Page 88 of Almost Home
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
Sarah
Iwanted to curl up. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream and beg Wilder to come inright now right now please right now, but instead, I spoke loudly. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. I’m the only one here until Mr. Saint is back, which will be any minute.”
“I saw the cars. She’s here. How do you think I found her?” His face had gone red, and he grabbed at me, catching my wrist with a cold, clammy hand.
My stomach lurched and I felt dizzy from the scampering beat of my heart. “I don’t know who you mean. It’s just me.”
He shoved me forward and stuck the muzzle of the gun to my spine. I sucked in a breath and prayed he wouldn’t shoot. This guy had stalked Madeline Reynolds across the US, maybe all over the world, and I had absolutely no faith that he’d leave without doing something worse.
“All I want is you, Maddie! You just have to come out, and this nice lady goes on her merry way. I just need to see you.”
The conference room door swung open, and Madeline appeared in the doorway.
“Korry? What are you doing here?” Her brown eyes hit mine, and I saw the apology and pleading. Therun for it!Because she didn’t realize what he had pointed at my back.
“LOOK AT ME!” Korry screamed at her, a vicious, ragged, rage-filled sound that sent terror straight to my gut. This man was not okay.
“I’m looking at you, Korry. You seem upset. My friend Sarah isn’t doing anything wrong, so can we let her get back to work?”
He clamped a hand on my shoulder and pressed the gun harder into my back. I bowed away from it as much as I could.
“You coming with me finally? Are you free?” Korry’s voice had a creepy softness to it.
“Yes. Just let Sarah get back to work, and I’ll talk with you.”
“Youcomewith me.”
Madeline nodded, but couldn’t seem to bring herself to say the words. I couldn’t blame her, and I wondered if saying she would go with him, wherever he wanted her to go, would make all of this worse somehow.
One thing was for sure: I had no idea how to handle a hostage situation. If I was going to keep this job, I needed more training—for this and any other imaginable situation. We needed emergency buttons in every room I could push to call Wilder or Bruce to me without needing my phone. I needed to learn how to handle a weapon. I needed self-defense lessons and information on how to de-escalate a crazy person who was bent on kidnapping or killing a client.
Korry sighed behind me, then shoved me away with so much force, I stumbled across the hallway and rammed my shoulder into the wall. I hit with an “Oof!” and flipped around to face the man. If he was going to shoot me, he’d have to do it to my face—though I really,reallyhoped he didn’t.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Madeline said, a little shake to her voice this time. She reached out a hand to me and I took it, but this contact made our resident gun-wielding madman unhappy.
“Don’t you touch her. Get your filthy hands offher!”
I dropped Madeline’s hand and gritted my teeth against the tears that came like a flood. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I won’t.”
“Korry, she’s my friend. Please don’t hurt my friend. You don’t want to upset me, right? I—I—”
“We’re leaving, Maddie. It’s time for us.”
“Korry, my friends are about to be back. Why don’t you sit down with us and—”
“Don’t.”
“Sorry?”
Madeline’s voice remained calm, though I had no idea how.
“Don’t pretend like you’re friends with that oaf of a bodyguard and twit of an assistant. I know better. It’s why I’m here.”
She let out a halting breath, as though trying to steady herself. “Okay. Okay.”
“That’s enough. I—”
