Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PASSENGER SEAT|
Ronin's SUV stopped several yards away.
The driver's door opened. Ronin stepped out, his tuxedo jacket unbuttoned, his face tight with anger.
“Get away from that vehicle,” he ordered.
Eddie kept his weapon lowered but ready.
“Sir, we have a security breach.”
“I know. Move Audrey into my car.”
Audrey looked through the windshield.
Celeste was still in the passenger seat.
Her silver dress shimmered beneath the loading dock lights. She had one hand resting on the leather armrest and the other wrapped around her phone.
Audrey felt something cold settle inside her.
“Why is she here?”
Ronin glanced at Celeste.
“She was being followed.”
“By whom?”
“That's not important right now.”
“It seems important enough for you to bring her with you.”
“Audrey, don't start this.”
She stared at him.
“Don't start what? Asking questions?”
Ronin took a step toward her.
“Get in the car. We'll talk at home.”
“I am not going home with you.”
His jaw tightened.
“You're eight months pregnant. Someone has threatened you. This isn't the time to make a point.”
“I made my point upstairs. You chose not to hear it.”
Eddie interrupted.
“Sir, we need to move. The second vehicle hasn't been located.”
Ronin turned toward him.
“Who authorized the garage lockdown?”
“I don't know.”
“Find out.”
A sharp metallic sound echoed from the corridor.
One of the guards shouted.
“Movement!”
Eddie pushed Audrey behind a concrete pillar as a shot cracked through the loading dock.
The rear window of Ronin's SUV exploded.
Celeste screamed.
Ronin drew his weapon and returned fire. The guards moved toward the entrance, shouting instructions. Audrey crouched behind the pillar, her heart hammering.
A second shot struck the concrete above her.
Eddie covered her with his body.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
He guided her toward a narrow door leading into the kitchen. Behind them, Ronin shouted her name.
“Audrey!”
She turned.
He was standing beside the SUV, one hand extended toward her. Celeste was crouched behind the open passenger door.
For a brief moment, Audrey saw the old version of her husband. The man who had once carried her across a flooded street because she refused to ruin her shoes. The man who had waited outside a hospital room for six hours when her father had surgery. The man who had promised that no one would ever make her feel alone.
Then she saw Celeste.
And the promise broke again.
“Come with me,” Ronin shouted.
Audrey looked at Eddie.
“Take me out.”
They disappeared through the kitchen entrance.
Eddie led her past the ovens and into a refrigerated storage corridor. A second security team waited near the delivery entrance.
“Vehicle is ready,” one man said.
Audrey stopped.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To a secure residence.”
“Whose residence?”
“Mr. Keane's.”
“No.”
Eddie sighed.
“Mrs. Keane, please.”
“I have my own apartment.”
“It's not secure.”
“Then take me to a hotel under my maiden name.”
Eddie hesitated.
“Ronin won't approve.”
Audrey looked directly at him.
“I'm not asking for his approval.”
For the first time that evening, Eddie seemed uncertain whether he was supposed to follow her instructions or his employer's.
He finally nodded.
“There's a property in Coconut Grove. It belongs to the foundation, not the family. No one will expect you there.”
Audrey agreed.
As they left, she called her personal attorney, Miriam Cole.
Miriam answered immediately.
“Tell me you're safe.”
“I'm alive. I need you to freeze every document connected to the foundation's expansion.”
“What happened?”
“Someone has forged my signature.”
Miriam went quiet.
“On what?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Don't sign anything. Don't speak to the board. I'll start the process.”
Audrey watched the city lights pass through the tinted window.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Find out whether Ronin has been moving money through the foundation.”
Miriam took a breath.
“Audrey, I need you to understand something. If he's been doing what I think he's been doing, this is bigger than an affair.”
Before Audrey could respond, her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
Ask your husband what happened to the last woman who tried to leave him.
Attached was a photograph.
It showed Celeste standing beside a woman Audrey had never seen before.
The woman's face was circled in red.
May you like
On the back of the photograph, someone had written two words:
Ask Sofia.
