Page 99 of Release Me
And just like that, I realise I’ve walked willingly into the lion’s lair.
Chapter Forty-Four
RIAN
Remington is ours.
The ink is just about dry on the contract. The lawyers are satisfied. The money moved clean, quick, invisible. By rights, I should feel invincible. Relieved. Ecstatic.
But for some weirdly inexplicable reason, I don’t.
Something sits heavy in my chest. A weight that won’t shift. A pressure, like I’ve swallowed a stone. It has no logic, no reason, but’s lodged there all the same.
‘That went well,’ James comments from the other side of the table in the boardroom at the Beckett offices. The lawyers just left.
I pluck my phone from my suit pocket, conscious I cancelled two of Rebekka’s calls earlier. I had no choice. I was mid meeting. I did it for her. To get things done. To get this across the line and put her future beyond Anthony’s reach.
I dial her number and wait for it to ring.
Straight to voicemail.
My gut twists.
‘What’s up?’ James stands, with a frown.
‘Something’s not right.’ I feel it with every fibre of my being.
Ten seconds pass. I dial again. Straight to voicemail. I try again. And again.
The unease in my chest spikes into full-blown panic.
The silence claws at me.
‘Rebekka,’ I say, yanking my laptop around. James rounds the table and stands behind me, staring at the screen over my shoulder as I pull up the penthouse security feed. The hallway is empty. There’s only one guard outside the door.
‘Where the fuck is Carter?’
I stab at my phone. ‘Channing. Why is there only one of you outside my apartment?’
A pause, then a wary voice. ‘Carter went with Ms Remington. She wanted to pick something up.’
My blood runs ice.
‘Pick up what? Where?’ I snarl.
‘She didn't say, Sir. She just said she wouldn’t be long?—’
Fucking imbecile. I hang up. My thumb is already on Carter’s number. He answers on the second ring.
‘Mr Beckett?—’
‘Where the fuck are you?’ My voice is a growl.
‘Outside Anthony’s building. She insisted she?—’
There’s an almighty crash, like smashing glass, followed by muffled shouting.
‘What the fuck—’ Carter’s voice cuts out.
