A sob. Choked off. Then, “You’ll know what it-it feels like to…lose it all…”
His blood chilled.
“Take care of my sister,” Sara gasped out. “Please!” Then she cried, “My apartment—”
The line went dead.
Trace tried to call her back. The phone just rang. Trace ditched his pajama pants and dressed in an instant. Then he ran for the door. Skye rushed after him, but he spun, throwing up his arms and blocking the elevator before she could come with him.
“I think it’s him,” he said, the words too quiet.
Skye’s eyes were wide. “What’s happening? I thought you were talking to Sara.”
“He has her.” That message had been too deliberate. “If I don’t get to her, she’ll be dead.” Hell, it might already be too late. Trace pushed the button on his phone that would connect him to Reese. “Stay here,” he told Skye as he backed into the elevator. “I’ve got to help her.”
Skye watched him with troubled eyes. The elevator doors began to close.
Reese answered on the second ring. “Yeah, boss, what’s up?”
Skye jumped into the elevator.
She wasn’t supposed to do that! “Get to Sara’s place,” Trace told Reese. “As fast as you can. I’m sending a full team behind you.” He glared at Skye.
She punched the button for the lobby.
“I think…I think the killer’s after Sara. Get there. Get there. I’m on my way.” He ended the call. “What the hell are you doing?” Trace asked, trying to choke back his fear and fury. “You can’t come. It’s too—”
“Dangerous? Yes, it sounds that way. Dangerous for Sara and for you, and there is no way on earth that I’m just going to sit in the penthouse while you rush off to face whatever is happening at her place.” She gave a firm nod. “Team, remember? That’s what we are. Now call more of your men and tell them to get their asses over there.”
The elevator doors opened.
Trace got more of his men on the line.
He and Skye rushed through the lobby. Henry hurried to open the door for them. The bright light hit them outside and—
“What’s the rush?” Alex demanded, hands on his hips as he whirled toward them. “Not making a run for it, are you, Weston?”
Before Trace could do more than snarl at the man, Skye told the cop, “His assistant just called. Trace thinks that she’s in danger.”
“Sara?”
Trace ended the call. Tried Sara’s line again. It just kept ringing. “The killer is at her apartment. I know he is. My men are on their way to her place and—”
Alex pointed to his car. “Get your asses in there, and let’s go.”
He didn’t have time to waste, and Trace knew a cop would get them there hell fast.
They got their asses in.
***
“I-I did what you wanted…” Sara’s whole body shook. “Please…let me go.”
Instead, he spun her around to face him. “What the hell was that about your sister?”
Claire. Claire would be alone if anything happened to her. Sara had been desperate when she’d made that plea. She’d promised her parents that she’d always look after her sister…
Trace will take care of Claire.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hold that against you.” He smiled. “Weston is coming. We have to give him something to find, don’t we?”
No, they didn’t. “Let me go. I won’t tell anyone. I swear, I won’t ever tell them who you are.”
His gaze searched hers. “You know, I think I believe you.” He pulled the knife away from her throat. “I didn’t originally intend to bring you into this, but you were so close to Weston. And I promise, it’s not personal.”
Fucking her hadn’t been personal?
Beneath Sara’s fear, anger boiled. The lamp on the end table was just four feet away. She could lunge for it. Throw it at him. Maybe gain enough time to make it to the bathroom. Then she could lock the door and stay barricaded inside until help came.
She knew Trace would get to her as fast as he could.
“I like you,” he told her, “and you were so useful.”
Her breath heaved out as she understood. She’d been useful because of her access to Trace—and Trace’s office. She was the only person at Weston Securities who had free access to Trace’s inner domain. She’d let him in just days before, when Trace had been out. She’d thought nothing of the encounter until now.
“Passwords, files…” He shrugged. “You gave me everything I needed. Thank you.”
He still had the knife. Sara knew, with utter certainty, he’s not going to let me go.
So she could die easily or she could fight.
Sara dove for the right, surging toward that lamp. Her fingers stretched. She almost had it. Almost—
His body collided with hers, and she fell to the floor. They hit the end table on their way down, and the impact sent the lamp crashing down with them.
“Goodbye, sweet Sara,” he whispered to her.
She opened her mouth to scream.
His left hand clamped over her lips and his right—his right drove the blade of the knife into her heart.
Chapter Eleven
They arrived on the scene silently. No siren. No screeching brakes. Skye knew that they were trying not to alert the killer who could be waiting with Sara.
Alex and Trace jumped from the car. Skye hurried right after them. Two more vehicles pulled up behind Alex’s car, braking to a quick stop. Black SUVs. Three men and two women in suits climbed from those vehicles and immediately headed toward Trace.
Trace’s agents.
“Cover the back stairs,” he said, pointing toward half of that new group. “Then you guys cover the front.”
The remaining agents nodded.
Trace glanced at Alex. “And I’m guessing you’re going to want to lead the charge inside.”
“With you right behind me, huh, Weston?”
“No,” a sharp voice called out. Skye turned to see Reese rushing toward them. “With us right behind you.”
Alex pulled out his gun. He nodded and took off.
Skye hesitated. What was—
Trace caught her fingers in his. “You came here, and I’m damn well not leaving you alone for a second. That SOB could be watching us right now, waiting for another attack.”