“We would never have been able to accomplish these goals without the help from the wonderful people in this room. I want to personally thank each and every one of you for your dedication to this community. To striving towards a world without homelessness. A world without hunger.”
My words float around the room, all eyes on me. All eyes but Sasha’s.
I raise my glass. “Now go spend some money.”
The crowd raises their glasses as they chuckle, but I’m already walking away from the podium.
Sasha doesn’t need to hear my speech. I don’t care about that. I just care about her. I care that she’s not here. She wouldn’t miss this. Not if she could help it. Something is wrong.
I spot Angelo. He sees the look on my face and steps away from his conversation.
“What’s wrong, Vin?” He asks.
“Sasha. Where is she?” His concerned glance around the room tells me everything I need to know. “When did you last have eyes on?” I ask.
“I saw you two together and then I saw her head out into the lobby area.”
We’re both walking before he’s even done talking.
I spot Brent as we near the doors.
“Brent!” I bark his name.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Where’s Sasha?”
His brows furrow as he thinks. “Oh, um, I guess I haven’t seen her since she went to talk to that reporter.”
A familiar flood of adrenaline fills my veins. “What reporter?”
“I didn’t get his name.”
Angelo and I move in on him, causing Brent’s eyes to widen.
“What did he look like? Details.” I demand.
Brent looks as scared as I feel. “Um, white guy. He was bald. Like shaven bald, not old person bald. Short. Thin. Really blue eyes. Like, crazy blue.”
My pulse roars through my ears. It’s Randal. The son of a bitch is here. He walked right into my building.
Angelo has his phone out.
I grab Brent by the front of his shirt. “Where?!”
He points behind him. “The – The elevators.”
My legs are running before I even tell them to. I slow at the first group of elevators, but my gut tells me this isn’t the one.
Rounding the corner, my eyes immediately snag on the small gold purse on the floor. Right next to a shattered glass.
Sasha!
Panic and rage war inside of me.
I press the button to call the elevator and it doesn’t even light up. Angelo tries the other one and the same thing happens.
Eric comes running around the corner and Angelo shouts for him to try the other elevators.
“My office.” I think the words out loud, causing Angelo to turn and face me. I say it again. “My office. The bastard fucked with the elevators and went up.” I hold my hand out, palm up. “Find someone to get these things fucking working, then follow me up.”
Angelo nods and pulls the gun from a hidden holster and slaps it into my hand. “I’ll be right behind you, brother.”
I shove through the door to the stairwell. 19 flights of stairs. I have no choice but to sprint them.
