Page 69 of The Other Side of Together

“Then why haven’t you told them where you are?”

“Nick threatened my boys.” Her words come out in a strained puff of air, her eyes piercing mine. “I overheard information I shouldn’t have. At the restaurant. He said he would hurt my boys if I didn’t do as he said. But we don’t have time to talk about this. Just know I’m not the only missing woman here, and if you don’t leave, you’ll be one of us. You can’t tell anyone you saw me. Get your things and meet me on parking level 2. A car will be waiting. Stay away from Nick.”

I search her eyes. “Why does he want you here?”

She grabs my arm. “Whatever you’re thinking, you’re probably right. Get as far away from him as you can.” She lets go of me and rushes to the door, pulling it open. “Five minutes.”

I stare at her, then slip out of the room and take off my shoes, running down the hallway to the elevator. I jab the button until the door finally opens, but a hand grabs me frombehind and whips me around. Hot, sharp fear flares up my throat when my eyes collide with Chaz’s.

“What are you doing?” His fingers bite into my arm and my heart claws up my throat, choking any words as I search his eyes for a hint of what he plans to do with me. “Answer me,” he hisses, tightening his grip.

I go on tiptoe to relieve the pressure on my arm. “I was headed to my room…I’m not feeling well.”

“You’re on the wrong floor.”

“I…got lost.”

“With Su Ling? Nick won’t be kind when he finds out.”

My pulse jumps under Chaz’s fingers and I struggle against his grip. “Let go!”

But he pushes me back against the hard wooden wall. “I should let him deal with both of you.”

His words strike at me, igniting my anger. “Do it,” I spit. “But I’ll tell him about you and Xander.”

“What about us?” Chaz narrows his eyes but not enough to disguise the flicker of fear.

“I heard your conversation in the room.”

Chaz gets in my face. “Hard to talk with a slit throat.”

I tilt my head to expose more of my neck. “Go ahead. You’d be doing me a favor.”

He shoves away from me, turning his back, hands on his head before whirling back to me. “If you breathe a word of anything you heard, you’re dead.”

I clench my jaw, drag in a breath through my nose. “I won’t say anything.” My voice is thin and strained, like the risk I’m taking with him. “But you have to promise the same.”

Chaz’s breathing quickens and I tense, but he punches the wall beside me, and I flinch, the overhead light fixtures rattling. “You’re on your own,” he growls, “and you better not get caught.”

He takes off down the hall and I let out the breathcowering in my throat before pressing the button with a shaky hand. When the doors open, I dash inside and punch the 46, flinching as the beeps grow louder and shriller with each passing floor. 43. 44. 45.

When the elevator stops, I hurl myself out of it and down the hall toward the room, the carpet coarse and unforgiving under my feet. I swipe the keycard and rush inside, pressing my forehead against the closed door. My breathing matches the frantic speed of my mind and I try to slow it until a voice slices the silence.

“There you are.”

I whirl around, my palms pressed against the door behind me for support as blood plunges to my feet.

Nick sits on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other, arms stretched along the back of it. Black on black on black. I lock my shaky knees.

“I was getting worried.” His voice is smooth, his eyes sludgy as they sweep my body.

I press my toes into the cold marble.

“I promised you some fun after the toast. But maybe a little trivia first. Like where, oh where, has my little Mei Li been?” His words tumble over each other, but the sharp point of his voice impales me. “Or did I interrupt an important phone call with the boy?”

I shake my head so fast I lose balance and grab the door handle. “No—I…threw up. In a planter. I had to clean myself up. Too much champagne. First time.”

He laughs dryly, but it drifts away like dust. “Why must you always be so defiant?”

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