Chapter Twenty-Four
“Where the hell is she, Chandler?”
Turning, Stephen glanced behind him. He turned his headset back on, which he’d silenced before Kat had stepped out into the hallway. He couldn’t deal with Ethan right now, not when he wanted to throttle the man. Because no matter what had just happened between him and Kat, the tormented look was back in her eyes seconds after she’d orgasmed around his fingers.
Because of the fucking man standing in front of him.
“She went to the bathroom,” Stephen finally answered as he glanced down at his phone for the third time.
“That was twenty minutes ago,” Ethan hissed, heading out toward the hallway, leaving Stephen to follow, which had him clenching his teeth in annoyance.
Ten minutes, Stephen silently corrected. Double the amount of time he’d given her. He should have chased after her. “Give her some space.”
Ethan turned then, his face contorted with anger. “What the hell did you do to her this time?”
Ethan probably wouldn’t appreciate the playback, so even though it killed him, Stephen kept his mouth shut. Because had the tables been turned, fancy party or not, he’d be hard pressed not to lay Ethan out had their roles been reversed.
“I asked you a question.”
“I don’t think you really want to do this here and now, Ethan. Let it go. Instead, why don’t you call her.” Because God knew, she wasn’t answering his fucking calls. Which meant she was probably pissed. Not that Stephen could blame her. He wasn’t particularly proud of his actions right now. In fact, he felt like a complete asshole. He owed her an apology, impossible now that Ethan was here.
Ethan took his phone out of his pocket. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Protecting her.”
“From who?”
From you. All fucking night he’d had to watch them. Kat in Ethan’s arms, letting him touch her, kiss her. Hearing her tell another man she loved him.
And still not knowing whether Kat was about to add a qualification to her statement, because hell, he wanted to know just as badly as Ethan. Had it sounded like there was going to be a but? Or was that just wishful thinking on his part?
He could still smell Kat’s perfume on him, and he swore if he concentrated enough, could still smell her arousal. Jesus, he wanted her. Wished he could just take her away from here. Take her far, far away from Ethan until any feelings she had for the man were obliviated.
“I asked you who you’re protecting her from.”
Ethan’s voice was hard, attesting to his growing anger. Stephen glanced over at him again. “I’m not sure,” he admitted.
Stephen turned as Ethan brought the phone to his ear, watching as two men walked into the hallway from the bar, the senator in tow. And he had a flash of memory at seeing them step off the elevator just as he’d come out into the hallway. He wasn’t sure where the feeling came from, if it was the carefully blank expression on the senator’s face, but something had Stephen going on full alert.
“Is she answering?” he asked Ethan, never taking his eyes from the bodyguards. Beside him, he felt rather than saw Ethan move closer to where Stephen stood.
“Straight to voicemail,” Ethan murmured and when Stephen glanced at him, he saw Ethan watching the entourage just as closely.
“Seal the building.”
Fuck. Stephen and Ethan ran for the fire door as soon as the elevator’s doors slid closed. The command from the senator had been quietly issued, but it was an explosion inside Stephen’s head.
“Kat’s missing,” he said quietly in his earpiece, alerting Alex and Xavier. “And the senator just had the building sealed.” To Ethan, he said, “Take the second floor. I’ll take the first. Check the bathrooms. Call the second you find her.”
“Likewise.”
Racing down the stairs, Ethan banged the second-floor door open, the sound echoing through the stairwell as Stephen continued down to the first floor. He had to force himself to slow, the lobby filled with people, spillover from the ballroom. He saw the sign for the restroom, and raced as fast as he dared without causing a scene, which he ruined seconds later as he opened the door to the women’s restroom, nearly bowling over the woman that came out.
“Anybody else in there? Red dress?”
“No. Just—”
Stephen was racing down the hallway before the woman could finish her sentence. But he didn’t know where to look next, opening every closed door along the way.
He ran into the ballroom, the crowd much older than the crowd upstairs, the music softer. A few heads turned, forcing Stephen to slow his pace, but his eyes never stopped moving, scanning the crowd, his gaze landing on every woman wearing red, none of them Kat.
“You see a woman with a red dress?”
It became his mantra, asking everybody he passed until finally, finally somebody answered.
“Two women, one wearing red, one wearing blue. Conference room down the hall—”
Stephen ran relief surging through him. “She’s with Genevieve Harrington,” Stephen relayed for his brothers. “Conference room—”
“Oh fuck.”
He stopped dead, terror rising sharp and fast. The all too familiar metallic scent permeating the small conference room. Blood splatter coated the walls, thick ribbons of crimson dripping to the floor, where it met with a growing red pool. One sole body in the room, a knife embedded in his jugular vein.
***
“Move!” Kat hissed, pushing Genevieve forward as terror surged through her veins. Racing down the stairs, she shoved the emergency door open. An alley. A dark alley. No choice. It was this or be trapped in the stairwell. Grabbing Genevieve’s arm, Kat pulled her toward the right, praying she was making the right decision, trying not to relive the horror of the moment when the two men had burst into the conference room, guns drawn, Genevieve Harrington their obvious target.
And her complete shock when the senator’s elegant, privileged daughter had pulled a knife—
They only made it ten steps before the door crashed open again. Way too fast, no time to get away. The gunshot blasted through the night. Genevieve screamed as Kat braced for impact, but the bullet never hit.
“Go, go— Shit!” Kat caught Genevieve’s arm just before she fell, yanking her upright. Had she been hit? There was no time to find out, she was alive. For now that was enough.
Another ten feet, they rounded the corner, Kat nearly screaming in dismay. Another damn alley, the street thirty feet away. Oh God, they’d never make it. Kat ran as fast as she could, Genevieve right behind her. Twenty feet…
Not an alley, Kath thought with relief. Side road, leading to a parking garage. She ran flat out for the entrance, stopping short as another man materialized in front of them, gun raised, pointed straight at them.
Trapped. Shit.
“Help!” Genevieve screamed.
Damn it! Kat threw herself on the ground, the breath whooshing out of her lungs as Genevieve landed on top of her. Two blasts, the sound deafening, as the bullets flew over their heads. A split second later, a man’s agonizing scream roaring through the street as he was hit. Which man? Did it matter?
Scrambling to her feet, Kat twisted around—
“Both down,” Genevieve hissed. “Go!”
Kat scrambled toward the garage entrance, losing precious seconds as she bent down, taking the second man’s gun. A security guard. Crap. Whipping around, she aimed it at the man who’d been chasing them, but he was still down, his low moans telling her he wasn’t dead. Frantically taking in the layout, she scanned the area for an escape.
There. An elevator. Too risky. But the opening in the corner leading back upstairs into the hotel…
Cursing their heels echoing on the cement floor, Kat rushed behind a big SUV. Hands shaking, she bent, taking off her shoes as Genevieve did the same. Silently moving forward, they stayed low, crouching behind the overpacked cars.
A lone man burst from the stairwell’s opening. Genevieve let out a scream before abruptly cutting it off as she ran in the opposite direction. Stifling her own scream, Kat slunk further into the shadows away from opening, hiding behind a massive cement beam for protection as she scanned the garage for Genevieve. She must have dropped to the ground, because Kat couldn’t see her.
Then silence. Scarier than gunfire. The sound of her breathing was way too loud as it rushed in and out of her lungs, whooshed in her ears. Careful not to make a sound, Kat gripped the gun with both hands, raising it close to her chest, ready to shoot as the silence stretched on.
“Genevieve, honey? It’s okay to come out. I promise you’re safe.”
Kat would know that voice anywhere after hearing it twice in the past week. Her knees went weak with relief. Slowly rising from the floor, Kat slid up the beam, carefully peering around the corner. Senator Harrington stood in the middle of the garage, slowly turning around, scanning for Genevieve as he continued to coax her out of hiding.
“Dad?”
Harrington turned. Kat ducked back behind the beam, peering around the other side, watching as Genevieve came into view. And then she was running, choking on her sobs as she rushed toward her father.
But she never made it.
“Nooooo!”
He came out of nowhere. Genevieve’s ear-piercing scream echoed through the garage as she was captured from behind, the unknown assailant shoving a gun against her temple. “Move and she dies.”
Senator Harrington froze, inhaling sharply, his shock obvious as he stared at the man. “Matthew?”
Matthew? Kat glanced at the gunman, but she didn’t recognize him, didn’t know who he was. Slowly, he pulled Genevieve backward, inching toward the garage entrance.
“Matthew?” Harrington repeated. And then he was running toward them, stopping short when Matthew lifted his arm, the gunshot echoing through the garage.
“Jesus, son, what the hell are you doing?”
“I am not your son. One more step, I’ll kill her,” Matthew threatened.
“You won’t,” Senator Harrington said with certainty. But Kat wasn’t certain. She inched further to the right, just enough to free her arms, the gun gripped in her hands. Under any other circumstances she’d make the shot. But if Genevieve moved…
Too risky.
“You willing to bet her life on that?” Matthew laughed without humor, pressing a button on his key fob, then the resulting beep of locks disengaging. Glancing at the SUV as the tail-lights blinked, Kat debated whether to shoot out the tires. But neither man seemed to know she was there and it would give away her location. Matthew wrapped an arm around Genevieve’s waist, pulling her tight against him as Genevieve whimpered. “After what you did?”
“I did nothing—”
“There’s no better revenge.”
“Revenge?” Harrington scoffed, finally coming into view as he followed his daughter. “For what? Cutting you off? I wanted you to get clean!”
“Don’t fucking play dumb with me. You know that’s not what this is about.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Kat caught another shadow stepping away from the wall. Oh, God. How long had he been there? Kat swung her gun toward him, holding for a beat, then another.
Friend or foe?
“Genevieve has nothing to do with this. Let her go,” Harrington commanded, as if he held the power even though it was Matthew who held the gun. “I’ll give you whatever it is you want when she’s safe.”
“Too late, old man,” Matthew taunted, inching closer to the SUV.
Tires squealed outside the garage, seconds later gunfire erupted. Kat’s heart stopped, her scream barely contained as the senator fell, his loud roar echoing through the garage. Plastering her body flat against the concrete column, she sank to the floor, not knowing which direction to turn.
Oh, God. How many were there? Had they seen her? She tried to count how many directions the shots were coming from, but her head was spinning, fear clawing at her insides. Biting her lip, she choked back her terror, desperately trying to get her breathing under control, frantically looking for a place to hide, dismissing hiding underneath a car, not wanting to be trapped.
He came out of nowhere.
She’d never heard him come up behind her, never felt a movement of air alerting her to the presence of another. With one hand, he grabbed the gun, disarming her in one swift move before wrapping his hand around her mouth before the scream could escape, dragging her toward the opening the senator had come through. “Got her.”
And Kat felt her legs buckle in relief.
“Unlawful possession of a weapon, Katie,” Alex hissed in her ear as he pulled her toward the alcove she’d been aiming for earlier, but she didn’t stop struggling. Genevieve was out there, about to be kidnapped, the senator shot, possibly killed. She grunted under the hand covering her mouth, desperately trying to dislodge it. He was too powerful.
Shutting the heavy metal door to the garage, he half carried, half pulled her toward the stairs, his hand finally leaving her mouth. “You’re making it easier and easier to add charges.”
The second he let her go, she whirled on him, shoving his chest, pushing him back toward the door. “We need to save her! They have Genevieve Harrington!”
“The senator’s men have her,” he growled. “Now get your ass up the stairs.”
But Kat was beyond hearing him, trying to shove him aside so she could get to Genevieve, until Alex pulled her back, roughly turning her to face him. “She’s safe!” he hissed. “You wanna go back out there, get yourself shot again?” He smirked, stepping aside. “Go right ahead. Give me another opportunity to cop a feel.”
Kat felt her face flush, her mouth hanging open for a second at his entirely inappropriate remark.
“Didn’t think so. Now move!”
Turning, she raced up the stairs with no idea where they were going, praying Alex was telling her the truth about Genevieve. She trusted him with her life, but she wouldn’t put it past him to lie to get her out of harm’s way. Before she could take the next flight of stairs, he pulled her through another door. Another damn alley, she thought. And as she glanced around, she realized it was the same alley she and Genevieve had run from what seemed hours ago now. Instead of pulling her to the right, they went left. He stopped abruptly and she ran into him, gripping him around his waist before she fell. He glanced backed at her, giving her another infuriating smirk.
She dropped her hand. “Obviously your touch did nothing for me if I remained unconscious.”
Alex laughed, which only further irritated her. “You didn’t wake up when Stephen touched you either.”
Kat smiled at him, an entirely sexy smile that had Alex on alert if the stiffening of his body was anything to go by. “Both of you? At the same time?” she asked, her voice a breathy, sexy whisper as she slowly closed a few spaces between them. “And I missed it?” Tables turned, Alex was now speechless. Yeah, she remembered how to beat him at his own game. “Maybe we could re-enact—”
“Finish that sentence, Kat,” Stephen growled from behind her, pulling her into his body. “And I swear you won’t be able to sit for a week.” Wholly embarrassed, this time she felt her entire body flush. Alex’s eyes sparkled with laughter. The ass had probably seen Stephen coming up behind her. Warning him with a glare, she whirled on Stephen, her retort dying on her lips when she saw the wickedly sexy smile, the teasing glint.
And in that moment, she fell the rest of the way. Hard.
But then the glint turned to anger as if it was never there. “You promised. No going off alone,” Stephen hissed. But she barely heard his words. He looked formidable. Sounded formidable, anger lacing every sharply spoken word.
“I—”
“Save it.”
She’d forgotten this side of him. Incredibly sexy, but scary as hell. Which normally would spark her own anger. But before she could open her mouth again, he cut her off.
“Did they see you?”
Kat breathed in, counted to ten before slowly letting it out.
“Not only did they see her. She came within inches of getting shot. Again.”
Kat breathed out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Thank. You. Alex,” she gritted out.
Stephen cut her a glance. “Later,” he warned, gripping her arm, his touch surprisingly gentle even though she could nearly see him trembling with rage. More likely fear, she silently corrected.
“Sorry.”
“You will be.” He softened those words with another wicked smile that had her knees going weak. Beyond the alley, a long, sleek car pulled up. Sandwiched between Alex and Stephen, they ran toward it, the door flying open when they were only steps away.
As soon as she ducked in, Ethan grabbed her by the waist, pulling her into the car, wrapping his arms around her, burying her head against his chest. “Jesus, Kat.”
“I’m okay,” Kat squeaked, the pressure of his arms around her way too tight. And she had the passing thought that at least she didn’t have to worry about looking freshly fucked anymore.
“What the hell happened?” Ethan asked.
She shoved at Ethan’s chest until he loosened his grip, avoiding Stephen, though it was impossible not to feel the tension emanating off him, filling the limo that had seemed so much larger on the drive up. But Ethan wouldn’t let her go, not entirely, keeping her plastered against his side.
“Where’s Xavier,” Stephen asked, settling on her other side, his leg pressing against hers.
“Handling things,” Alex evaded as he climbed into the limo with them, slamming the door behind him. He sat across from them and Kat tried to move, knowing she’d be safer sharing the seat with him. There was no way in hell she wanted to spend the next hour sandwiched between Ethan and Stephen.
Again.
But neither would let her go. Looking out the rear window, she did her best to ignore them, but couldn’t quite keep her heart from pounding, so loud, she thought it would be impossible for them not to hear it.
It was going to be a long drive home.
“I asked you what happened, Kat,” Ethan said, his annoyance growing. But she wasn’t sure what happened. One second, she and Genevieve were wrapping things up and the next…
Jesus. As she came down from the adrenalin rush, her head began to pound, her body began to tremble. She closed her eyes, breathing deep, replaying everything, praying Genevieve really was safe.
“Somebody better fucking answer me! And I mean right fucking now.”
“Ethan!” Kat’s gaze immediately whipped toward his, shock rolling through her. Never had she heard that tone from him, even that last time, in the hospital, he hadn’t sounded this pissed.
“Don’t ‘Ethan’ me, Kat,” he growled, glaring at her, looking at her in a way he never had before. And she wondered if he knew. Or suspected. “I want to know what happened, so you’d better start explaining, or so help me God, you won’t like the consequences.”
Nice. Humiliation and rage warred inside her. First, for him to talk like that and as an added bonus, treating her like a child in front of Stephen and Alex? He sounded like…Stephen.
At least she expected it from him. But Ethan? Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the other two. No help there. Alex was waiting for an explanation. And Stephen…well, he looked just as pissed as Ethan, that wickedly sexy smile he’d given her in the alley long gone.
“I was meeting with Genevieve—”
“In the conference room?” Stephen cut in, his body all but vibrating with tension. She glanced up at him, unable to stop herself from entwining her fingers with his. He’d seen the whole gruesome scene. She couldn’t imagine the torment that must have caused him. He squeezed her hand, breathing a little easier.
“Yes. Two men burst into the room. She was the target, not me.”
“There was only one by the time I got there.”
“Genevieve pulled a knife, threw it at the first guy. I don’t know where she got it. The cameraman, I don’t remember his name, he swung his camera at the second man’s head. Genevieve and I…we ran. Came out in the same alley we were in,” she said to Alex, then told the three of them everything else that happened, the security guard getting shot, the showdown between the senator and Matthew. She turned to Alex again. She paused. “Were you telling the truth? Genevieve’s safe?”
“Yes. The senator’s men have her,” Alex answered. “Do you know what they wanted?” Alex asked.
“Other than to kidnap her?” Kat shook her head. “No. What about the senator?”
“He’s fine. Health wise, anyway.”
Kat breathed a sigh of relief. The senator must have dropped to the ground. Wasn’t shot, like she’d assumed. Thank God. And now that she was away from the danger, she replayed the senator and Matthew’s conversation in her head, trying to make sense of it, but Alex’s next question pulled her from her thoughts.
“You said Genevieve threw a knife?”