by Gow, Kailin
“We’re not going down to the lobby because Price probably has two more friends waiting for us there.” He shook his head. “And as for your second question, this isn’t really the sort of thing I want to involve the police in. I’ll take care of Price my way.”
The doors slid open and after pushing a number of buttons for various floors, he pulled me out into the hall. Aside from a couple who giggled their way to their door, the hall to the right was empty. To the left we saw a distant housecleaning cart with towels, linens and cleaning products.
“Come on.” Taking a firm grip of my hand Peter calmly walked in the opposite direction of the giggling couple and headed to the cart. Every now and again, he gazed into the many rooms that had their doors open awaiting the coming maid.
“Peter, what are you doing?”
“This one will do.”
We ducked into a room. The sheets had been pulled off and bundled up at the foot of the bed and a pile of wet towels partially blocked the entry way. Skirting around it, Peter headed straight to the balcony.
“We’re going to have to jump to that roof.”
I came up beside him and leaned over the railing to look for this roof we had to jump to. “Are you nuts?”
“You want to find yourself in Price’s grip again?”
I leaned over the railing again and looked at the distant roof. It was impossible. “I’m good at a lot of things, Peter, and I’ve always considered myself a pretty healthy and fit person, but… Damn, that’s far. And we’re, what, fifteen floors up?
“Oh,” a female voice called out from the doorway. “I’m sorry. I thought you had left the room.”
We turned to the blushing young maid who seemed perplexed by our presence in the room.
“Perfect timing, Miss. I’m wonder if you could help us.”
Flustered by Peter’s warm charm, the young maid nodded and was eager to do anything and everything to make him happy.
“In a fit of rage, my fiancé has thrown her very lovely diamond engagement ring over to that roof. Now that all is forgiven, she’d like to retrieve it.”
With a knowing grin, the maid immediately turned out of the room and led us down the hall to the linen closet at the end of the hall. She quickly popped open a small window and without waiting for instruction, Peter climbed through the window and glanced back at me.
“There’s a small ledge then an easy jump down. Come on.”
I followed him out the window and came beside him on the ledge, but what he considered an easy jump down was easily over ten feet down. Without hesitation, he jumped and turned to wait for me.
I just stood there, frozen.
“We don’t have all day, Laura.”
“I can’t.”
The maid poked her head out of the window and watched me.
“I’ll catch you, Laura. Now hurry and get down here.”
Stalling, I sat on the ledge and kicked my beautiful shoes off.
“Now, Laura.”
I heard the distant elevator chime and the doors slide open and the sheer panic that took over sent me off the ledge. While Peter did manage to soften my landing, my ankle turned and I let out a pained yelp.
“You okay?”
“Just get me out of here.”
We headed to the right where the hotel butted up against a smaller hotel and jumped down onto the roof, startling the three young bikini clad women who were taking in the sun all while listening to lively music.
“My apologies, ladies,” Peter said with an elegant nod of his head. “We’re just passing through.”
“Why hurry, handsome? Join the party.” The perky brunette immediately reached back to pull the ties of her bikini top and flung it aside. Her bare breasts dared him to try and peel his eyes away.
Much to her chagrin, he did just that. Thanks to the girls tanning up on the roof of the hotel, the rooftop door was open and we hurried in and ran down a few flights before finally getting into an elevator for the last remaining floors.
Once on the main floor, we slipped out the back, climbed over a three foot dividing wall and took the back entrance into the parking lot of our hotel.
“Perfect. No sign of anyone.”
Our perfect escape, however, was quickly put to the test when we arrived at Peter’s car. All four tires had been slashed.
“So much for perfection,” I moaned.
The elevator sounded just as a valet arrived to park a guest’s vehicle.
Peter hurried to the young man behind the wheel. “We need a car… fast.” He pulled out a wad of money and handed the young man two hundred dollar bills.
The valet’s eyes lit up and he willingly got out of the car and held the door open for Peter.
“We’ll get this car returned,” Peter told the Valet. “Get in,” Peter ordered me.
I ran around the car just as the elevator doors opened and the familiar and threatening trio emerged. Hopping into the car, I barely had time to close the door behind me then Peter was speeding away.
Passing in front of Price, I got a clear view of his face, filled with deadly fury and the determination to get revenge.
I knew… we’d gotten away from the hotel, but Price wasn’t through with us yet.
“You okay?” Peter said.
“I think my body is battling between shock and horror, and the thrill and excitement of it all.”
“Understandable. Adrenaline can be a powerful drug.”
“Yeah, well I’m sure once that has worn off, I’ll be mad as hell.”
Once far enough away from the hotel, he pulled into a quiet residential street and parked the car.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I imagine you’d like some answers.”
“Good deduction, counselor. In the past few hours I learned that you're the man I spent a torrid weekend with, that that weekend is my alibi in a murder investigation and that a man like Price doesn’t want me to have an alibi at all. He wants me to go down for a crime I didn’t commit. And, all that, in order to save his ex-lover and my best friend, Serena, from being accused of that crime.”
I turned to look squarely at Peter. “Now add to that the fact that you not only know Price Turnsby, but you were childhood buddies, and your uncle took him under his wing.”
He nodded. “I can see how learning of my relationship with Price could be confusing.”
I cocked a brow. “Hell, yeah.”
“It all seems so unbelievable, especially under these circumstances, but my uncle was Price’s father’s attorney. When Price’s father was murdered, Uncle Pete took him in. He spent that summer at my uncle’s house and then was sent to boarding school.”
“I assume you went to that same boarding school. And isn’t that where Sebastian went, too?”
Again, he nodded. “He did, but I was only there for a year. I returned to the States when my mother fell ill. Even when she passed away, I didn’t go back. I stayed here to be with my father and hardly saw my uncle at all after that. It’s only after I graduated from university that he came to visit my father’s firm. Price was with him.”
“A reunion of sorts.”
He smirked. “Price had retained his boyish good looks, but something in his eyes had died. Or maybe it was murder that burned in his eyes.”
I nodded my understanding. “I know he took his father’s death very hard.”
“He’d hired my uncle to help find his father’s murderer. At the time he still had some inheritance money left and he spent every last dime trying to find out what had really happened.”
“I don’t ever remember hearing about Price being penniless as an adult.”
“He wasn’t for long. Uncle Pete died before the case was resolved. He left everything to Price.”
“What?”
Solemn and a little angry, Peter nodded. “Everything.”
“But why?”
He shrugged. “Pity, I guess. Some think it could be the guilt of not solving his father’s murder. Or perhaps he’d truly g
rown fond of the orphaned little boy and thought of Price as his son.”
“So Price is almost a cousin to you.”
“That’s what makes everything so complicated. On the one hand he is very much considered family. My uncles admire him and my aunts adore him. But none of them know of the demons Price lives with. None of them have ever seen him angry and lashing out. They don’t know what he’s like when things don’t go his way… when he doesn’t get what he wants. They don’t realize just how talented he is when it comes to controlling people.”
“He really is a good actor, isn’t he?”
“Worthy of an Oscar. Only once, in all the years I’ve known him, have I seen him slip up… get angry in front of family. The brief fit of rage was quickly forgiven because of the rough childhood he’d had. All was forgotten before the dust had even settled. Of course the tons of money he subsequently made by shrewdly investing Uncle Pete’s inheritance didn’t hurt either. You know how money can sooth the deepest wounds.”
“I always thought Price had made his millions sleeping with wealthy women who willingly gave him their fortunes.”
Peter threw his head back and laughed. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that were true.”
“So now. What about me? Why is he so desperate to get me out of the picture?”
“It’s not so much you that he wants out of the picture as he wants our weekend together to become non-existent. If I can prove that we were together that weekend, the entire weekend, he doesn’t have a case against you. But if you don’t remember being with me, and there is no one else to collaborate my story…”
“Then he’ll come after me with everything he’s got.”
“With saving Serena as his objective, I’d have to say yes. He’ll give it everything he’s got.”
“I never would have thought he cared for Serena so much,” I mused.
“And how much do you care for Serena?”
“I love her and would do what I can to save her, but I don’t want to go to prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”
“Yet you insist on hiding the truth to protect Serena.”
“Truth is, I don’t really know what happened that day with Michael. Serena may have seen him that day, but that doesn’t mean she’s responsible for his death.”
“Then I think it’s time we found out what really happened that day.” He turned on the ignition. “We’re going to go find Serena.”
Chapter 4
As we drove to Sebastian’s penthouse, I tried to call Serena to let her know we were on our way. I didn’t want to just barge in and surprise her, especially during this virtual honeymoon stage of her romance with Sebastian.
“Hmm, she’s not picking up,” I said. “I’ll send her a text. Hopefully she’ll answer before we arrive.”
Twenty minutes later we pulled up to Sebastian’s building, but Serena had yet to respond to my text.
“Serena’s usually pretty quick about returning texts.”
“Maybe she’s in the shower or something.”
I shook my head. Twenty minutes; she should have had more than enough time to answer. “She knows I wouldn’t send a text if it wasn’t important. I never send frivolous texts. If I text her, it’s because I need to contact her.”
Peter killed the engine and looked at me. “What do you want to do?”
Biting my lower lip, I tried to come to the best decision. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s with Sebastian. Maybe they’re…”
He shook his head. “Sebastian is at the office. He’s been tied up with some major business meetings for the past few days.”
A sudden pain pounded through my chest and a heavy sense of foreboding pressed down on me. “We’d better go see what she’s up to then.”
Doing everything I could to calm the panic that was quickly taking over my entire body, I led the way into the building and took the elevator up. Jittery and nervous, I was instantly calmed when Peter took my hand in his and held it tight, his strength and confidence passing from his fingers to mine.
By the time the elevator doors opened, I was breathing normally again. Surely I was making a big fuss for nothing. She was probably taking a nap, or she’d gone to some appointment or other and wasn’t answering her phone.
“Down here,” I said as I turned to the right, but I was surprised to see a guard at Sebastian’s door. Slowing down, I tried to figure out what the guy was doing there.
“Why all the heavy duty security?” Peter whispered as we made our way to the door.
I shrugged. “It’s the first time I’ve seen him. I guess Sebastian wants to keep Serena safe.”
“Right. He’s probably feeling the weight of being the CEO of Sorensen Holdings. All the trappings of the wealthy.”
“And being on the cover of Fortune magazine didn’t help matters. If anyone didn’t know Sebastian Sorensen was a billionaire, one of the richest men in the world, they know now.”
“Yeah, every lunatic and greedy bastard is liable to make a target out of Serena or Sebastian.”
We hushed up as we came up to the burly guard with the sour grimace on his face. Judging by the size of him, the severe haircut and the rocky jaw, the guy looked like an ex-marine. In his mid to late thirties, he was in prime fighting form and had a definite don’t fuck with me aura.
“Hi,” I said, cheery and eager to see Serena. Hopefully my full on girly girl chirp would soften him up. “I’m Laura, Serena’s friend.”
He offered me a curt nod. “Miss Singleton is not seeing any visitors today.”
“Oh,” I said with a quick and dismissive wave at him. “I’m not a visitor. I’m a good friend. I’m sure she’ll want to see me.”
“Miss Singleton made it very clear; she is not to be disturbed… by anyone.”
“Is she feeling all right?” Suddenly edgy and on the defensive, I tried to find a quick argument that would give me access to Serena. “I just want to talk to her for a minute. I promise I won’t keep her long.”
With his hands gripped behind his back and his legs planted firmly before the door, he shook his head. “Come back tomorrow,” he offered. “She should be ready to take visitors then.”
“Is she even in there?” I ventured.
“She is. I’ll let her know you dropped by. Please come back tomorrow.”
Nodding, I took a step back then turned to Peter who shrugged. We turned to head back to the elevator, but something didn’t feel right. As we stood in front of the closed doors waiting for the elevator to arrive, Peter repeatedly looked down the hall to the guard and back at me.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“I don’t know. Something about this doesn’t seem right.”
A shiver traveled up and down my spine. So he saw it too. It wasn’t just my imagination. “You better believe something doesn’t feel right. Serena would never deny me access to her, at least not without an explanation.”
“And Sebastian would never hire such a goon.”
No, he wouldn’t.
Now what? Think, think, think fast.
“Damn it!” I shouted as I quickly brought my hand to my ear.
Startled, Peter looked at me.
“I lost my earring.”
Following along, Peter grinned and said, “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure, silly. I had two of these things this morning and now I only have one.” I deftly pulled my drop platinum and sapphire earring off and slipped it into my pocket.
I made my way back to the guard, my eyes darting across the floor in search of my missing earring. Uninterested in my loss, the guard simply glared at me as I approached him.
“I think I may have lost my earring here,” I said with forced feminine frenzy. “Please help me look. My boyfriend will kill me if I don’t find it.” I turned my head to the side to show him the remaining earring. “This is what it looks like. It’s a drop sapphire. I’m sure it cost him a fortune and I hate the thought of losing it. If I don’t find it, he�
��ll probably never give me anything again. You know how men are.”
He glanced down, but seemed otherwise unwilling to help me.
“It’s so tiny. It could’ve easily been gobbled up by this damn carpet… and just my luck, the carpet is blue,” I rattled on as I got on my knees and started combing the fibers with my fingernails. “Could it be a worse day… I think my luck is running out. My best friend won't see me, my boyfriend is mad because I brought him on this stupid trip and now I’ve lost a precious piece of jewelry.”
I tapped the guy’s ankle in a silent request he lift his foot. He grunted and moved over, even bending down to help look, although it may have been to look down my top instead of looking for my earring.
But he didn’t get to look for long. Peter stepped in behind him and when the guard straightened up, he received Peter’s clenched fist in the jaw. Staggering back, he leaned into the door, got his bearings and prepared to fight back, but never got the chance. Peter plowed into him with an upper cut quickly followed by a volley of strikes to the belly then he delivered a final blow smack in the face sending the big man to the floor.
“Perfect.” I reached for the doorknob only to find it locked. “Shit.” On my knees, I fumbled through the guard’s pocket and finally found the key.
“Wait,” Peter said.
Frowning I looked at him. Wait for what?
“There might be other men in there. Let me.” He took the key and slowly opened the door.
I quickly scanned Sebastian’s penthouse. I’d never seen it and was a little blown away by the pure luxury of his home. Undeniably masculine, the décor was refined and tasteful without being overly ostentatious.
“Wow,” I whispered. “Serena really hit the big time.”
Peter glanced at me. “I’m not exactly small potatoes myself, you know.”
Grinning, I tiptoed inside, heading to the left while he took the right. I found an empty kitchen and turned in time to see Peter open a door… the bedroom door.
“Peter,” I shouted as a man came up behind him, a vase held high and aimed at Peter’s head. “Duck!”
Peter ducked and the vase smashed into the wall beyond him, crashing to the floor in a dozen jagged pieces. Jumping up, Peter spun around and smashed the heel of his hand up the man’s nose. I had a momentary sense of sympathy for the man who fell back and hit the floor with a loud thud.
