Paige stares at me wide-eyed and I try my hardest to school my features into something resembling calm, but it’s hard when my pulse is hammering wildly.
In the distance, out of view, I hear male voices barking commands and more gunshots. Each one makes me jerk out of my skin. I pull Paige close and cover her ears as best I can.
“What’s happening?” she whispers.
“I don’t know,” I murmur.
Augusto bends his head around the doorway. “Okay, come this way. Stay close to me.”
I take Paige’s hand and follow Augusto into the corridor. Staying snug to the wall, we creep quietly down toward the dining room. I dare not breathe in case it alerts someone to our presence.
Another gunshot shakes the walls and I grip Paige’s hand even tighter.
“My men are going to distract the other guests so we can get outside,” Augusto whispers low. “There’ll be a car waiting for us on the drive.”
I nod briskly, not daring to speak.
He holds my gaze for a second or two, a look passing between us, then a door opens in front, Augusto reacts too slowly, and suddenly there’s a length of rope around his neck.
Paige’s scream could curdle blood, spurring me to do the unthinkable. While Augusto fights against the rope and the man holding it around him, I reach into his waistband and pull out his gun. The man’s gaze cuts to me and he wrestles Augusto’s body in front of his, making it deliberately hard for me to aim at him. But I know just how heavy Augusto is. I know he’s not easy to maneuver, even if he has a rope around his neck.
I step to the side and point the gun at the man’s head. I’m so fucking done with this shit, and I need to get my daughter out of here.
I press my finger on the trigger and the next thing I know, my back is blasted against the wall and I’m flat on my ass, Paige pulling on me to stand.
“Mom, get up! You have to get up!”
I stare ahead. The man’s brains are all over the opposite wall. Augie is still standing, yanking the rope from around his neck.
“Jesus, remind me not to get on your bad side,” he mutters, sending a flare of lust through me in the most inconvenient of places.
He bends down and hauls me to my feet, picks the gun up off the floor where I dropped it and shoves it back into his pants.
“Who was he?” I whisper as we step over the body. In some sick twisted way, I want to know who I just murdered.
“A middleman,” Augusto replies, keeping his eyes dead ahead. “He stepped in after the Russian went missing. He was working for your husband.”
Another bolt of shock thunders through my stomach, knocking me off balance. How did I not know the man I married was such a monster?
We creep through the dining room, listening to the shouts echo through the lobby. I swallow. We have to walk through the lobby to get outside.
“Stay close,” Augusto says. I realize that in my fear, I’ve lagged behind.
As we near the entrance to the lobby, he turns to us both. “I’m going to need you to stay behind me at all times, okay?”
I nod and grip Paige’s hand.
“Okay,” he nods. “On three.”
My heart leaps into my throat and sweat breaks out across every inch of my skin.
“One, two, three… Let’s go.”
We half-walk, half-run behind Augusto as we enter the lobby. Three men are down, blood running from their skulls. I recognize two of them as wait staff—supposedly. Another man is standing by the concierge desk, his gun raised. He jerks his head at Augusto.
We follow Augusto out of the building and finally take in a lungful of air unpolluted by the smell of death.
I don’t get a chance to do anything else because Augusto has taken hold of my hand and is pulling me and Paige towards another shiny black SUV. The door opens as we reach it and Augusto practically shoves us both inside. He jumps into the front passenger seat and the driver presses his foot flat to the floor.
