My heels click on the polished marble floors as I hurry from the inner office back to my desk in the outer suite. The air, chilly in the late evening hour, feels extra frosty as it filters through my silk sleeveless blouse. I throw a glance back over my shoulder, my eyes scanning the empty hallway behind me for any sign of him.

Just because I don’t see him doesn’t mean he isn’t close. And getting closer.

A sound echoes somewhere in the giant building, close enough that it ricochets through my body like a gunshot. I jump, my heart leaping into my throat as my pulse skyrockets.

I go still, listening.

The sound of insistent footsteps pounding on the same marble I just traversed spurs me into moving again. I skid to a stop at the end of the hallway, looking down the intersecting hall in both directions.

Which way? Which way?

Going for the exit would be the long way. The elevator is two halls away, and my movements can be tracked on any security camera. Especially when my boss, who started this multi-million-dollar tech corporation, is the man I’m running from now.

Oh, my God. I need to get home. I need to get to Decker.

Thinking of my sweet boy triggers a new surge of adrenaline inside me, and I leap forward, choosing to head right, toward the stairs. At least if I’m in the stairwell, I can hear anything coming above me or below me. All I’ll have to do is get down fourteen floors to the lobby, and then I’m free.

Free. Free. Free.

Kicking off my shoes, I grasp them in one hand and break into a run. Crossing the short distance to the large double doors marked STAIRS, I push through them and allow them to latch silently behind me. Sucking in a deep breath, I start down the steps.

One flight at a time, Rayne. You can do this. You have to do this.

If Wagner Horton takes time to scan the security footage, that’s even better for me. That gives me time to get out of this damn building, and get to my kid. The heel of my palm pounds against my head as I hurry downward. Over and over again. As if I could thump away the memory of the sight that got me into this mess in the first place.

Just work, the same work I’ve done every day for the past eight months. Only this time, being Wagner Horton’s executive assistant gave me access to information I never wanted and wasn’t supposed to see.

A sound from somewhere above me jars me back into awareness, back to the here and now. Step by step, I rush down the stairs. When I’m crossing the threshold to the seventh floor, the stairwell door below me opens and closes.

I freeze, holding my breath.

“Rayne? I know you’re here.”

Wagner’s voice has never, ever scared me.

Until now.

I mean, he’s a tech geek turned billionaire. I never considered him to be dangerous. But the look in his eyes tonight when he discovered me in the building after hours, working late…I shudder, remembering.

I close my eyes, willing him to just go away.

Silence from one floor below me.

Brrrrrrrrrrng.

In my pocket, my cell phone rings.

Wagner’s laugh floats toward me. “There you are.”

The sound of his feet pounding up the stairs mingles with the quiet thump of my bare feet turning and heading up one more floor. Moving faster than I’ve moved ever, I throw myself through the eighth-floor stairwell door and into the hallway.

The only option I have now is to hide, or to get to the elevator before he gets to me.

I choose the elevator. Sprinting around the corner and into the hall where those heavenly golden doors lay waiting for me.

“Come, on, come on, dammit!” Stabbing at the button repeatedly, I glance over my shoulder again and again.

The elevator doors slide open as Wagner rounds the corner all the way down the hall.

“Rayne!” he screams.

The desperate sound reaches into my chest and squeezes my heart, stuttering the beats.

Frantic, I push the CLOSE button over and over again, jabbing it with such violence I’m sure to feel the pain later.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod.

Please…close! Close!

My voice is silent as I yell at the elevator doors. They begin to slide shut and I sag against the back wall of the box, letting out the breath I’d been holding

And then Wagner appears, looming right there.

With a yelp, I press against the back wall of the elevator.

His face is a mask of hatred and fury. He goes to stick a hand between the doors, but it’s too late. The doors slide shut.

With my heart in my throat, I ride the eight floors down to the parking garage. I know for a fact that, since only one elevator goes up to our offices, Wagner would have had to take the stairs. I have a decent head start, but I run anyway as soon as the elevator opens.

Straight to my car.

Police. I need to go to the police.

But the memory of a photo I saw on the wall in Wagner’s office every day for eight months flashes in my brain. It’s a picture of him and the chief of the Phoenix police department, smiling and shaking hands for the camera after Wagner’s money built the department a brand-new, state-of-the-art headquarters.

I’ve never thought that having a chief of police in your pocket was a real thing, but that picture sends me reeling. There’s no way I’m going there. Not until I know who I can trust.

Yanking the door open and thanking the heavens for key fobs, I start the thing and peel out of my spot. Pressing the car’s Bluetooth button, I order the vehicle to call my babysitter.

“Payton? Yeah, I’m leaving work now. I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to grab Decker, get in your car, and drive to the airport. Don’t hesitate, Payton. Do it now.”

I’ll mourn the loss of my belongings later. Maybe I can send for them.

But right now? I have to get out of Phoenix. Maybe forever. I know now that what I saw was important.

Maybe important enough for him to kill me.

I’m going to have to do the one thing I never wanted to do.

For the first time in nearly nine years, it’s time for my son and me to go home.