Page 74 of Carte

“I’m at the hotel. The hotel Harley’s staying in. But, I promise you Mr. Ryan, I’m not getting close to her.”

“Okay, Jude, okay,” I said as calmly as possible. I needed to stay calm if I wanted to get information from a man whose trigger was clearly tripped. “Now focus, Jude. And tell me why you called. What’s going on?”

“She’s not safe. You need to come. You need to hurry.”

Bile surged up my throat. “What do you mean she’s not safe? What happened?”

“She’s not safe. You need to come, now.” He repeated the words that tore me up inside.

But I still didn’t know what happened.

If Harley was hurt.

“Jude,” I barked. “What is going on?”

But the man was too far gone to give me any more information. “Hurry.”

“Jude, you need to tell me-” The line went dead.

“Who the fuck was that?”

“That was Harley’s stalker we put away two months ago.”

“And he’s calling you because?”

“He’s calling to tell me that he’s in Harley’s hotel and that she’s not safe.”

We made the trip that should have taken us at least an hour in forty five minutes. The whole time I tried to call Harley, but the busy signal bleeped in my ear over and over.

I was out of the car before Trevor could fully stop, running through the lobby.

“Carter,” Trevor called, but I didn’t even pause. I needed to get to her.

Miraculously, the elevator doors slid open just as I reached them.

“Get out,” I barked at the couple and another woman as I pushed my way inside, tagging the button for Harley’s floor with Trevor sliding up to me at the last second.

I counted down the seconds as we ascended the floors.

“We’ll be with her in a few seconds, brother. Keep your cool.”

Fuck cool.

I felt like I was about to climb the walls of the elevator.

I pulled my gun out of the holster and shot out of the elevator the second I could.

Rushing down the long hallway, I clocked the man standing in front of her door.

“Move,” I barked.

He turned, saw me coming up with a gun raised and his face transformed from bored into combative in a blink of an eye.

He reached behind his back, probably to take his gun, but Trevor called behind me, “Reid, move out of the way.” Reid didn’t hesitate a second as he heard Trevor’s command, and by the time I got to the door, he was already out of my way.

I raised my foot, and kicked it against the wood.

The flimsy door flew open.