Marie shook her head, just managing to stopherself from rolling her eyes at her mom’s comment. “It’s fine, Mom. You go up. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?” She leaned forward and kissed her mom on the cheek.
“You do that.” With a wave, her mom disappeared into the depths of the building, just as her car arrived.
Marie walked over to the silver sedan, got in and hit the start ride in the app. A sudden jolt of the car stopped its forward momentum. A light-colored vehicle had pulled up in front of them blocking their exit. She expected the sensors to kick in and start reversing to enable them to have enough space to pull out and go around, but it didn’t, and they stayed where they were.
Not moving. Not doing anything.
What was going on?
The screen in front of her displayed a message advising they were blocked both front and back, and until that clears the car can’t move.
What the hell? Surely this thing can reverse a little and get out—like any normal driver would do.
No sooner had she finished the thought than the door opened. “You need to get out now!”
The voice was male, urgent and … somewhat familiar, but Marie was too shocked at his presence to try and figure out why she thought she recognized it.
“What? I don’t think so.”
The stranger leaned in, his eyes brown and intense. The angles of his face were harsh but handsome at the same time. “Now!” he said again and grabbed her arm, hauling her out of the car, just as a man appeared blocking their exit, a gun pointed directly at them.
A quick punch to the gut from the person holding her, was enough to bring the man holding the gun to his knees, gasping for air. Another assailant appeared, but stopped when he saw she wasn’t alone.
Around her people shouted, but the person holding her, ignored their cries and swept her back into the building her mom worked in and toward an elevator whose doors were beginning to close. She had no idea what happened to the men with guns. Quite frankly, she didn’t care. She was safe, well sort of.
The whole process from getting out of the car to where she was now, happened in thirty seconds. As the elevator whisked them up, Marie had a chance to look at the person who still held her arm, the grip strong, but not so that she couldn’t shake it off if she wanted to.
So why don’t you?
She ignored the voice and studied his profile. There was something about him that screamed she should know him. That she should recognize him. Apart from the brief moment in the car when he leaned in, she hadn’t really looked at him until now.She couldn’t place who he could be or where she may have met him. “Who are you?” she asked.
He turned to face her and didn’t say anything. Marie took in the color of his eyes. The tiny lines etched beside them that spoke of someone who’d seen and experienced a lot.
Suddenly another image of a man hit her. One with a scruffy beard and longer hair. In her mind she combined the two images and added bristles of grey and brown to the clean-shaven face. Add a few inches to the short back and sides of his current hairstyle, and the person in front of her was the same one who’d come to her rescue when she’d needed help all those months ago. “Samuel?”
Chapter Seven
Isaac knewhe should let go of Marie, but adrenaline still pumped through his body preventing him from loosening his fingers. He needed to keep this connection with her. To confirm that she was safe with him and hadn’t been taken by whoever had blocked the vehicle she’d been sitting in.
Nothing could contain his shock when he’d been heading into Alliez’s building and saw Marie talking to Yolanda, the firm’s receptionist. He hadn’t been able to move, something he wasn’t used to feeling. Even after she walked toward the car waiting at the curb, he still hadn’t lifted a foot to follow her.
What could he say to her?
Would she even recognize him? He wasn’t Samuel Rodrigo anymore. He was back to being himself, IsaacWarner, well the current version of him. He was still learning how to be himself.
Too many times he’d thought he’d seen her only to be wrong. He hadn’t been sure he could believe his eyes this time, that this woman was actually Marie. But his eyes hadn’t deceived him—it was her.
The second the two cars had blocked hers, preventing her exit, a sense of disaster had loomed over him. There had been something very wrong with the situation. Without thinking he’d raced over to her, getting her to safety was the only thing on his mind. His suspicions had been confirmed, and fortunately, he’d been able to delay them long enough for him and Marie to escape into the building. There was no way they’d try and follow, of that, Isaac was sure. Not with the crowd of people that had seen what had happened and were creating a scene. If they had any sense they’d be long gone. Part of him hoped they weren’t smart and were still lingering close to the building. It would make it far easier for him totalkto them once he got Marie to safety.
Why did they want her? That was the biggest unanswered question. One he needed the answer to now.
“Who were those men?” he demanded, even though he suspected she wouldn’t know.
“Why are you here?” she countered, and his lipstwitched at the sparks flying from her eyes. He’d seen that look before, when she’d faced down Alfredo Vargas back in San Carlion.
The elevator doors whispered apart, and he led them toward Alliez’s office, opening the door to Yolanda’s surprised expression. “Isaac? Marie? What's going on? Why are you back here?”
Obviously having enough of being manhandled, Marie shook her arm and he immediately let her go. “Mom, do you know this man who yanked me from a car and brought me here? And Isaac? Who’s Isaac? You’re Samuel, aren’t you?” She faced him, her brow furrowed in confusion.
