Alicia snorted. “Why notmydesk?”
“Fine. Your desk.” Danica kissed her cheek. “We’re still doing it my way.”
“Mm-hmm.” Alicia ate some crackers to settle her stomach. Her cell phone lit up with a confirmation from the driver that he was curbside. “I’ll see you at the office. I have to go.”
“Hey.” Danica stopped her one last time. “Last night. You okay?”
Her concern was duly noted, but Alicia really needed to get going. “Never better.”
“Promise?”
She rolled her eyes and walked away. “Like I have anything to gain from lying to you?”
“Only if you’re commanded to.”
“I’m not taking orders today, Danica.” Alicia’s hand lingered on the front door handle. “But I’ll be handing them out like candy on Halloween.”
“Shit, you’re so damn sexy.”
Alicia blew her a kiss before stepping out.
No time to walk back to the penthouse. Driving cut off five minutes that early in the morning.Wish I could drink some caffeine. Alicia wrote a reminder on her phone to call the doctor later that afternoon. If she wasn’t getting a positive blood test back about Moreau Heir #1 by tomorrow, she was hosting a riot.
The doorman was quick to let her in. The elevator operator got her up to the penthouse in record time. Dee stood in the reception area, surprised to see her charge in the elevator.
“Right. I’ll have to let you know when to meet me at the other apartment before work.” Alicia hurried past her bodyguard, keycard to the penthouse in hand. “Stay here a sec. I’ll be right back, and we’ll go to the office.”
The penthouse was still and quiet. Lissa wasn’t back from her weekend off, not that she had to be there until noon. This meant that Alicia had everything to herself at eight on a Monday morning. Plenty of opportunity to find those contracts both she and Mrs. Monique Warner signed the week before. Alicia took yet another look at her updated share portfolio to make sure it said what it needed to say.
“Where the hell is…” The words were almost out of her mouth when she spotted the folder on the bedroom dresser. Alicia opened her bag and slipped the folder inside.
She looked up. Someone else’s eyes met hers in the mirror.
Three months ago, Alicia Colbert would have had no idea what to do in a situation like this. Go ahead and die, one wouldsuppose. What else was a young woman to do when a guy wearing all black held a pistol to her head? Scream? Cry? Spend the last few seconds of her life begging to be spared? There was no being spared from this. Alicia knew right away that this had the stench of Russell Moreau all over it.
Alicia Colbert may not have known what to do, but Alicia Moreau was a different beast.
Bang!A bullet fired into the ceiling, plaster sprinkling down to the floor. Alicia’s hand remained tight around the hitman’s wrist, the grit of her teeth snarling in his face as the tall, skinny man did his best to overpower her and fire another bullet – this one into her skull.
“Help!” Alicia cried. “Dee!”
Her wife had thought ahead. There were panic buttons everywhere in the bedroom, and with any luck, the hitman had not disabled them. Only problem? The nearest one was on her jewelry box, and Alicia was a bit busy keeping this strong guy from killing her!
Alicia’s only hope was to knock the loaded gun from his hand.
“No hard feelings,” the hitman growled, twisting Alicia’s arm behind her back. He lifted the gun to her head again. “Mr. Moreau sends his apologies.”
He shouldn’t have wasted time saying anything. That gave Alicia the perfect moment to ram her elbow into his diaphragm.
Another bullet, this one grazing the dresser. Alicia slammed the panic button before diving through the bedroom door.
The hitman attempted to follow her. Unfortunately for him, a two-hundred-pound ex-Marine barreled through the front door, taser in hand.
“Get the fuck down!” Dee cried. Alicia didn’t know if that was directed at her or the hitman, but either way, she hugged the back of a living room couch and hoped for the best.
There were no more gunshots. Only the grunts of the bodyguard crunching the hitman beneath her body as they both fell to the ground.
“Get out!” Dee yelled at Alicia.
