Page 97 of Red Retaliation

“AH, THAT’S GOOD TIMING.” Liam rounds the corner as I bolt out of the lift.

“Have you seen her? Has Arianna passed you on the stairs?” I go to shove through the double doors to the conference suite, desperate to see that red dress Arianna wears, then stop. The chance of her coming up here is nil.

“Arianna?” Liam frowns, peering to the side of me like she’s somehow concealed behind me. “What the fuck are you talking about? Why would I see...”

“Forget it!” I lurch towards the staircase. I’m fucked if I’m wasting time going in that bastard lift again. “I’ve got to find her!”

“Wait! What the hell are you thinking?” Liam grabs my arm, his strength on a par with my own as he jerks me to a standstill. “I don’t know what’s going on, but...”

“Arianna squeezed through the lift doors as they shut, and I was left in the lift. I couldn’t stop her! Fuck! I must find her.”

“You can’t look for her now!” Liam exerts a harder grip of my arm, but I pull in the other direction, my panic spiraling. “I don’t know where the fuck she’s gone and I don’t care, I just know we’ve got to get back to the event. Likenow!”

“Fuck that!” I yank myself free from my brother’s grip. “She’s my wife! It’s not safe for her to be alone.”

Switching off from Liam shouting after me, I launch myself down the stairs, taking four or five steps at a time. There are so many storeys in thishotel it will take an age. I’ll probably break my fucking neck while I’m at it, but it’s quicker than the lift. I can’t rule out Arianna isn’t somewhere in the stairwells either. It’s only been a couple of minutes since she bolted, and in those stilettos and tight dress, she can’t move as fast as me. I must check everywhere.

Pure adrenaline pounds through me, my muscles screaming as I take staircase after staircase. She could even have gone back in the lift again or be hiding somewhere?

She might even have gone back to the room, but that’s probably thelastplace she’d go after...

“Fuck!” I hiss under my breath. How did she know to come to that room? I made sure she wasn’t given any room details. She shouldn’t have known which room was ours until later once the job was done. She shouldn’t have been there. She shouldn’t have seen a thing.

Someone told her, but who?

Rounding the corner of another half-landing, I glance at the sign for “Level 19” on the wall and throw myself down the next set of steps, sweat pouring down my brow. I’m fit, but notthisfit.For God’s sake, come on!

Upping my pace, my heart thunders and my stress rises. I don’t give a toss if Liam thinks my leaving looks suspicious and raises questions over Slater’s “suicide”. I’ve got enough clout with the police to be left alone. Even if I didn’t, I’m not leaving Arianna exposed to danger.

She belongs tome.

Whether the latest threat in the guise of a boxed heart was from the Bristonis, the Galvatores or some other random, it’s a threat all the same and a very recent one.

Word will be all over town that I’m hosting a staff event tonight, making it the perfect time for someone not within the fold to strike a target.

Arianna is out there, and I won’t leave her open to danger. She. Is. My.Wife.

The sign for “Level 3” spurs me on with a much-needed boost of energy, and I hurtle down the remaining staircases, overriding the searing burn in my legs.

But where to look? Arianna could still be in the hotel, yet I’m wasting time on a wild goose chase. But with the strength of her horror at what she witnessed, her disgust at me and her words, my instinct screams that she’s left the building.

Which makes everything ten times worse...

Where the hell I start looking, I’m not sure, but startingsomewhereisa good idea!

Bursting into the hotel reception, I ignore the startled looks from customers and staff alike as I make no effort to slow down. I burst through the double doors to the outside just as uniform enters.

“Sir, you...”

I lock eyes with a detective I know well enough to see he won’t be stupid enough to stop me, let alone ask questions and barge through them into the crowd outside.

Desperately scanning left to right amid the chaos, I head for the nearest patch of open street, hoping that because this way is clear, it’s the way Arianna took.

If I’m correct that she’s left the safety of me, my men, and the hotel, then I have to pray she’s taken this route I’m on now because I dare not think of the alternatives.

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