Page 36 of Victor's Lethal Desire
I get to the top of the stairs. I pause and listen. I hear two voices echoing faintly on the other side of the heavy fire door. They're masculine and speaking in Russian.
Wait, there should only be one guard here.
I pull back, my mind cycling through options. I could wait for them to move. I could create a distraction. I could...
A door shuts somewhere down below. Not inside the stairwell, but out in the second-floor hallway.
I freeze.
Footsteps move quickly down the hall, heading straight for the stairwell door I just came through.
My hand moves to the blade on my thigh, every muscle in my body coiling tight.
If it's Victor, this is going to get messy.
If it's Dimitri's men, this is going to get even messier.
The footsteps grow louder, stopping just on the other side of the second-floor door.
I move silently, darting back down the concrete steps. I press myself into the dark corner right behind the second-floor door, my fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of my blade.
Whoever steps through that door, I'll have the drop on them.
The handle begins to turn.
And I wait.
13
VICTOR
Oh Danika, where are you going?
I watch her leave the bar and slip through the crowd, her red dress cutting through the sea of black tuxedos. She doesn't glance back.
But I know better.
I know the difference between someone leaving and someone running.
I down my whiskey I'd just grabbed, place the glass on a passing tray, and follow, weaving through clusters of people.
I cut through the kitchen, and a server carrying champagne flutes nearly collides with me as I round the corner into a service hallway. I sidestep him, muttering an apology, but he doesn't acknowledge it and just keeps going.
The corridor is bright with plain white walls, scuffed at the baseboards from years of trolley wheels and careless staff. The air is cooler here, away from all the people at the gala.
Ahead, a stairwell door clicks shut, and I know who's just gone through it.
I continue on, making my way up to the second floor. When I get to the top, I crack the door open just enough to peer through. Danika's red dress flashes at the end of the floor, moving fast, and she disappears through another door at the far end.
I slip out into the hallway, letting the stairwell door close on its own.
As I make my way toward the other end of the floor, all I can smell is her lingering perfume.
I'd know she'd been here even if I hadn't seen her.
I continue as my mind races. She's heading toward the penthouse. She has to be.
Something isn't adding up.
