Page 111 of Beloved Sacrifice

“Good. I don’t really need a distraction,” he called down. “Come on up, Rose. You have to climb about four feet.”

When her head and knees emerged, he helped her out, then did the same for Marek.

Rose dusted at the seat of her pants, then looked around. “I think I recognize where we are.”

“By doing this,” Weston motioned back to the opening to the secret passage, “we bypass two of the biggest, most easily accessible tunnels. Even if they’ve alarmed this place, it would be impossible to watch every single tunnel.”

Rose grinned. “You’re not just a pretty face, Wes.”

His face was anything but pretty, but the way she smiled made him forget, if only for a second, the scars that marred his face and body. Marek smiled too.

Weston kept his expression from changing, but he couldn’t stop the suspicion that rose when he looked at Marek.

A buzzer went off on the console next to Juliette. She glanced up, surprised to see the flashing light. Devon had installed an alarm system in the tunnels. It had been a massive amount of work and monitored every tunnel. It was set up so that if there was any movement, it would send a message here and…

Her cell rang and she answered it.

“Juliette, a sensor was triggered.”

Devon had set the alarm to send a message to his phone, hers, Franco’s and Sebastian’s.

“I know.”

There were two beeps, indicating she had two more calls coming in. Obviously, Franco and Sebastian were checking in as well.

“Get out of your office.”

Juliette glanced over her shoulder at the locked main door, and the gate they’d installed to block access from the tunnel entrance. “No one can get in here.”

“Dammit, Juliette. I’m on my way, but it will take me a few minutes to get there. I’d feel better if you were somewhere other than that damn office.”

“I’ll wait for you here. Franco is on the other line.”

Before Devon could continue the fight, she disconnected. The calls with Franco and Sebastian had ended before she could answer them, so she fired off a quick text that Devon was on the way.

Franco replied quickly, assuring her he was too.

Sebastian was in New York for opening night of Christian’s new Broadway play. His reply text asked if she needed him to return, but she told him she was confident they could handle it. The alarm had been triggered twice before, both times by rats. Devon thought he’d fixed that problem, but it appeared he hadn’t perfected it yet.

That was probably what it was this time.

A second alarm, this one deeper in the tunnels, went off.

Juliette stared at the console screen. It could still be a rat.

Determining that required a trip into the tunnels, a place she’d come to hate.

The door lock clicked and she tensed. It swung open and the light in the corridor beyond silhouetted a tall man with strong shoulders. There was a bare second of tense fear before her brain registered that she knew that silhouette, knew those shoulders.

Devon had arrived in mere minutes. He hadn’t been at his office. If he had, it would have taken him closer to fifteen minutes.

“Juliette. Are you okay?” he asked.

She considered calling him out for the fact that he’d clearly been hovering somewhere nearby. That wouldn’t help the situation, so she held her tongue and nodded. “Probably just a rat.”

Devon lifted the lapel of his jacket and revealed the gun strapped there. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“Franco is on his way too.”

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