She ran right into me, almost tipping backward. My hands on her thin arms prevented her from falling. Breathing heavily, she struggled until I ordered her to stop, using the one voice I figured would do the trick.
The dormant Dom.
It worked. Her hands on my chest, she froze. I couldn’t see much of her features, given her hair had come loose and cascaded down over her back and face, but I felt the panic, heard the hard grunt of her breaths, signaling an unknown terror. Then I moved her hair aside, and one blue eye, dilated with fear, searched my face, sizing me. Before I could ask if she was all right, she pushed against my chest and raced off. I ran behind her, stopping to pick up the shoe that slipped off her feet.
By the time I reached the door, the girl had disappeared. I stood on the stairway leading out of the building and searched the parking lot. Nothing stirred.
“Want to explain how you suddenly sprouted wings?” Wilkes grunted behind me.
My smile light, I looked at him over my shoulder. Not impressed that I’d given his usual vigilance the slip, my bodyguard, who’d stood on the outskirts of the room, shook his head with a snort.
“Have you ever seen something or rather someone for the first time, and your heart practically crept out of your chest wanting to go after that person,” I asked.
Confused, he frowned. “Can’t say I have, sir.”
“Neither have I, Wilkes. Not until tonight, that is.” I looked down at the shoe in my hand. It was a simple gold strapped heel, yet the way the girl walked in them, it was like she’d never worn a heel before. She seemed uncomfortable, unnatural.
“I’m assuming you’re speaking about the person whose foot that shoe fits?”
Sighing, I turned around to face him. “I don’t know who she is or why she was here, but I have never felt or seen fear like hers, nor have I witnessed such a cry for help like the one I saw in just one of her eyes.”
Wilkes chewed his bottom lip, his eyes automatically shifting into alert mode, scanning the car park. “You think she was brought here by force? Kidnapped, perhaps?”
“Honestly.” I let out a soft laugh. “I could just be barking up the wrong tree but—”
“You’re worried that if you do nothing, you’ll hold yourself liable if you hear anything to the contrary.” The man’s perception was uncanny.
I smiled. “Either you know me too well, or you’re damn good at your job.”
His smile was nondescript, a distinct way of telling people he knew nothing. “What do you plan to do, sir?” He followed me back into the foyer.
Just as we entered, I spotted Andrew Turner chatting to another man I didn’t recognize. “I believe he’s the person who’s going to give me the answers I need.”
Wilkes followed my line of sight. “As the mayor, I thought he’d be more inconspicuous at an event like this.”
“He’s the host.”
Nothing much surprised this hulk of a man next to me. If it did, he didn’t show it. However, my disclosure had him cursing under his breath. “Why would he have the answers you seek?”
“Let’s call it a hunch,” I replied, keeping my gaze on Andrew. After watching his interaction with the girl and the other woman, every contentious bone in my body argued my decision not to get involved. I listened to it and held out the shoe to my bodyguard. “Find me that girl, Wilkes. Kick every god damned door down across Jersey, it that’s what it takes.”
He took the shoe and did a slow three-sixty of the room, earning my frown. “Will you be fine on your own for a bit?” He tipped his chin toward the ceiling corners. “I want to find out if security picked up anything on the cameras and check in with the guards at the gate.”
“Good thinking. Go,” I agreed, catching Rhett’s wave to join them.
