My eyes scanned the room, but I didn’t find her before Richard spoke again. “My phone has been ringing off the hook with security offers since I let go of my old team. And yes, I know Harper Security is the best.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to respond. “But I like to get on well with the people I work with. I need to trust them. You’ve always been a cold bastard, but…” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Perhaps I was wrong.”
The puzzle pieces for why Stella had gone off script clicked into place.
She must’ve picked up on Richard’s baffling need for personal connection.
None of my business partners and current clients gave a shit about personal connection. They only cared about getting the job done.
There was a first for everything, I suppose.
I hid a tiny smile before I closed the deal Stella had opened for me.
I’d underestimated her.
Once I had the opening, it took me less than ten minutes to extract a verbal agreement from Richard. He’d have the contract in his inbox by the end of the night.
Kurtz was out of the game before he even got in the ring.
When Richard left to greet another guest, I scanned the room again for Stella.
Richard’s wife and the ambassador were still talking by the elephant display. Kurtz was hitting on some unlucky blonde at the bar.
No Stella in sight.
Even if she’d gone to the bathroom, she should be back by now.
It’d been too long.
Something’s wrong.
My heartbeat slowed until it was a distant drum in my ears.
I pushed through the crowd, ignoring the protests and dirty looks as I searched for any glimpse of dark curls and green silk.
Nothing.
A fleeting image of her lying on a floor somewhere, hurt and bleeding, flashed through my mind. Panic swelled, so foreign my body fought its encroachment until the hot, frantic rush finally overpowered my resistance and flooded my veins.
Most people’s reactions wouldn’t have veered immediately into she’s in danger territory, but I worked in personal security. That was my fucking job.
Plus, I’d accumulated a long list of enemies over the years. Many wouldn’t hesitate to get to me through someone I cared about, and Stella and I had debuted as a couple tonight.
Dammit. I should’ve been more careful, but I’d vetted the guest list. Other than Kurtz, who was as competent as a toddler operating heavy machinery, I hadn’t seen anyone who was cause for concern.
Of course, someone could’ve easily slipped in with the servers, ushers, or dozens of other people working the party.
My jaw ticked as I entered a dimly lit hall off to the side of the main room.
If anyone touched a goddamn hair on her head…
A door swung open at the end of the hall and, like I’d conjured her through sheer force of will, Stella stepped out, looking calm and unharmed.
Surprise crossed her face when she saw me.
“Hey! Did you close the—” Her sentence cut off with a soft gasp when I closed the distance between us and backed her against the wall.
“Where were you?” My pulse beat a furious rhythm as I scanned her from head to toe, searching for injuries or signs of distress while she stared at me like I was an alien that’d crash-landed on earth.
“I was in the bathroom.” She spoke slowly the way she would to a child. It was only then I noticed the bathroom signs marking the doors.
A frown creased her brow. “Is everything okay? You’re acting weird.”
No, they’re not. Things haven’t been okay since the day I first saw you.
“I thought something happened to you.” The roughness of my voice startled me almost as much as the intensity of my relief.
I shouldn’t care this much. Nothing good ever came from allowing other people control over my emotions.
But goddammit, I did, no matter how much I hated myself for it.
“Next time, let me know before you run off.” The roughness deepened into a command.
I had no desire to experience the terror that had gripped me in the past ten minutes again.
It was ugly, foreign, and completely unacceptable.
“I didn’t run off. I went to the bathroom.” A hint of fire flickered beneath Stella’s words. “I don’t need to tell you every time I leave your side. That wasn’t in our agreement. Besides, you were busy.”
“You were in the bathroom for half an hour?”
“Someone spilled champagne on my dress. I was trying to fix it.”
My eyes dropped to the small, dark stain on her skirt.
“It didn’t work.” Her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. “I’m so sorry. I know how expensive it must’ve been. I’ll find a way to pay—”
“Fuck the dress.” It’d cost nearly ten thousand dollars, but I couldn’t summon two shits about what happened to it.
If I had my way, I would tear it off her myself.