21. Rusell

Hell no. Lights flashed, the luminescent glow ricocheting around Chase’s office in a hellish nightmare of memory. My fists tightened and I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. That’s the fire alarm.” I stood and motioned them—Chase and Garrett included—toward the door. “Mandatory evacuation.” Thank fuck. I’d never been closer to losing my temper than when this trio of asshats sauntered into Chase’s office like they owned the fucking building. The punk ass kids couldn’t be over twenty-seven, and every one of them wore a sneer that I loathed.

“I’m sure it’s fine.” The tallest one waved a hand like imminent death by fire was an everyday occurrence, and he couldn’t be bothered to burn to death.

“Company policy.” I was one breath away from pulling a Garrett and hauling the skinny punk down the stairs by force when one of his buddies leaned in and whispered something in his ear. I grabbed Chase by the arm, keeping my focus on the boys attempting to shoehorn their way into our company with their daddy’s money and no business sense or etiquette. “I’m going for Sabrina.”

His jaw worked but he nodded and jerked his head toward the stairs. “Go.”

“I’ll send everyone down.” It was the best I could offer as I left him and Garrett with the boys and jogged ahead of them. The words were barely out of my mouth when the stairwell door closed behind me with an echoing bang. The siren continued to bellow, the tone muted in the concrete and metal hole. I gripped the rail and peered over the edge. People scuttled down the steps, their fear palpable in the enclosed space. I pushed back and rushed down the steps.

A woman turned the corner and skidded to a stop in front of me. “What’s happening?” Her wide eyes and bobbing throat showcased her fear. She gripped my lapels and hung on with a death grip. “We’re trapped.” Her howl sent a spike of fear deep into my heart.

“We’re not trapped. You need to go down, not up. Everyone is supposed to meet in the parking lot.” I hooked her elbow in an easy grip and turned her around. “This way.” She followed me, her cries escalating until I gritted my teeth to keep from telling her to shut the fuck up. The instant I caught up with another woman going down, I pried her fingers from my arm and pushed her toward the woman I recognized. “Laura, can you help her?” I didn’t wait for her response but ducked around them and continued on my way.

Sabrina could already be out of the building by now. We’d left her on the fourth floor. I swallowed the fear causing my entire body to clench and regulated my breaths. The clean air and lack of smoke gave me hope that the alarm was false, but I wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Questions swirled in a constant loop as I continued my downward spiral. Myriad steps created a deep thrumming rhythm as the employees escaped.

I stopped at the fourth floor and shoved open the door. “Sabrina?” My voice echoed down the long hallway, my heart lodged in my throat when no one answered. Of course she didn’t answer. She would have gone straight to the stairwell when the alarms started. “She’s outside.” I breathed slowly through my nose and double-checked the door to the storage room. Locked. She’d gotten out. Relief whooshed through me so fast it left me lightheaded, and I palmed the wall until I’d regained my balance. More people cluttered the stairwell when I reentered. Several shouted questions at me, most a similar rendition of the same thing. They all wanted to know what happened. Was the building on fire?

“I don’t know. I need everyone to stay calm and continue going down in an orderly fashion.” I maintained a calm expression even though my entire body felt like it was being eaten alive from the inside as worry for Sabrina gnawed at me. I smiled and patted shoulders in passing. “I’m going to find out what’s going on. Keep moving. You’re almost there.”

A flash of dark brown hair on the opposite side of the stairwell sent my heart into my throat, but when I turned to look, I found one of the women from marketing staring up at me. Fuck. Where was Sabrina? Panic threatened to obliterate my ability to think. I’d never felt this much emotion before. What was wrong with me?

Between clattering steps and the ring of fear raising people’s voices, a different sound roared in my head. I had to find Sabrina and make sure she was safe. The thought of leaving without her threatened to curl me into a ball and leave me for dead. The lower we traveled, the tighter the tension in my gut. Still no smoke. No sign of fire anywhere.

We all stumbled out into the main lobby. Several men laughed and tried to play it off like they’d never been worried. They stopped to look around, hands on their hips and wide smiles unable to hide the fear in their eyes.

“Everyone outside. Across the road to the secondary parking lot.” I motioned them forward with a flick of my fingers. “Come on. Keep it moving. Clear the building for the firefighters.” I heard them behind me, the chatter of voices over radios and the deep thrum of sirens and hoses being attached to fire hydrants. I’d heard the sound once before, and a deeply implanted memory shivered up my spine. I hated fire. Hated it. I stood with my back to the glass and hustled people outside, all while scouring faces for that one beautiful visage that made my days worth waking up for. I was falling in love with her. I’d suspected it for a while, but today cinched the deal. The thought of living without her … I bit down on my tongue to keep from bellowing her name with the mayhem and madness roiling through me.

Once the lobby emptied, I backtracked to the second stairwell. The building housed three in case of emergencies like this. Sabrina could have been on any one of them. I peered upward. “Anyone in here?”

“Russell?” Sabrina’s voice bounced toward me, the relief of hearing her weakened my knees.

I grabbed the rail and forced my feet to carry me upward. “I’m here. I’m coming up.” I caught up with her on the second floor. “What are you doing here? You should have been on stairwell one.”

“I couldn’t get the door open.” Cheeks flushed, she continued her downward trek. “I had to go all the way around to the other side of the building to find an open door. Which led me here.”

“What do you mean the door wouldn’t open?” I almost reached out to stop her, but we needed to get out of the building. I needed Sabrina safe.

She huffed and pushed hair back from her forehead. “It wouldn’t open. Like it was locked. Or something. I don’t know. I banged on it, but nothing happened.” Her hand landed on my arm and she squeezed. “We’re okay, though. We’re almost out.”

She was worried about me? I bit back the scoff and reveled in her concern as we continued around the winding steps and out into the lobby. Three firefighters confronted us in the middle of the space and ushered us outside. Sabrina kept hold of my arm, her steps quick in our rush to cross the street and meet up with Chase. She paused at the edge of the parking lot. “I need to check on Miranda.”

I peered over her head and found her friend standing off to the right. “Stay close to her. Do not leave the parking lot until you hear from me, Chase, or Garrett. Understood?”

A quick nod and another squeeze and she slipped from my grasp. The urge to follow her, just to make sure nothing happened, stuck my shoes to the pavement until she reached Miranda and they fell into each other’s arms. Only then did my legs unlock and allow me to approach Chase and Garrett. “What happened?”

“We’re waiting to find out.” Chase jerked his head toward the building.

Nothing stood out when I craned my neck to look upward. “Everyone got out?”

“You and Sabrina were the last ones. Laura finished conducting the roll call. Everyone is accounted for.” Tension lined Chase’s face. “The Lexington Corp guys were not too thrilled. When Garrett asked if they wanted to set up another meeting, they said, and I quote, ‘Don’t call us. We’ll call you.’ Like this was some kind of movie.” He snorted but never looked away from the building.

Heatwaves shimmered across the lot and danced on the closed roadway. People peered through office windows on either side of Grady International. Employees tented hands over their eyes and leaned back to give the tall structure a long look.

“How long will it take?” I aimed the question at the man standing beside the fire truck. “Are your guys okay?”

His radio squawked and a crackle of garbled voices sliced the air. He ducked around behind the firetruck without answering my question.

“Good riddance to those Lexington pricks.” Garrett picked up Chase’s end of the conversation and carried it forward. “Never wanted to work with them anyway. No doubt they’ll run back to their daddy and tell him how mean we were.” He rolled his eyes.

“At least we respect Mr. Lexington.” It was easy to fall into conversation with my best friends, even as we waited to hear from the firefighters. We could lose everything. An unobstructed fire could take down the entire building. Chase had the money to recover the loss, especially with insurance, but would he have the heart to rebuild? After everything that had happened the last few months, we were all growing tired of the bullshit.

What happened to good, old-fashioned hard work and earning money without stealing from someone else?

“They’re coming out.” Garrett pointed his chin at the front entrance. “Must be clear.”

Thank fuck. The released breath emptied my lungs and I palmed the sweat from the back of my neck.

We waited for the firefighters to talk with their chief, who clapped each man on the back and sent them to the truck before he approached us. “Good news, fellas.” He removed his thick yellow coat and tossed it over his shoulder. “No fire.”

“None at all?” Chase’s voice had a hard edge to it that boded ill for whatever news came next. “What happened then? Is the alarm faulty?”

“Doesn’t look that way. You can have someone come out and check for sure, but my men found the fire alarm on the fourth floor had been pulled. No sign or even a hint of a fire, though.” He shrugged. “Could have been an accident and they panicked. I knew a man once who fainted and grabbed the fire alarm on his way down. Happened in the mall downtown.”

The tension I’d finally gotten rid of returned with a crushing weight. “The fourth floor? Are you sure?”

Piercing blue eyes crackled at the implied derision. “My men are thorough. If they say that’s what happened, that’s what happened. They cleared the whole building floor by floor, room by room.” He turned away from me. “Talk to your people. Maybe someone will fess up, though don’t be surprised if no one claims they pulled the alarm. People get squirrely about that stuff.”

Yeah. Probably because it was a crime. I bit back the remark.

Garrett shifted closer to me and dropped his voice. “Never was one to believe in coincidences.”

“Me either.” I found Sabrina in the crowd, still standing alongside her friend. She’d stopped shaking and the color returned to her cheeks. Her eyes met mine, her questions as easy to read in the deep gaze as my own. I’d tell her everything later, but right now my concern was getting everyone calmed down enough to go back to work.

“Maybe we should send everyone home for the day.” Garrett’s concern surprised me enough that I whipped my head around to face him. “Look at them. There’s no way they’ll get any work done after this. If we can even get them to go back inside.”

“Gives us a chance to look the place over ourselves,” I agreed while pinching the bridge of my nose. “We need to see who was on the fourth floor after we left. It’s too convenient.”

A cold dread settled in Chase’s eyes. “Give them the option to stay or go. They’ll get paid either way. Keep track of who does what. We may need the information later. I’m going back inside to check the fourth floor and pull footage.”

“Someone must not have liked us being in that storage room.” I drove the point home with a swift look at Sabrina. “And they were willing to put her at risk to prove their point. She said the stairwell door wouldn’t open and had to go around to the other side. I came in and out of the door closest to the storage room. The same one she would have tried first. Have someone check it for tampering.”

Cold fury strained every muscle in my body. I would find who did this, and they would regret ever messing with us.