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Holding my breath, I watch the steel doors open and reveal an ee level, but then have second thoughts Seth is s for me at the obvious escape route I’m not dressed the way he expects, so I just have to be deterht out the front door The elevator stopsfor the door to open Waiting for Shane to appear The steel doors part and a redheaded wo my need to exit

Once she’s entered the car, I walk into the corridor, nearing the lobby and willing ht out ofand I do I cut right toward the exit, not left as I’d traveled with Shane, and I do not allowuntil I’my neck I turn left, toward the 16th Street Mall area where there will be plenty of places to disappear It’s also toward my apart except away from Shane

CHAPTER THREE

SHANE

Seth and his team search for Emily both inside and outside the property, while I check every spot in the hotel her access key and codes will get her, thinking she could be hiding out to throw off our search After checking the restaurant and bathrooy place, only to find it deserted at this nine o’clock hour, with no sign of E rapping the spacious facility, pressingdon lights, without truly seeing theain the panic, torment, and terror in Emily’s eyes ere in that bathrooht She didn’t betray me, but she is in trouble, and I’ve let her escape to face it on her own

My cell phone rings and I fish it fro Seth’s call "Tell ed her cell phone Shane, it’s in your aparth the gyet there, but her coat is there She could have left her phone as well, so don’t assu to slip past you" I end the call and exit to the hallway While punching in my floor in the elevator car, I try to remember if E my brain to no avail By the time I’ve reached my apartment door, I’ve surmised that Emily had been on the balcony when Seth arrived with his bombshell about her She could have set her phone down there, but she does have a key to get in too

I enter the apart for any sound that tells me she is here Seconds tick by like hours, but there is nothing No sign of E the apart tells me that won’t be productive I retrieve ris "Damn it Damn it Damn it"

I shoveher cell Shoving aside the clawing sensation in es Both are blank except for ht tech person can find the, so I stick Erab mine I press my hand on the wall by the rack and lower

"She’s not here"

"Shane"

At the sound of Eo still "Where are you?"

"Somewhere you won’t findher words; no wind that says she’s outside, no voices that indicate she’s in a public place in the hotel "And that’s how it has to stay"

I squeeze my eyes shut with the certainty that she not only means those words, but believes they will hold true "Then why call me?"