Page 57 of Explosive Vengeance

Now.

Everything slowed around her, her exhausted body automatically going into op mode.

She stepped out from behind the topiary. Dubois was fifty feet away, his back to her.

Chloe’s breathing was slightly uneven as she reached into her hotel blazer for her pistol. Her fingers curled around the grip, her gaze locked on her target as she started to draw her weapon—

A flash of pink appeared in her peripheral vision. She glanced toward it just as a little girl burst out of the lobby doors, pulling a pink suitcase. “Told you I’m fast, Papa!”

Chloe froze on the sidewalk as Dubois reached out an arm and curled it around the girl. “I can’t believe how fast. Much faster than your sister and mother,” he said, smiling down at her as he reached for her suitcase.

No.Her hand was locked around the pistol, disillusionment ripping through her.His daughter.

Dubois turned to usher the girl into the backseat. His gaze caught on Chloe. Held for an instant, his face freezing.

Releasing her weapon, Chloe forced herself to calmly turn away, pretending to wipe at the glass beside her on her way up the sidewalk.

A car door slammed shut, then the quiet purr of an expensive engine followed as the Mercedes pulled away.

Hands trembling slightly, Chloe darted a look over her shoulder, expecting Dubois’ head of security to be coming after her. But he was inside the car as it drove away at a sedate pace. Taking Dubois out of range.

Chloe stared after it, choking back tears of rage and bitterness. She might have just lost her only chance at killing him. And she wasn’t sure how she was going to live with that.

****

Heath waited until he was out of the cab before calling Ty. “No luck at the InterContinental. I’m coming back to the hotel.”

“We’ll meet you up at your room,” his friend replied. “Amber said the trail on Dubois went cold after he left the InterContinental, but she’s hunting for a new lead.”

“I’m three blocks away.” He tugged his hood up as the rain fell in a cold, gray sheet. “See you soon.” Between the three of them they’d tried eight different hotels, searching for any sign that Chloe might have been there. Goddammit, he never should have left her alone. Should have known she would go after Dubois.

Valkyries didn’t get close to many people. Chloe had loved Fleur. As tough and badass as she was, this loss had rocked her to her core, and now they’d lost her.

A sick feeling roiled in the pit of his stomach as he trudged along the deserted sidewalk through the rain. Chloe had exploded into his life like a shooting star. The thought of never seeing her again, of something bad happening to her, was impossible to accept.

She could be anywhere right now. Had she found Dubois? They hadn’t heard anything on the news, and neither had Amber with all her electronic surveillance, so maybe Chloe was still okay. He had to hope she was, and that she contacted them soon.

He did a double take as he passed by an alcove in an old building, then stopped short. His heart surged, then clenched when he spotted Chloe huddled on the step. She was dressed in an InterContinental hotel uniform, the jacket soaked with rain, her hair slipping from her bun to lay around her shoulders in wet tangles.

“Chloe,” he breathed, rushing over to crouch in front of her, grasping her hand and cupping the side of her face. Jesus, she was soaked through, her skin freezing and she didn’t seem to notice or care. He did a visual sweep, looking for blood and any other sign of injury. “Are you hurt?”

She didn’t answer him right away, the haunted look in her eyes making alarm bells clang in his head. “I let him get away,” she murmured in a leaden tone, staring at his chest. Dark circles marked the skin beneath her eyes. She looked so exhausted and defeated his heart twisted. “He was fifty feet from me. I had my hand on my weapon, ready to draw it and fire. One shot, that’s all it would have taken.”

“What happened?” he asked, gently rubbing his thumb across her cheek. Damn, she was freezing, a blue tinge to her lips.

“Couldn’t do it, because his daughter was there. I couldn’t let her see him die.” The self-loathing and exhaustion in her voice worried him. “So I watched him get into the car. I stood there and let him drive away. I only got a partial plate.”

Heath didn’t give a shit about Dubois at the moment. “Hey, look at me.”

She hesitated, then slowly lifted her eyes to his.

The pain there twisted his insides. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

She dropped her gaze. “No.”

Satisfied that she was physically okay, he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Up you come.” He lifted her to her feet.

She pushed at his chest. “I failed her.”

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