“Callum’s here?”
“Yes, and at not a moment too soon as it seemed.” The man nodded. “Your brother found your phone outside that motel room. Then with you and the car missing, he was obviously worried. Like I said, he managed to get a hold of Mr. Montgomery, and my employer contacted the motel. He was able to work with them and get the security footage outside your room.”
The firetrucks arrived then. They sped onto the scene with police assistance, and the already heightened situation reached new levels for me.
I teetered in a sea of words, Lucas explaining to me how they’d spotted my father on the footage. How my dad had drugged me and taken me. The words came as firemen flew out of their trucks, and the cops were with them. They all took over the situation entirely, hoses being pulled toward the fire and cops asking if Lucas and I were okay. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t speak.
“Did he say why he did this, Miss Sloane?”
I faced Lucas after what he said, the only words that had apparently broken through. I’d been in a head fog, cops and fireman yelling around me…
Water spraying flames.
Lucas homed in. “Did he say why he came after you?”
My father hadn’t said why, and I didn’t know. “No. I don’t know why he did.”
Since I had no more answers for the man, I gazed away. Looking at the building, I simply watched the dying flames.
I mean, what else could I do?
Chapter Forty-Three
Sloane
At the scene, the police asked Lucas if he’d like an escort on the way to the hospital. Callum’s driver had wanted me to get checked out after seeing I had some bumps and bruises.
I didn’t think that required a police escort, though, but the cops had been adamant about it. They’d even highly advised it, but Lucas let them know he had the situation covered. He took me away from the scene and let me know both Callum and my brother would be there upon arrival. I was relieved to hear that news, and of course, I wanted to see them both, but I also wanted to see someone else. I’d been on the phone with Dorian before all this started.
I needed to see him badly. I needed to hear his voice and just be around him. I had no idea when I’d turned into this girl, but possibly being surrounded by flames had turned me into that. I could have died today.
I need to see him.
I started to ask Lucas if I could borrow his phone for all of a second before realizing I didn’t have Dorian’s number memorized. I would have to wait until I at least saw Bru. He had Dorian’s number in his phone.
The hospital was… surrounded. Legit, there was like a ton of people outside, news vans. The scene itself reminded me a lot of the time I’d gone to Dorian’s neighborhood and all those news people had been parked outside his gated community.
Lucas eased his sedan through them, tapping his horn, but as soon as he did that, the floodgates opened. People started taking pictures of our car and tapping on the windows.
“Is it her?” Some of them questioned, hitting against darkly tinted glass. “Open up. Is it her?”
Is who her?
I whipped around, studying these people through the window. “What’s going on?”
I asked the question to Lucas, the man full-on honking this time to get through the traffic of people and cameras. The whole outside of the hospital was a clusterfuck, and when we pulled up to the doors, he turned. “They’re here about your story, Miss Sloane, but it will be okay.”
My… story?
“Now, I want you to stay put until I open the door for you.” He nodded. “I’ll get you inside and to your brother. Don’t talk to anyone, but if you do, say strictly no comment. Mr. Montgomery is handling the situation.”
I had no idea what the fuck that meant, but I could only gather in this nosy-as-fuck town people had heard I was kidnapped.
Shit, word traveled fast.
I guess I was the five o’clock news because those shutters went off in rapid fire when Lucas opened the door.
“It’s her. It’s her!” shouted around me, people snapping my picture, but Lucas was quick. He grabbed me, and we went soaring through the sea of people and cameras.