Page 204 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

Aaron rubbed his face. That wasn’t Wilhelm. “He wasn’t very tall?” Devin was definitely tall.

Stef shook her head. “I mean, he wasn’t short, but it wasn’t like, ‘wow, that guy is tall.’”

“Shit.” The blood rushed from his face as he realized who had taken Anna.

“Aaron, what’s wrong?” Hugo said softly. “Do you know who she left with?”

Jack. Aaron spun around and sprinted back to his phone, calling Tom with one hand and pulling his shoes on with the other.

“Hey, Aaron?—‍”

“Anna’s missing. I think Jack might have taken her.”

“Jack? How is that possible? I didn’t know he was here.”

“Can you track her phone?”

“Um, yeah. Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back.”

Aaron went back out to the hallway and stared hard at Stefani. “When did she leave?”

“Before the performance started.”

“Security cameras!” he exclaimed and then ran down the hallway with Hugo right behind him.

A faint buzzing made Anna groan and open her eyes. Her body ached and her head throbbed. She sat up from lying on the carpeted floor. Where was she? It looked like... a hotel room? But it was a mess, like there had been a fight. Bruises, cuts, and blood covered her body.

Her heart pounded as she looked around. Jack. She’d come here with Jack. But where was he? He wouldn’t have left her alone.

And what had happened to the room? Had they been attacked? The idea of Jack being attacked sounded rather nice, but why didn’t she remember any of it?

The buzzing sounded again and she realized it was her phone. She crawled across the room to her purse and pulled it out. She stared at it for a moment before tapping the screen. “Aaron?”

“Anna! Where are you?” He sounded out of breath.

She stared at the floor, trying to understand what he was asking. Her mind wouldn’t work properly. It felt fuzzy and slow. “I-I don’t know.”

“Hon. Take a deep breath and look around. Is Jack there?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. She sucked in a shaky breath and stood. The room spun for a moment, but when it cleared, she took another look around. “It’s a hotel.” The headboard was smashed into pieces and the bed was a mess. Broken glass littered the floor, and it looked like there was even a crack in the window. She carefully walked to the table that had been overturned and found a binder with a name and logo embossed on the front. “Mandarin?”

She heard him repeat it to someone. “What room? Look at the back of the door.”

She walked across the room and saw a diagram of the hotel floor. “Thirty-oh-six,” she read and turned to go back, but froze at the sight of bare feet in the bathroom doorway. She leaned in and gasped at the sight of Jack lying on the floor in a pool of blood. “Oh, God! I think Jack’s dead.”

Aaron froze on the crowded sidewalk at Anna’s words. Hugo ran into him from behind. “Dead?”

“There’s blood... oh, God, Aaron. What happened?” Her voice squeaked as she asked and he knew he had to get to her as quickly as humanly possible. The hotel was only a few blocks away.

“Anna, are you okay?” He started jogging again.

“I don’t know . . .”

“Okay. Just . . . wait, Anna. We’re almost there.”

“Okay...” Her voice was so tiny he could barely hear her.

Hugo caught up to him. “Who’s Anna? I thought we were trying to find Katrina?”

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