I burst through, and the brightness of the light made me blink. Patterned, rich red carpet. The clink of machines. Casino. I was on one of the casino floors. Fuck, I needed to hide. Any second, not only would Cillian be after me, but he could easily sic his security on me. I’d be crushed by them in a hot second.
My vision adjusted enough to note the balcony to my right, and to my left, farther down, the glare of a light and the sheen of the golden doors of an elevator.
My legs moved unbidden.
Gasps sounded around me as I rushed toward the elevators at top speed. The people blurred as I passed, since I was running too fast to absorb details. Guaranteed, at any moment I’d be garnering attention from security, but whether I evaded them depended on how quickly I could get inside the elevator. Once there, I wasn’t sure where I’d go, but my window of escape narrowed before my eyes.
I skidded to a halt right in front of the elevator doors and slapped the button.
Shouts, chatter, and theclink,clink,clinkof slot machines echoed behind me, but I didn’t dare turn around. Once I saw my odds, I’d freeze. My forehead dripped sweat, my throat bone-dry, and my shoulders heaved. My whole body begged me to keep running, to surge forward, but I waited for the elevator.
I’d fucked up. I’d fucked up so badly.
But all I could do now was run.
Those metal doors opened up, and I dove inside.
A few people were already in there, one guy exiting, but I smashed the “close door” button as fast as possible, then the ground-floor one. I pressed myself against the wall, casting a quick glance at the other people in the elevator—two womenabout my age wearing sparkly sheath dresses and an older guy in a suit, who all stared at me. I returned my gaze to what floor we were on—the seventh.
Maybe ground floor wasn’t the place to exit. Cillian might be expecting that. Especially if he had alerted the guards.
The second floor had exits out to the street.
I chewed on my lower lip, hard enough that I tasted copper. Sweat was pasted on my forehead, my arms, everywhere, and the stares of the other people in the elevator bored into me, but if this was the worst they’d seen in this stretch of Peregrine City, they clearly hadn’t been around here long enough. My breathing hadn’t evened, still shaky as the elevator dropped floor after floor.
It stopped on the fourth floor, and I sucked in a breath. Fuck it.
When the doors started to creak open, I pressed “door close” and jammed the second-floor button this time. If security awaited me on the other side, I couldn’t risk letting them in. No one in the elevator argued my decision, but they glued themselves to the other side, watching me with wide eyes. Right, away from the maniac.
Third floor.Ding.
Second floor.
It was go time.
The elevator doors slid open, and I slipped out and swept to the side of the main atrium as fast as possible. I didn’t want to break into a run on this floor, didn’t want to attract any attention. On the far side of the room here, security moved in a sweep across the floor. They were thorough and quick-footed. I needed to escape, and fast.
To my right lay a corridor that ran adjacent to the main floor in the center. I needed to find a side exit. They’d be expecting me to head to the front of the casino.
I darted down the corridor, walking at a quick clip but not quick enough to draw immediate attention. Granted, with my wild hair, heaving shoulders, and the sweat pasted across my skin, I was a neon-red warning sign.
The security guards would spot me in seconds.
People strolled by at a leisurely pace, couples and groups of friends murmuring to each other as they enjoyed their time at the Spires. I glanced behind me. No security in sight. Yet. My calves squeezed tight, begging me to bolt. My heart hammered so hard I could hear it in my ears, the sound deafening. God, I was so close.
So close to leaving the Spires.
The corridor opened to the left, and I made the turn. A few yards away lay a glass door. My pulse pounded. Could that be an exit? A way out of here?
A shout sounded from the hallway I’d traversed, and my blood turned to ice.
Someone must’ve spotted me.
I tossed away any attempts at blending in and bolted for the door. The second I neared, I skidded to a halt, slamming into the cool glass. Beyond the door lay a busy street—lay my freedom.Thump,thump,thump. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest.
I glanced back. Security hadn’t emerged yet, but those pounding footsteps grew louder, mingling with my heartbeat.
I yanked the door open and vaulted outside.
