Page 48 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

“What does all this mean?”

If the man that threatened me did so himself, it meant that he had a personal vendetta and would continue the threats until he got whatever he wanted from me. My hands started to tremble.

“What’s the matter, Auntie?” Emily asked, concern in her tone.

I lifted my hand and waved, giving her a fake smile before turning around and pressing the phone closer to my ear.

“Diego, what does this mean?” I asked again.

“Information about his last known location came from my men, who followed him to the airport. My team was able to secure the destination where his private plane landed a few hours ago. That’s the reason for my call.” His voice sounded angry and harried.

“And?” I croaked.

“The plane landed in Paris, France. You need to get somewhere safe, immediately. Are you protected?”

My mouth went dry, and a shiver of fear ran up my spine.

“I…we…hadn’t seen any trouble the past few days.” My mind was a blur of activity as my gaze traced over every stranger closeto us, looking for a possible threat. “We left our bodyguards in the car to relax. We’re touring the Palace of Versailles.”

“¡Dios mío!Get the fuck outta there immediately,señora. I’m going to send you the directions to a safe house.”

“Okay,oui.Merci, SeñorSalazar.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’re marked for death, Alana. Now get to the safe house and call me when you arrive.”

“I will,” I said and hung up, then grabbed Emily’s hand.

“What’s happening?” Emily’s bottom lip trembled.

“We have to go now, my darling. Stick close to me. I’ll explain when we get in the car.”

Emily clung to my hand as we walked as fast as we could. We met up with Christophe in the same room we’d left him in.

He saw my face and reached out to hold onto my arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Salazar called and said the person that threatened me is in Paris. He landed a few hours ago.” I lifted my phone to show him the text message. “He sent us directions to a safe house,” I practically sobbed, but choked it back in order to be strong for Emily. I didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was.

“Let’s go.” Christophe took my free hand, and the three of us left the palace as fast as we felt appropriate, without causing too much attention.

Christophe had his phone to his ear as we walked to the exit where we’d planned to meet our guards.

“They’re not fucking answering,” he barked, fear coating his words.

I squeezed his hand as we kept going. When we reached the exit, we could see the two blacked-out SUV’s parked side by side a couple rows in.

“Come on! Run!” Christo instructed, and Emily and I did as he said.

When we got to the SUV’s, Christophe flung one of the doors open and a body fell to the ground, blood from his slit throat soaking his white shirt.

Emily screamed, and I wrapped my arms around her and tucked her to my chest to hide the gruesome sight.

Christophe ran around to the other side of the car and pulled open that door. I could see through the windows that he’d found the same.

I watched in horror as he ran to the other SUV. I shifted Emily and made her walk backward away from the carnage as I kept her face tucked to my chest so she wouldn’t see.

“Fuck!” Christophe roared.

And then suddenly we heard a screeching of tires as a different blacked-out SUV careened toward us.

---