He’d been even better looking in person. His smile a deadly weapon and his gaze a caress.
Had he been one of the people removed from the building on a stretcher? Or a body bag?
Her stomach roiled. She wrapped her arms tighter around her middle, willing the panic and nausea away.
Killian St. John’s family was a big-time investor in the Tremaine Corporation. Surely he’d be one of the first people rescued.
Pounding on her door drew her from her thoughts and the news. “Dammit, Dizzie! Open the door!”
“Alice?” Dizzie unlocked the door remotely. “It’s open.”
A dark-haired tornado blew through the door and flung herself onto the bed. Alice was Dizzie’s best friend and the most persistent person on the planet.
“Are you okay?” she said, her eyes wide.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Dizzie tried to sound normal. She was totally fine, if you ignored the trembling and the so-close-to-dying part of her evening.
“Dispatch said you weren’t answering calls. I’ve been worried sick.”
Dizzie leaned against the headboard. “Sorry. Things were…” She searched for words to describe the experience. “Overwhelming.”
“What happened?” Alice propped her chin on her hands and stared at Dizzie.
How to explain to someone who hadn’t been there? Dizzie didn’t want to look too closely at the events of the night. What she had seen on the screens was probably enough to give her nightmares.
“You had a job tonight?” Alice prodded her.
Dizzie nodded. Alice knew about the extra jobs she took on, though probably not exactly how many. Though she might. As Alice was part of Tremaine Security, her job was to know who was doing what and why in the company.
Opposites in practically every way, Dizzie and Alice had maintained their unlikely friendship even when corporate life had taken them in different directions. According to the aptitude test every kid in the corporate orphanage was given at thirteen, Alice was a rule-follower. Her high scores for that and critical thinking had netted her one of the “glamorous” jobs: security.
Dizzie had scored high on balance and problems with authority, abilities that had gotten her assigned as a courier. The job fit her perfectly and she’d never regretted the assignment.
“I had a delivery to the party,” Dizzie said. She had to tell someone.
Her friend took a deep breath. “The one in the news?”
“Yeah. I had a delivery for Ms. Tremaine.” A vision of Portia in her sparkling blue dress rose to mind. Dizzie squeezed her eyes shut and willed it away.
When she opened her eyes again, Alice was staring at her. Alice quickly blanked her expression and sprang off the bed. Trepidation crawled over Dizzie’s skin as her best friend transformed into Tremaine Security Alice.
“Don’t say another word.” Alice flicked her gaze toward a corner of the room. The corner Dizzie had always suspected held a surveillance camera.
Worry lay heavy in Dizzie’s gut as her best friend acknowledged the camera. Her fight or flight instinct kicked in, narrowing her focus and drowning out the shakes. “What’s going on, Alice?”
Dizzie pushed off the bed, careful not to make any sudden moves. She wanted to pace, to shout, to act instead of waiting for an answer. Her fingers curled into her palms, her nails digging in hard enough to hurt.
Alice shifted, slightly changing her angle to the camera.I’m sorry, she mouthed to Dizzie.
Sorry? What the hell for?
Dizzie got her answer when Alice raised her wrist to her mouth. “This is Gartner. I’ve got a possible lead on the explosion at the New Amsterdam Hotel.” She paused at whatever was being said in her earpiece.
“One of our couriers, sir.” Her gaze met Dizzie’s for a split second before she looked away. “On a routine delivery. She might have information we can use.”
Well, fuck. Her best friend had just turned her in.
Dizzie struggled to process what was happening. The whole evening was a nightmare she couldn’t escape.
