Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
“Where’s Sofia?” I ask, getting close enough that we can hear each other over the alarm.
“I don’t know,” she shouts back. “She was just there.”
I look back at her desk. Her laptop is still open and hasn’t been signed out. Her purse is gone, but her water bottle isn’t. She hasn’t been without it the last two weeks.
Rafe comes up behind me, already on his phone. “The security feed is down from floors twenty-seven through thirty-two, but the elevator banks are still showing. She isn’t in any of them.”
“What about the stairwells?”
“The east camera is out.”
Of course it is. Because that’s the stairwell she uses when the bathroom on our floor gets too busy.
“Rafe, clear everything from the lobby up,” I order. “I’m going to find Sofia.”
“Dom,” he argues, shaking his head.
“Take Tomasso with you,” I tell him. “He should help with something. I’ll join you as soon as I get her to a secure location.”
“She may already be in a secure location.”
I don’t respond to his argument. I push through the door into the east stairwell, gun low at my side. The alarm is even louder here, echoing on the brick walls, bouncing around constantly. The red lighting cuts the stairs into ugly strips.
“Sofia?” I call. “Sofia, are you in here?”
“Dominic?” I hear her voice. She has to be at least two floors down.
The relief is short-lived. I hear heavy footsteps below us. They aren’t going down. They’re coming up. That means they aren’t my men.
I round the next landing and find her halfway between floors, pressed against the wall, one hand gripping the rail. Her face is pale, her eyes wide, but she looks unhurt. I glance down and see two men climbing the stairs, only two landings below. Shit, they’re fast.
One of the men is faster than the other and reaches our landing first. When he sees Sofia, his hand slides inside his coat, but I’m faster. I lurch in front of her.
“Stay behind me,” I command.
For once, she doesn’t argue with me.
“Put your hands up,” I tell the man, cocking my gun and pointing it directly at his chest. His hands automatically go up.
“Higher,” I tell him through gritted teeth.
His partner joins him on the landing but stops short when he sees me standing there holding a gun. He puts his hands up too.
“Sorry, Mr. Vieri, we’re lost,” says the first man.
“No,” I answer him. “You’re not.”
He glances toward Sofia. I fire into the wall beside his head. The concrete cracks, dust exploding from the impact. Sofia lets out a sharp yelp.
“Keep your eyes on me,” I say. “Both of you.”
The stairwell door above us bangs open hard enough to hit the wall. Two of my men come through, weapons drawn. The moment they see me, they rush in to take the two men down.
“Are the lower levels clear?” I ask one of my men.
“We’re still working on it, sir,” he tells me.
“Good. Find every man who doesn’t belong in my building and hold them in the basement.”
“Yes, boss.”
Sofia goes completely still behind me. I know there’s no taking back what she’s just seen. No way to make it go away.
I turn to look at her. “Are you hurt?”
She stares at my gun then looks behind me where my men are roughing up the intruders. Then, she looks back at me.
“No,” she says, but it comes out raw.
Another door above us slams shut. Then one below does the same. I hear a hard mechanical click and freeze. The security system is locking the stairwell doors. Fuck. We’re trapped in here until someone resets it.
For a moment, the only sound is the alarm and Sofia’s uneven breathing. She takes a step away from me. I let her, even though it kills me.
“Do you always carry a gun?” she asks accusingly.
There’s no point in lying now.
“There’s always a gun for me to use,” I say, since I wasn’t technically carrying this one.
Her face tightens like the answer is physically hurting her.
“And those men downstairs, the ones with guns, they work for you?”
“Yes,” I tell her honestly.
“They work for you,” she says again. “But not Vieri Holdings.”
I nod. “That’s correct.”
She laughs, but there’s no humor in it.
“Sofia,” I try.
“No!” she says, putting her hand up and backing away from me. “Just give me a minute to process all of this.”
I nod and slide down against the wall. We might as well get comfortable. There’s no telling how long the lockdown will last. She sits too, but away from me, a few stairs down. She drops her head into her hands and groans.
Finally the alarm stops blaring, but the lights don’t come back and the doors don’t unlock. We’re left in a darkness and silence that’s quickly becoming unbearable. I don’t want to push her, but I can’t stand to see her like this.