Page 112 of The Chase
Those final moments shared with him in the shower had been his way of saying goodbye.
Had I willingly given myself over to the crime of the century? The moment Tobias heard my name in The Otillie, when I’d introduced myself, his expression had proven he knew of me. And the very next day he’d turned up at my place of work...had that been the moment the seduction had begun?
Michelangelo had been his true love all along.
Rumors that not all my father’s paintings had been destroyed in that fire had made it to America, apparently all the way to the Wilder estate.
Why had I ignored my gut feeling; why had I doubted myself?
Because you’re about to prove yourself wrong, I chastised,your paintings are fine and this is you overreacting and embarrassing yourself.
In what felt like painful slow motion, I swiped my credit card through the meter and as soon as it cleared I flew out, my feet landing hard on the pavement.
Tripping forward and barely saving myself, I took two stairs at a time leading up to The Otillie’s grand entrance. I went through the usual motions of the security screen and offered my handbag to be searched.
Miles’s voice rose from the east wing and I headed in that direction, trying to maintain an aura of decorum and not sprint into his arms in a panic.
“Zara!” his clipped Cambridge accent echoed.
Even now Miles Tenant could intimidate with that booming tenor voice, his impressive dynamism evident by the way he ran this place and his generosity to always be willing to share his knowledge. Miles’s African heritage gave him that elegant stature and that remarkable confidence that enhanced his charisma.
“Miles.” I sucked in air.
“Come to see your girl?” He beamed at me.“Madame Rose...”His smile faded. “Zara? Are you okay?”
“Is Tobias Wilder here?” Terror caught me when I read his reaction.
“Are you meeting him here?”
“I thought so.”
His eyes widened as his gaze swept over my disheveled appearance. “You got caught in the rain?”
“Do you have his number?”
“All calls go through Tobias’s office.”
“But you’re friends?”
“He gets hundreds of calls a day. Busy man. They all get siphoned through his office.”
I cringed at the obvious distance Tobias had placed between him and Miles. The same wall I’d faced when trying to reach him.
“Tobias didn’t drop off any paintings?” Desperation dripped from my voice.
“No, was he meant to?” He smiled. “Now you have me intrigued. Let’s go to my office.”
“I can’t stay.”
I must keep moving.
“I’ll tell Tobias you visited,” he said.
“Call me as soon as he turns up, okay.” I walked backward, heading for the exit.
“Of course.” His squint of concern followed me out.
Turning on my heels and skirting through those damn rotating doors that freaked me out each time I used them, I burst into the freezing night air.
