Page 50 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
As I stride toward the elevator, the same uneasy feeling from this morning rides on my shoulder. I send a message to V to get his ass to Seven Sinners ASAP.
Keira
I haven’t even made it to my office before my phone starts ringing.
Temperance.
“I’m on my way down,” I tell her. “What’s going on?”
“Fire alarm at the rackhouse. I just got the call. I had them put me first on the notification list when you were in Dublin. We have to go now. I already called the fire department. They’re en route.”
Holy fucking hell.
“I’m coming,” I yell, then disconnect the call and rush the remaining way to my office.
Temperance is already in the hallway with her purse. “Let’s go. I’m driving.”
“Good, because I don’t have a damned car here.” Something I’ll be talking to La
chlan about in the event of emergencies just like this.
We run to the parking lot and climb into Temperance’s Bronco.
“We can’t lose the rackhouse. That’s—” Temperance sounds just as terrified as I do.
“I know we can’t. We’ll be fucked. This can’t be happening right now. It has to be a false alarm.”
Temperance hauls ass, the epitome of drive it like you stole it, toward the outskirts of town. The rackhouse is a tall, nondescript building that no one would know what was in it unless they paid attention.
When Lachlan basically admitted that he’d had a barrel of the Spirit of New Orleans pilfered from it, I knew I needed to upgrade the security system. But with everything that has happened since, I haven’t had time.
Of course this would happen now.
“My dad will disown me if anything happens to that whiskey.”
Temperance shoots me a look across the interior of the SUV. “Forget your dad. What the hell would we tell all those distributors we just signed big, fat contracts with?”
We make the rest of the ride in anxious silence, pulling up to the razor-wire fence that surrounds the industrial building. Flames shoot from one of the top-floor windows, but there’s not a fire truck in sight.
“Holy fuck!”
Temperance punches in the gate code, and her tires spit gravel as she skids into the parking lot and jams the SUV in park.
“Where is the fire department?” I ask.
“I don’t know! I called them. The dispatcher said they’d be here soon.”
Not a siren can be heard, and my stomach flips. “Call them again. Right now. I’m going for a fire extinguisher.”
She grabs my arm before I can open the door. “Are you fucking kidding me? You can’t go in there.”
“This is my legacy. I’m not going to watch it burn to the ground without doing a damned thing to stop it.”
I jump out of the SUV and sprint toward the building, heading around the side entrance.
My phone clutched in my hand, I pull up Lachlan’s contact, but before I can tap Call, something heavy connects with the back of my head.
All I feel is sharp pain before everything goes black.
