Page 8 of Elusive Promise

Westley had no such problem. "What happened to Jasmine?" he demanded. "Did you see who took her?"

"Give her a chance to answer," Damon cut in. "Ms. Maxwell, can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Jasmine and I were in her bedroom when we smelled something very strong. I looked at the vent, and I could see thick particles of air blowing into the room. Jasmine jumped up and then she immediately fell to the floor. I tried to get to her, but as I hit the ground, I could barely breathe. I felt paralyzed. The door opened, and I saw men's shoes: black Nike basketball shoes and dark-brown boots."

"What about their clothes?" Detective Vance asked.

"All I saw was black. I'm not sure if they were wearing jeans or slacks."

"Did they say anything?" Kabir Bhatt asked.

She thought about his question. She felt like she had heard something, but what? Had it only been her own thundering heartbeat, her own breath? "I don't think so."

"If you couldn't move, how did you get out of the bedroom?" Westley demanded. "The guards found you in the stairwell."

"I—I don't know," she stuttered, not sure if the handsome man with the penetrating green eyes had been real, or if she'd somehow made her way there in search of clean air. Everything seemed very dreamlike. "I remember trying to crawl out of the room. I kept blacking out. And then I woke up by the stairs."

"Why did you and Jasmine go upstairs?" Westley continued, his gaze suspicious. "Why did she leave the party?"

"She said she wanted to catch her breath. She felt overwhelmed." She paused. "The guards—they were outside the door. What happened to them?" She looked at Damon as the other men exchanged a long look.

"They didn't make it," Damon said. "One died at the scene, the other in the ambulance on the way to the hospital."

Her heart twisted at that piece of news.How had they died, and she'd managed to survive? And what was happening to poor Jasmine?She had to be terrified. She had such a gentle, sweet soul.

"What did you and Jasmine talk about?" Mr. Bhatt asked.

"Her engagement, how she met Westley, wedding plans, that kind of thing. We were catching up."

"And you hadn't seen her before tonight in how many years?" he continued.

"Fifteen." She glanced at Raj. "I'm so sorry."

He nodded, his expression grim. "This isn't your fault. We're just trying to piece together what happened and why."

"Isn't thewhyfairly obvious—the ring?" she asked.

"Yes, but we don’t understand why they didn't take the diamond and leave Jasmine behind," Raj answered.

"That would have made more sense," she murmured. Unless there was going to be a ransom demand for Jasmine.

"I never should have given Jasmine that ring," Westley said, shifting his weight back and forth, his face tight with tension. "I just wanted her to feel like a princess for one night. But she didn’t want to wear it. She felt awkward and nervous. That's why she left the party, isn't it?"

"She did say the ring felt heavy, and she was glad she wouldn't be wearing it that often." As the blood drained from Westley's face, she felt guilty at her words. "But she also said how much she loved you, and that she appreciated the magnificent gesture."

"She did?" Westley asked, eager to hang on to that thought.

"Yes. How did the kidnappers get Jasmine out of the building?" she asked. "There were so many people around. Was everyone rendered unconscious?"

"No, only the people on the third floor were affected," Raj said. "It appears that they left through a tunnel in the basement that we were not aware of. It was a brazen kidnapping."

"And well-orchestrated," Detective Vance put in. "They had to have had inside help."

Mr. Bhatt bristled at that comment. "We were extremely diligent in providing security for the event."

"It wasn't good enough," Vance said, angering the Bezikstani official.

"The FBI is happy to offer our resources moving forward," Damon interrupted.

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