Page 13 of King of Pride

It wasn’t long before he reached the upper floor.

Josh was looking around, searching for the room.

Maverick reached him in seconds.

The moment he did, he grabbed Josh by the back of the neck, his fingers tightening around him as he forced him forward.

“What the fuck? Who are you? What are you doing?”

Josh immediately struggled, twisting beneath Maverick’s grip as he tried to turn around and see who had grabbed him.

But Maverick refused to let him turn.

He kept a firm hold on the back of Josh’s neck and shoved him forward until they reached a small door at the corner of the corridor.

Maverick yanked the door open and pushed him inside.

It was a broom closet. The brooms stacked inside immediately toppled over Josh, several of them crashing onto his shoulders and head.

Josh winced and cried out in surprise, throwing up his arms as he tried to shield himself from the falling brooms.

“What the fuck is going on?”

He struggled to push the brooms away and turn around, but before he could do anything else, Maverick slammed the door shut.

Then he locked it from the outside.

The handle snapped into place.

Josh immediately pounded his fist against the door.

“What the fuck is going on? Open the door! Open the door!”

His fist struck the wood repeatedly, but the pounding barely made a difference with the loud music and party noise coming from downstairs.

Maverick didn’t wait around.

He turned away, his dark eyes immediately scanning the corridor.

Then he spotted another door.

It was slightly open, a strip of light spilling through the gap.

Maverick’s entire body tensed.

He stormed toward it. Reaching the door, he shoved it open and stepped inside. Then he slammed it shut behind him, the lock clicking automatically into place.

Silence surrounded him.

Maverick’s dark eyes immediately swept across the room, searching for Rose.

The room was filled with darkness, except for the dim yellow light coming from a small lamp across the room. It was quiet, almost unnaturally so, with the silence stretching through the room.

There was only one sound—a woman singing loudly, her voice drifting through the darkness.

Maverick frowned and immediately turned toward the sound, walking across the room. But he came to an abrupt stop when he saw Rose standing on the couch.

Drinks were scattered across the table. Several glasses of martini rested there alongside a bottle of alcohol. The bottle had been opened, and almost half of it was already empty.