Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Taylor barely got a glimpse of a marbled foyer when the door closed again.
She felt awkward. This was not how she’d seen the evening going. Something was off, and she wasn’t sure what.
Why would Julia be in such a high-profile room? The point of spying was to blend in.
John stepped back, pulling his cell out and putting it to his ear. “Yeah?”
He walked a little distance from her.
“Chill, new girl,” the guard said. “We’re alone on this floor. There are only four rooms, and three of them are controlled by our group. The fourth is being monitored, and if the ambassador and his wife decide to leave the party, we’ll be informed. You can relax. This is going to go off without a hitch.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me what ‘this’ is?”
The grim-looking guard shook her head. “Nope. She looks all sophisticated and civilized, but I’ve seen what she can do. Daddy raised a psycho, if you know what I mean. Follow her orders, get into the group, and once they trust you, they’ll let you work alone. This is all a test. You have to survive her first. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s not the one who took out Cleo herself. That one lives for the kill. Me, I just like the paycheck.”
The door came open again and Julia stood there. “Come in. We’re ready. Your audition begins now.”
“This isn’t Dr. Walsh’s room,” Taylor said.
“And this isn’t Cleo’s mission anymore,” Julia countered, her expression more serious than she’d seen all night. “Stay or go, Constance? If you walk through here, you’re committed. I can’t let you know the truth about my plans and walk away, so you’ve got like ten seconds to think about it.”
“Hey, we might have a problem.” John’s voice had dropped to a whisper. Taylor had to lean in to hear. “And it’s likely on its way here.”
Julia’s breath hitched as though she’d gotten news and she wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. “Which problem?”
“Not the one you want,” John returned. “One of the programs I’m running identified him on CCTV coming down the street about ten minutes ago.”
Julia’s eyes narrowed. “Then we should work fast, and you should make sure he doesn’t get up here. Constance, it’s time. Stay or go?”
She had to figure out what Julia was doing because she was almost certain they were talking about Drake. Brad knew where she was, and the whole building was being monitored, so if Drake did walk in, they would know it. He would have backup.
She stepped forward. “I’m in.”
Julia nodded as John pushed the button for the elevator and gave the guard some instructions.
Taylor walked through the door and felt the whole world shift because the last thing she’d expected to see was Senator Samantha Radcliffe still in her cocktail dress from the party, asleep on the couch.
“For your audition, I’m going to need you to kill my mother.”
* * * *
Drake hit the lobby with Knight behind him. He was well aware that he’d been caught on every single security camera.
“Hey,” a familiar voice said. Kyle had a grim look on his face as he crossed the space between them. “I still can’t find Brad, and I lost Julia and Taylor and whoever that fucker John is. Nick is already in the ballroom. He’s going to escort Owen and Rebecca up to where Jax is trying to figure out what happened with the CCTV. He thinks someone took over the cameras around the elevator on the north side, the one that leads to the secure floors.”
“The lift is working but the cameras aren’t?” Knight asked.
“My parents are on the fortieth floor.” Drake’s gut tightened. “I think she’s going to go after them.”
“Why would she do that?” Knight asked.
“Because she’s Julia,” Kyle replied. “Because they didn’t pay enough attention to her or she’s trying to get my attention, or she thinks it will hurt Drake and then he’ll give her attention. She’s got it all worked out in her head, but the truth is it’s nothing but one more pathetic and cruel attempt to put herself in the spotlight. If she can’t have good attention, she’ll take bad.”
He wished he could argue, could find anything good to say about his sister, but he couldn’t. The fact that she was here meant his parents were in trouble. He should have known she was planning something when she’d shown up at their country club in DC. “She’s come here to fuck with our parents, and she’s apparently going to use Taylor to do it. I have to think she knows who Taylor is and what she means to me.”
“How would she know that?” Knight followed as Drake and Kyle began to walk through the lobby.
“I don’t know.” Kyle’s long legs led the way. “We’ve been incredibly careful about protecting her true identity.”