Maddox stepped out of the shadowed hallway and through the door. “You need to follow me.” No please, just a fact that she would do as he said.
She sent a startled look to Indigo, who took a half step closer and muttered, “What’s going on? Why is Maddox here?” She gestured toward the door. “What did you do?”
Rhia shrugged and hoped the small movement would dissolve the trickle of fear that skittered up her spine. She reached behind her and replaced the mascara in her hand for her cell phone. If anything went down, she would activate the GPS locator so her brothers could find her body wherever Sevastyan decided to dump it.
At least Adryan knew where she was. She leaned on that fact, small as it was. “I’m not sure,” she managed.
The man stood, blank-faced. No real surprise there. The lug’s stoic stone-cold face gave away about as much as a brick wall did. “Mr. Volkov is waiting. Follow me.” He made a wide gesture with his hand and stepped to the side for her to do as he requested.
It looked like she didn’t have much of an option. She approached. “Mind telling me what this is all about?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Hmm.
She gave him a tremendous smile and tried another angle as she followed mister dark, grim, and broody deeper into the club down a closed-off corridor. “Any idea why I’m being summoned so I don’t walk into the wolf’s den unaware?” Like a guilty person, she wanted to add but kept that thought to herself.
A soft rumble of what she wanted to consider a laugh sounded in the small corridor. When they came to the end of the hallway, her escort waved a beefy hand on an otherwise empty wall which made a panel slide open to reveal a secret keypad.
Bright light bathed them as a hidden door slid open.
A secret elevator? Wow.
Reaching inside, Maddox pressed the up button and gestured her inside. With a couple of jabs, he punched in a code and stepped back. Faster than she could process, she was whooshed upward three floors and the ding of the door was the only thing that prepared her for what came next.
Standing in a pool of light by the elevator doors, his bright eyes connected with hers. She clasped her hand in front of her and fought to ignore the way he filled in the black dress shirt or how a rush of heat bloomed across her cheeks and traveled to settle between her legs.
With his hands tucked in his pockets, Sevastyan greeted her. “Ms. Carmichael. Thank you for coming.”
Crisp, cool, in control. And pure alpha.
“Didn’t have much of a choice.”
She recognized the bookcase and the dark leathered sofa in the backdrop from the previous night. Somehow, she’d missed an elevator opened directly into his office. She filed that away for reference along with the five-digit code the guard had used.
Rhia laced her fingers in front of her and considered the limited option within her grasp. Limited being an understatement.
“You can refuse my invitation to join me, but I doubt you’ll want to miss this.” A smile pushed full lips back to reveal a row of white teeth.
She shuffled from one foot to the other, eyes wide. She responded out of habit of countering her brothers at every turn. “I don’t remember there actually being an invitation issued. I was more like forced and given cold stares of indifference from your head of security.” Momentarily baffled, Rhia planted her feet to the middle of the elevator and refused to move.
She eyed the panel of buttons to her right.
“Maddox does his job well, doesn’t he?”
She didn’t bother with the rhetorical question. Amber eyes spiked with a deeper color held her attention, his deep, rich voice like dark whiskey against her hearing. If this was a prelude to how her evening was about to play out, she had bigger problems than she first thought.
“Either join me or pack your things. Your choice.”
She smoothed her hands down her skirt. She wasn’t fool enough to be disarmed by his light chuckle or the way he held his hand out to her, palm up, waiting like he knew what she would choose. But the woman inside of her wanted to believe the warm gestures were genuine.
She waited for a solid two heartbeats before placing her shaky hand in his. Warm. And oddly comforting.
With little encouragement, knots in her stomach tightened and served like a noose around her veins, spiking her blood pressure into triple digits as her palm glided against his rougher one. She knew for a fact her hands trembled, but hopefully he wouldn’t mention it.
She slipped her tongue out to wet her bottom lip, and his gaze dipped to watch the act.
Her hand in his, palm against palm she placed one foot in front of the other, aware of the man taking graceful strides beside her. Leading deeper into his office, his shoulder brushed against hers. Firm. Too firm. He was like a rock.