Page 51 of Broken Empire
“We need to find her before she gets there,” I said, turning to sprint back toward the French doors.
“Wait.” Murray snapped a finger to summon me back to him. Then he went over to the desk and grabbed a walkie-talkie. He muttered into it for a few seconds, saying something I couldn’t catch. When he was done with that, he snapped his fingers to get the attention of the film crew who were scattered around the room. “Everyone follow me!”
I hurried down the hall with the others and went through the French doors, followed closely by Murray. “Which path did you say she took?” he asked as the blond security guard joined us.
I pointed to the middle path. “That one, but she lost me around the trees, so she could be anywhere by now.”
Murray nodded curtly at the guard, who immediately ran off down the path I’d gestured toward. The gate guard showed up a few seconds later, sweating profusely. He must’ve sprinted all the way down here after being summoned over the radio. “Where’d she go?” he asked.
Murray pointed toward another garden path. “Go that way. We need to check every inch of this estate,” he said. “She’s trying to get to the boathouse.”
The gate guard nodded and took off, boots pounding loudly on the courtyard tiles.
Murray turned to me and the film crew. “We need to fan out,” he said. “If we don’t get this girl back… well, I don’t even need to tell you how fucked we are.”
“I’ll go that way,” I said, pointing toward another garden path.
Murray nodded and gestured toward the statue garden on the right. “I’ll take that spot. She could be trying to hide there,” he said. He snapped his fingers again. “Come on, everyone! Let’s go!Now!”
The film crew scattered in various directions. I sprinted down my chosen path and ducked behind a hedge for a moment. Then I doubled back, walking as quietly as possible in case someone else was still close to the area.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the courtyard again. It was empty. Everyone was distracted with the wild goose chase.
My pulse quickened again as I realized Murray could’ve ordered another guard to check Shay’s room, just in case.
I sprinted back into the mansion and down the hall, stomach churning with dread. Thankfully, Shay’s room appeared to be empty.
I dashed into the bathroom, lifted the hamper lid, and yanked the beige towel away, expecting to see the top of Shay’s newly-blonde head.
My heart leapt into my mouth as I removed the towel to find nothing but a crumpled white sheet. “Shay?” I said, clawing at the sheet as panicked adrenaline flooded my veins. “Fuck…Shay!”
“I’m here,” came a muffled voice. Shay’s head popped up a second later. “Sorry, I got down even lower and put some more stuff on top of me, just in case.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, placing a hand over my chest. “You almost gave me a fucking heart attack. I thought someone found you.”
“No, I’m okay. Sorry.” She smiled weakly and lifted a hand, gesturing for me to help her out of the hamper.
“We need to go,” I said, hurriedly pulling her toward the bedroom door. “Everyone is down at the back end of the property looking for you, but it’s only going to take a few minutes for them to realize you’re not there.”
We rushed down the hall, heading for the front door. Heavy footsteps sounded near us a second later. “Shit. Get down,” I muttered, crouching under the window next to the door.
Shay took my hand as we waited for the steps to recede. She was trembling like mad.
“It’s okay,” I murmured against her ear, squeezing her hand. “It’s probably just another security guard on his way to the back.”
I slowly rose up and peeked through the bottom of the window closest to us. I was right—another security guard was dashing across the front porch, heading for the left side of the house.
“Get ready to run again,” I said, keeping my eyes trained on the window. The guard disappeared around the corner, and I rose to my full height. “Now!”
I whipped the front door open and waited for Shay to step over the threshold. “Get down to the gate as fast as you can,” I said in a low voice. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
She stopped in her tracks. “You aren’t coming?”
“I am. I just need to do something first. Go now, before anyone sees you,” I said. “If I’m not there in thirty seconds, leave without me. The car is down the road on the opposite side.”
“Killian, I can’t leave you behi—”
“Go,” I said, cutting off Shay’s protest. “Now!”
