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"What now?" I groaned, striding to the bathroom door and stepping into the hall.

Black smoke crept into the hallway from the direction of the ballroom just as terrified gala attendees spilled from the room. Pandemonium broke out as they pressed forward, desperate to escape the building. Pained screams tore through the air, coming from behind the crowd. The mob surged forward, shoving me hard against the bathroom door I'd just exited. I slammed my hip into the doorknob with a force I woulddefinitely feel for a while. I slid my hand along the wall beside me and tried to pin myself as close to it as possible while the gala guests pushed and flowed around me in their escape.

"Everyone please! Don't shove or push, move toward the exits calmly and we'll make sure everyone gets outside!" I yelled, trying to be heard above the screams and cacophony from the ballroom. I shoved and pushed against the crowd to make my way back. I needed to help make sure everyone got out. I didn't think I could live with myself if someone died during the first event I'd offered to host to honor my mother's passing… No, now wasn't the time for that.

I finally pushed my way up the hall so I could see into the ballroom. The voluminous fabrics that were artfully arranged along the ceiling and the walls with the string lights had been beautifully done. Now graceful drapes were ablaze, and the roaring inferno descended the walls. The heat was expected, but the sound was not. The closer I got to the room, the roaring as the fire ate the room's oxygen and consumed the delicate decor was nearly deafening. People were yelling as they scattered for the exits. Someone was going to die like this!

"Everyone! Please!" I tried, but my voice was swallowed by the panic and the noise. I was pushing through the crowd, trying to get into the ballroom.

"Honeybee!" My father called! I looked up to see him as he was making his way toward me. There was an earsplitting metallic cracking sound from somewhere above the flames in the ceiling. A moment later, a heavy light with part of the scaffolding attached was plummeting toward the ground toward him.

"Dad! Look out!" I screamed, stretching out my hand as if I could reach him through the crowd. He looked up, and it felt like everything slowed down. I watched as the hunk of glass and metal fell toward him. He strafed to the right as he turned in anattempt to avoid it. "DAD! NO!" He hadn't been fast enough! I had lost them both!

Suddenly, heavy arms were around my waist, pulling me away from the ballroom. Away from my dad! He needed me! He needed help! I punched at the arms and screamed for my dad.

"Shut up would'ya! Already gonna hav'ta ask for hazard pay for all da trouble to grab ya fine ass from dis fancy party." A gruff voice, like crunching gravel, said in my ear.

"Excuse me?!" I said, stunned.

"Now, don'tcha start figh'in. It'll only be worse for ya if ya do." I could almost hear the sneer as this unknown man pulled me through the crowd and away from the exit everyone was running toward. Panic gripped me as realization struck. I wasn't going to go missing like this. Someone would have seen something. I'd make damn sure of it! I started kicking and screaming, flailing my arms.

"No! I'm not going with you! You'll have to kill me if you want to take me anywhere willingly!PUT ME DOWN!" I flailed with everything I had. My blows on his arms felt like they were landing against steel. He barely seemed to notice until I threw my head back and smashed it against his nose. It allowed me to wiggle, and I brought my heel up to connect with his crotch. It wasn't a great hit, but the stilettos were hard, and it was enough to cause him to loosen his grip.

I thrashed around until he dropped me and started crawling away. The throngs of escaping people made it difficult for him to simply pick me back up. And then I felt it, a shoe on my back. And one on my arm. Someone else stepped on my hand. Fuck. Something was really determined that tonight would be my end in one way or another.

"Please, I'm down here… Someone–" I tried to grab onto people's legs as they ran or pull myself up. But I couldn't get the stability to do either. I would be crushed to death while a fireburned the building around me. I tried to look up, and someone kicked me in the back of the head hard enough for me to see stars. I couldn't blame them.

"Come on, this is no time to take a breather." A new voice, masculine but warmer and more urgent than the last. A pair of arms circled around my waist for the second time, and I was being pulled onto my feet. "Can't just leave you here. It'd be easier if you'd work with me, but I don't mind the fight either, Love."

I was still dizzy and stunned from the kick to my head, and I could feel my mind wanting to run, but it was like my limbs weren't getting the signals. I looked down at the hands that were clasped around my waist. A moth tattoo struck my attention.Remember it!If you make it out alive, you might need it!I started to feel myself come back around, my arms and legs responding to my thoughts. Yes!

"Not without a fight, you bastard!" I struck behind me with my elbow, and as I raised my leg to slam my heel into his knee, he dropped me. I fell onto one knee on the ground, but there was a break in the crowd. I needed to right myself and start running. I made my way around people as I ran; tears began flowing down my face as I broke into the night air. The sirens and approaching emergency lights were a welcome sight. I collapsed onto my knees as a policewoman draped an emergency blanket around my shoulders.

"You're alright now, honey. You're safe." She said, trying to soothe me.

"My dad! He's still in there! You have to send someone back for him!" I turned around, and she made a move to stop me.

"Honey, we're gonna get him. But you can't go back in there. We'll get him out." Her voice was calm and understanding but firm. "Now, can you tell me who you are?"

"I'm Victoria Bristol. I'm the hostess for the charity event."

"Are you hurt anywhere?" She asked gently.

"I… I don't know. I feel okay, but I got kicked in the head while I was getting away from someone who was trying to kidnap me."

"Wait. Excuse me? Did you say someone tried to kidnap you during the fire?" She looked stunned as she pulled a notepad from her pocket. "Rewind that back and tell me what you remember."

I started recounting the details of the night, telling her about how I'd been in the bathroom crying when the alarm bells began and about the man who'd grabbed me and what he said. I looked past her into the crowd that had gathered around the ambulances and the police as statements were given by people who'd gotten out largely unscathed. Movement by one of the nearby ambulances caught my attention. A tall blonde man rubbed the back of his neck, and I saw it… that moth tattoo.

"Him! He was the one who grabbed me!"

CHAPTER TWO

Az

"She set you up."

Rich's words had swirled around my brain for the last month. He couldn't tell me what he knew beyond that. The visitation booths and phones were all recorded, but he had told me enough. Today, I would find the depths of Victoria Bristol's plot to take me down. After six months of sitting in lock-up, waiting for the guys to find evidence to clear my name, I was finally being set free.