Page 105 of Marked

If Dallas would hurry the fuck up.

Cole made his way back down the hall and opened the door at the other end. The entrance brought him to the front of the building. Huge windows faced the street they’d driven down moments before. The main area was under construction, and a welcome desk had been started. Wires hung overhead and utility fans, drywall materials, and drop sheets covered the floor as if someone had left their shift in a hurry.

Adrian would likely enter through the back, where the vehicles were parked. This area was the safest spot for Cole to update his brothers.

“Hey,” he said softly, through the earpiece. “I overheard Kenneth talking to his men. Sounds like Sophia escaped. She could be in the building or on foot. Adrian is arriving soon for a meeting. I’ve got a plan to take them all out, but kill whoever crosses your path. I want our presence quiet as long as possible.”

“Roger that,” Nash said. “I’ll circle the area for Sophia.”

Dare cleared his throat. “Brooks and I will find a side entrance and work the top floors for her.”

“I want someone watching for Adrian, so we know when he gets here.” Cole brought his attention back to the space around him.

“I’ll do that,” Brooks chimed in.

“Good. Keep us posted.”

Footsteps sounded in the hall from where he’d entered.

Shit.

***

With the blade extended, Sophia exited the office. Sweat tickled her brow, and she wiped it away with her forearm.

Fear made her movements slow and her footing clumsy as she scurried down the hallway. What if Kenneth had already sent someone after Bella? He’d done it once. He’d do it again.

She blinked to focus. Stopping outside the door to the stairwell, she pressed her free hand to her chest.

All she had to do was get out of the goddamn building. That was it. It wasn’t rocket science and it wasn’t impossible.

The back of her throat itched with apprehension as she pulled open the door and stepped into the stairwell. The concrete enclosure was several degrees cooler than the floor she’d left, but her skin didn’t adjust to the temperature change.

She paused at the landing. One set of stairs went up, another down. Where the hell was the exit? She couldn’t go back to the basement, where Kenneth and his men had just gone.

They’d be back any minute.

Returning to the hallway with the office where she’d found the box cutter, she ran to the end of the corridor. Spotting a window next to the stairwell door, she jogged to it. SUVs were parked out back, and a large, angled driveway told her she was above a loading dock. She craned her neck. A single door was beside the dock.

Aha. Her way out.

Thank God.

She turned from the window and froze.

A man stood in the hallway, less than eight feet away. His dark, bushy eyebrows pulled together over his nose, and his mouth slid into a grin. “Well, that was easy.” He advanced on her.

Oh, no.

A cold sheen of sweat coated her skin. There was no way she’d make it into the stairwell.

A scream rose in Sophia’s throat, but she didn’t dare alert the other men she’d been found. The guy seized her arm, and she sliced the box cutter over his face.

“Jesus! Fuck!” he bellowed. Blood oozed from the diagonal gash on his cheek.

She wrestled her arm from his hold, but he caught her neck in both his hands, slamming her against the wall.

“You fucking bitch. You’re going to pay for that.” He jerked her neck, smacking the back of her skull against the wall, once, twice, three times.

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