Chapter 88
655 Words
Dallas took off down to her, his gun out, Selena right behind him. He saw Olivia back out of her room, her hands over her mouth. In one movement, he shoved her so that he was between her and the bedroom door. He pinned her against the wall with his broad back, his arms braced on either side of her, protecting and surrounding her. Selena stood facing the bedroom, her gun out and covering Dallas and Olivia.
“Is someone in there?” he asked in a low voice.
She shook her head, her eyes wide. “N – n – no. There’s a gift on my bed.”
He paused. “A gift?”
“Yeah.” She swallowed. “A – a box with a ribbon. And a photo, I think.”
He met Selena’s eyes. “Get her out of here. Now.”
She took Olivia’s arm. “Come on, Liv. We’re going.”
Liv nodded and let Selena lead her back outside. Griff saw them come out, saw their faces, saw Selena’s drawn gun. He started the engine, and the second the women were in the SUV, he took off without a word.
Liv crumpled in the back seat and Selena put her arm around the other woman’s shoulders. “It’s OK, Liv. You’re out.”
“But… Dallas…”
“Don’t you worry about Dallas,” Selena said. “He can handle anything. OK?”
“OK.”
Griff put his earpiece in and called Mark and Sully. They agreed to meet up back at the Solid Security offices, and Griff disconnected. He checked Liv in the mirror. She was pale and looked terribly shaken.
“We’ll be at the offices in twenty minutes, Liv. You’ll be totally safe there, and we’ll wait for Dallas to contact us.”
“You really think he’s OK?” Liv said.
“I really do,” Griff said in a firm voice. “He’ll call as soon as he’s swept the house, and knows what the hell is going on here.” He ran a hand through his blond hair. “Now. Out of pure curiosity… what the hell is going on here?”
That was when Liv burst into tears.
****
An hour later, Dallas arrived at the office to find a very frightened Olivia sitting on a sofa, wrapped in a blanket. Without so much as a glance at his staff, he went over to her and gathered her in his arms. She held onto him, still shaking.
He pulled back, searched her eyes. “You doing alright, baby?”
She nodded. He didn’t believe her even one bit.
“OK, sweetheart,” he said stroking her hair. “We need to talk.”
“OK.”
He gestured to the others to come over, and they dragged chairs from the closest desks and sat. Dallas took a deep breath, let it out.
“On the bed, the guy left a box. Inside, there was a black silk teddy and some handcuffs.”
Olivia closed her eyes. Dallas hesitated, waited until she opened them again.
“The photo?” she asked. “What was it?”
“It was of you,” he said reluctantly.
“One of my modelling photos?”
“No.” He wondered if he should tell her the truth, realized that she’d find out anyway when the police talked to her. “It was of you sleeping in your own bed.”
She stared at him, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. “But – how?”
“I don’t know,” he said, trying to sound calm. It was f*****g hard to do, though, since all he wanted to do was beat the crap out of this guy.
He stood over her when she was totally vulnerable and snapped goddamned photos! Was I f*****g sleeping right next door? How is this even possible?
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