big as the rest of him, thick and long, big enough to fill every inch of her.
She squirmed in her chair, all too aware of the wetness now coating her knickers. What was she doing? He’d had twenty years to make a move. He hadn’t. Which could only mean he didn’t want to. He probably had a woman in every city, someone to warm his bed wherever Global Media sent him. She was just the girl next door.
And she had a feeling Leo wanted something entirely different in a woman.
Her mother was right; she needed to find a man. Get married. Have children. Anything to stop the ridiculous fantasy that was a happily ever after with Leo.
A glance at the clock told her it was nearly eleven. She stood and stretched, then walked into the empty hall. The office was dark and hushed, shadows angling ominously away from the dim sconces on the walls. She knew from experience that they stayed lit all night, only turning off in the morning when the office was flooded with sunlight, or more often, when the weak, gray light of London managed to seep in through the cloud cover.
Everyone else had gone, and the cleaning service wouldn't arrive for two more hours. She should go home, take a bath and get some sleep before she had to be up again for work tomorrow. She was about to return to her office for her bag and coat when she had a thought.
She reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and removed a bottle of red wine and two glasses, then headed toward Maggie’s office. She wasn’t eager to answer her mentor’s questions about the lunch with Leo, but Maggie had seemed unusually tired, even worried, earlier in the day. She’d been a good friend to Diana. It was only right that Diana would repay the favor when Maggie needed someone to talk to. Besides, they’d had some of their best conversations over wine after everyone else had gone home.
She slipped her shoes off next to the desk, then continued down the quiet hall, her footsteps muffled on the plush carpet. She was almost to Maggie’s office when she stopped in her tracks.
There had been a noise, something she couldn’t quite place. She heard it again, and this time she was certain; a wet thwack, the sound of flesh meeting flesh, followed by a low moan.
She stood still in the hall, training her ears to the sound. She’d never known Maggie to have a man in the office, and she was almost positive the sound hadn’t been sexual. But there was something unsettling about it, something that chilled her skin under the silk of her dress. A moment later, the sound came again and she understood.
It wasn’t the muffled moan of pleasure, but the stifled whimper of pain.
Diana stepped back against the wall, every muscle in her body screaming at her to run while her heart moved her slowly forward, compelled by her worry for Maggie. She was almost to the door of Maggie’s office when she heard a man’s voice.
“Tell us why; if you don’t intend to tell anyone, why were you accessing the files?”
Maggie’s voice emerged from the confines of her office. “There were anomalies. It’s my job.”
There was something defiant in the tone of Maggie’s voice, but Diana was still surprised to hear the strike of flesh against flesh, and a moment later, a moan that could only be Maggie in pain.
What the hell was going on here? And who did these men think they were to come in here and terrorize Maggie Kinsley when she was alone and defenseless?
Diana straightened, fully prepared to march into the office and tell the men to leave before she called security. How had they gotten upstairs past the guards in the lobby anyway? She would have to speak to someone about that tomorrow.
She’d just stepped out of the shadows when she heard the telltale cock of a gun. She’d never heard the sound outside of the movies, but it was strangely familiar. There was something elemental about it, something that set off a storm of panic in her body. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she found herself back against the wall, the sheetrock cool against her back.
“Who knows about this?” the man asked, his voice low.
“No one,” Maggie said. “Do you really think I would risk someone else’s safety by telling them what you were doing?”
Thwack.
Another strike against Maggie.
“Answer my questions only.”
Diana heard it then — some kind of accent. Russian? Eastern European?
His statement was followed by another voice, also male. But this one spoke quickly and fluidly in a language Diana couldn’t place. There was a rapid exchange between the two men that Diana couldn’t understand, and then the first man spoke again in English.
“You understand, I’m sure,” he said. “We cannot take the chance.”
And then Maggie, begging. “No, please… I have a son. He needs me. I won’t tell anyone. Please don’t — ”
Diana didn’t have time to consider her options. She didn’t even have time to contemplate the horror of what might be happening inside the office. There was only a series of muffled thumps followed by a slightly different kind of impact that could only be Maggie’s body hitting the floor.
Diana stifled a cry. She suddenly couldn’t feel her legs, and she was only vaguely aware of the wall against her back as she slid to the floor.
“What was that?” one of the men said from inside Maggie’s office.
“I don’t know. I’ll find out.”
Footsteps sounded from inside the office. They were heavy and purposeful on the carpet and got louder as the man approached the door to Maggie’s office. The door that would lead them to the hall where Diana was still trying to clear the fog from her brain. Still trying to mobilize herself to do the only left to do.
Run.