Chapter 4 - Panic in the Penthouse
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Up on the twenty-second floor, the rooftop lounge had devolved into chaos. Julian Sterling, the hotel’s night manager, was on his knees beside Preston Hollis, pressing an ice pack wrapped in a linen napkin against the heir’s deformed wrist while two paramedics wheeled a stretcher out of the guest elevator.
"I want her name!" Preston roared, kicking an overturned chair with his designer loafer. "I want her full name, her address, her social security number, and I want her in handcuffs before I reach the emergency room!"
"Mr. Hollis, please, our human resources files are strictly confidential—" Julian stammered, sweat beading along his hairline.
"My father holds the mortgage on this entire block!" Preston screamed, shoving the ice pack away. "Give me the bartender’s name right now, or you’ll be managing a drive-thru in Pawtucket by sunrise!"
Julian swallowed hard, his hands shaking as he pulled up the employee tablet at the host stand.
"Delaney Marsh," Julian read aloud, his voice barely above a whisper. "She started four months ago. Lives over on Atwells Avenue."
"Good," Preston hissed, pulling his phone from his pocket with his left hand. "And what about the little nobody in the blue dress? Who brought her into a private VIP lounge?"
Julian tapped the guest registry from the charity recital earlier that evening. As the full name and encrypted security clearance loaded onto the screen, every drop of color drained from the manager’s face. The tablet nearly slipped from his sweaty palms.
"Well?" Preston barked. "Who is she?"
"Mr. Hollis," Julian whispered, his throat constricting as he stared at the red warning flag on the hotel database. "You need to leave the city. Right now. Forget the hospital. Go straight to the airport."
Preston laughed bitterly as the paramedics strapped his arm into a temporary splint.
"Are you insane? Over a music teacher?"
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"Her name is Noel Ferraro," Julian said, stepping back as if Preston were carrying a live grenade. "That’s Dante Ferraro’s sister. The only family he has left alive."
For the first time that night, Preston’s mouth opened, and no sound came out.
