Page 50 of King of Deception

In the park, I waited at the usual location. Five minutes passed. They became ten and then fifteen. The vendor clicked his tongue, and I turned to look at him.

“I think you should call ‘er, man,” he slowly shook his head.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and took a few steps away from his prying ears. I checked my messages, nothing. Dialing Ella’s number, I heard the ring repeat itself like pointless noise before it eventually stopped. Texting her, I typed, Hey babe. Stuck at work? Let me know. I’m at the park.

Another five minutes passed with no response, and I was beginning to worry. It wasn’t like her to disappear like that. If she were in a meeting, she would have at least texted me.

Concerned, I marched out of the park and walked back toward the office. In less than a minute, I was driving my car out of the underground parking garage, heading to Ella’s work. I didn’t care if she saw me in this pricey vehicle. I could always explain it later. What mattered now was for me to find her safe and sound.

“Ella Rose Boraine?” the receptionist’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, she’s not in the building right now.”

“When did she leave?”

“I don’t know? A friend of hers showed up here a little while ago and—”

“How long ago?”

“I—I don’t know,” she insisted. “Half an hour?”

“Who’s the friend?”

“Um—A man? He didn’t leave his name. He seemed pretty upset.”

Frustrated, I sharply exhaled. “What happened? Can you tell me anything?”

“Sir, I don’t know. Alright? All I saw was him making quite the scene down here in the lobby with security. Ms. Boraine came out of the elevator running. She grabbed him by the arm and said, ‘let’s go home and talk about this’ and they both rushed out of here.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered to myself before spinning on my heel and dashing outside.

I tried to call her again, with no luck. I texted again, Ella, are you okay?

Behind the wheel, I urged the traffic ahead to make a path for me. Unfortunately, the unforgiving mid-day traffic of the New York streets didn’t seem to care that I was losing it. Nor did it consider the fact that Ella could be in danger. I knew very little about Jude, but if my character judgment skills were any good, that man was ready to do anything to gain the upper hand.

At the first sight of a car sliding out of its spot, I slowed down and quickly parked before leaping out and running.

Did I have any other choice?

I let my legs race against time while adrenaline did what it did best—blind me from anything and everything that could distract me. Zig Zag drills helped me avoid possible collisions with innocent passersby, while brief leaps and jumps over various obstacles prevented me from stopping.

When I finally arrived at Ella’s building, I bolted past Mike—the street seller—who hollered, “Uh-oh!”

Pressing the elevator button, I saw that it was still on the twelfth floor. Something inside urged me to head for the stairs instead, so I did.

As I took two steps at a time, I tried my best to keep count of the floors I’d passed. Two. Three. Four.

Be there. Be okay.

Five… six.

Finally standing at her door, I knocked and rang the doorbell simultaneously. There was no response, so I tried calling her again. The silence was disrupted by the rings of her phone at the other side of the door. She was there. Something was wrong.

Something was terribly wrong.

“No! What are you doing? I said no!” I heard a distant scream.

Next thing I knew, I was officially breaking and entering.

Chapter 15: Shockwaves

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