“Beau, is that your ex?” I ask, forcing her from her frenzied trance with just the mention of Ollie. She frowns at the screens. I don’t need confirmation. Especially when Ollie looks back, giving the camera his face. What the hell is he doing here?
I turn back to Amber.
But she’s gone.
What?
I swing around on the spot, searching for her. “Rose!” Beau yells, just as something connects with my side and knocks me to the rug. I land with a grunt and open my eyes, reaching behind me to get the gun. No gun.
I roll to my back and come face to face with the end of my gun. My hands instinctively come up in defense.
“Stand up,” Amber orders.
Heart pounding, I get to my feet and move back to Beau, who is still armed. A face-off. Amber, clearly stressed, her hands shaking where she’s holding the gun, takes a step back. I know Beau could take her out in a second, but… “Remember, Beau,” I say, reaching for her hand and forcing the gun down. “Remember why we’re here.”
“Why is that?” Amber asks. “Why you’re here, why is it? You’re pissed Tom left me all his money?” she asks Beau. “Or are you looking for this?” She holds up a key. Then she looks at me. “Or is it because Danny’s promised to look after me? Protect me? He was sending me to his private place somewhere.”
Bull, meet red flag.
Baseball bat, meet stomach.
Heart, meet fucking knife.
Remember why we’re here. Remember!
I breathe. I breathe so deeply, closing my eyes and chasing the red mist away before it ruins everything. And when I open them again, I feel so much calmer. I look Amber square in the eye.
Bang!
I gasp, Amber drops like lead, and I stare at her lifeless body on the cream rug, a pool of blood growing around her head. I look at Beau, stunned. She’s staring too. “Shit, Rose,” she whispers. The gun drops to the floor with a clang. Then the elevator sounds behind us and Beau snaps to life. “We have to go,” she says, claiming the gun from the rug and mine from Amber’s lifeless hand before pulling me to the door by the elevator. She yanks it open and we run down one flight of stairs before facing another door, this one with a panel. I hear Beau praying as she puts in the code and pulls the door. It opens, thank God it opens, and I’m dragged through and down the stairs. “Watch your feet,” Beau says.
When we reach the bottom, another code is required and as Beau enters it, someone flies through the door up the stairs. We both look up as Ollie looks over the balustrade down the stairwell. He sees us. His face is a picture of distress, alarm, and anger.
Then he’s flying down the stairs, and the sound of his boots hitting the concrete echoes off the walls. We run.
We run so fast.
35
JAMES
“She’s turned her phone off again.”
“Fuck!” I smash my palms on the steering wheel over and again, taking my frustration out on the car. I see Danny go to his phone in my peripheral vision to dial Rose again. I also see his jaw rolling when she obviously doesn’t answer. “The only reason my wife would go AWOL,” he seethes, taking his phone to his mouth and tapping it on his scar, “is because of her best mate, and her best mate is your girlfriend.”
“Fiancée,” I snap, yanking the steering wheel to the left, taking the corner fast.
“Girlfriend, fiancée, wife,” Danny growls. “Ball and fucking chain. Same fucking thing.” He smashes his fist into the leather. “Where the fuck are they?”
“The address where her phone was last detected,” Otto says from the back, working away on his laptop. “It’s a new development on South Beach. Guess who invested?”
I look up at the rearview mirror, words Beau spoke to me weeks ago coming back. He’s offered me an apartment in the new block he’s building. “How many apartments?”
“Including the penthouse, fifty.”
“Look up who owns the penthouse.” This is Tom Hayley we’re talking about. Egomaniac. If he’s going to own an apartment in a block, you bet your arse it’s going to be the best one. When Otto curses, I peek up at the mirror. “Well?” I ask. Come on, who is it? Surprise me.
“Tom Hayley,” Otto whispers, and I nod.
“For fuck’s sake.” Danny dials Rose again and curses again when she doesn’t answer. “We need to make it to Amber before Beau.”
“You’ve spent too much time with Brad.”
“Fuck off.”
Otto works his magic on the CCTV system, cutting all the cameras, before we all pile out and approach the elevator. He rips the keypad panel off the wall and plugs something in, pressing a few buttons. The elevator doors slide open. “Clear?” I ask.
“From what I can see.”
Translated, can’t be sure.
The tension is horrific as we travel up, and my eyes are constantly batting between Otto, Danny, and the floor counter. We all pull our weapons at the same time as the lift approaches the penthouse, jolting as it slows to a stop. I plaster my back to the wall with the others and wait until the doors are open before peeking around the edge.
Empty. Quiet. I lift a foot to step out.
“Wait,” Otto blurts, stilling me. After the last time we found ourselves in this situation, it’s no wonder I look down at my boots. Looking for the trip line.
“Are you kidding?” I ask quietly as he lowers and studies the space before us.
“Being cautious.” He hums and rises to his feet. “We’re clear.”
I place my foot down and walk slowly through the penthouse, past a study on my right, the screens on the wall black. I come to a glass coffee table and gaze around. “There’s no one here,” I say over my shoulder, as I tread across the endless parquet flooring, my boots moving gently.
Danny moves up the stairs to the mezzanine and checks, and Otto goes out onto the terrace.
“Nothing,” they say in unison.
“So where the fuck have they gone?” I ask myself quietly, checking once more for signs of any life. There’s nothing. It looks like the place was finished and no one’s ever moved in.
36
BEAU
With my hands wrapped around the hot mug, I stare down into the coffee, still shocked, still blank, so I can only imagine how Rose is feeling. “What was Ollie doing there, Beau?” she asks, breaking the endless silence. “She said she was expecting someone. Him?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, looking up and around the backstreet café, flexing my stiff neck. “I used to come here with Nath.” I smile sadly. “Most of the time we sat on the pavement outside because”—I shrug—“well, you know.” It’s getting dark now, so all of the tables and chairs have been brought inside ready for closing. We’re the last in here.
Rose looks around. “It feels weird.”
“What does?”
She lifts her cup to her lips and has some tea. “Sitting in a café in public having a cup of tea. Just like any normal person would.” Rose’s phone rings and we both stare down at it on the table. “He’ll definitely have Otto installing a tracker on my phone now.”