CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Edward
Olivia and I watched from the shadows and pretended to be in the line waiting to get into Libby Hart’s big birthday bash.
I was having a hard time looking at Olivia.
She had her shiny, black hair up in a fancy twist of some sort.
She was wearing a low-cut red evening gown.
She was breathtakingly gorgeous. And she looked almost exactly like Cara. I had to look away.
“Get ready. We’re getting very close to the front of the line now,” Livy warned me under her breath.
A bolt of adrenaline shot through me. “Do you have your earbuds in? Can you hear Sam?”
“Edward,” she hissed at me. “You have got to chill. You keep asking me the same questions, and you’re making me nervous.”
“Sorry,” I thrust my hands in my pockets and tried to appear blasé about the whole situation. I didn’t want to bring any attention to us.
“It’s okay.” She took a deep breath. “Yes. My earbud is in—it’s just one. And I can hear Sam just fine.”
I nodded and looked around. I didn’t recognize anyone as we approached the entrance.
Declan, who was supposed to go in first, was almost at the door.
He was the picture of laid-back confidence, and I was comfortable enough in my sexuality to admit he was an extremely handsome guy.
Half of his charm came from the devil-may-care attitude he exuded along with his easy, effortless humor.
There was every chance that all female, and some male, eyes would be on him as soon as he walked into the party.
I grabbed Livy’s arm. “Listen, no matter what happens in there, you need to focus on two things only—one, get to a safe place to release the micro drone.”
“And the second thing?” she prodded when I took a moment to finish my thoughts.
“Get out of there safely. Don’t even think twice about me.
If they spot you or you seem to be in any danger, I’m going to deflect all the attention to me.
If that happens, don’t even slow down. Don’t look at me, don’t worry about me, just release the drone and get the hell out of there. Understand?”
Livy rarely let anyone tell her what to do, but she gave me a nervous smile.
“Thanks. That sounds like it will work. Just remember,” she added hurriedly as we moved up in line, “we want you out of there safely, too. I understand you being a distraction for me, and I appreciate it. But don’t be a dumbass.
Cara would never forgive me if something horrible happened to you in there. ”
I started to say something, but the crowd surged forward behind us, practically pushing us through the doors. There wasn’t time to say anything else. I closed my eyes briefly, praying that this would work.
“Move it, buddy,” some asshole said behind me, and I stepped forward.
Then we were in.
Olivia and I were going to enter on opposite sides of the huge double doors standing wide open to admit guests. There was one man who seemed to be checking invitations, but he was overwhelmed by the massive crowd of upper-crust, Charleston society growing impatient to join the party.
It would be easy to slip past him.
Declan was just ahead of us now. While he easily side-stepped the man and entered the party, Olivia shot in on the other side of him and immediately disappeared along the edge of the foyer, blending in with all the other women clad in ball gowns.
I hoped she could make it somewhere it would be easy to release the micro drone.
I entered after seeing the stir Declan created as he walked through the foyer and down the stairs into the grand ballroom.
I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so focused on what we were here to do.
Within seconds, he had the attention of almost everyone in that room.
Within a minute, several women had already gathered around him.
And everyone seemed to be watching as he managed to flirt with about fifteen women at once.
He was performing his role perfectly.
I turned and went in search of Livy, doing my best to keep somewhat hidden without looking like I was trying to hide.
I glanced back towards the doorway and saw that Lufton and Willa, who I had to admit had turned into a total blonde bombshell over the years, were already garnering a ton of attention, even though they were still a couple of people away from the man checking invitations.
He’d grown somewhat desperate and was simply directing people to drop their invitations into a large crystal bowl on a table by the door.
Most weren’t even doing that; they were just ignoring him completely at this point.
I edged along the wall looking for Livy.
Every time anyone gave me a second look, I surreptitiously looked down or rubbed a hand over my face and did my best to act bored.
About the same time I saw Olivia standing in an open area between the two, curved grand staircases on either side of the huge room, I heard a familiar voice.
I turned and saw Declan making somewhat of a scene over flirting with what appeared to be half the ballroom.
His voice was intentionally loud. He was doing just exactly what he was supposed to do to deflect attention from Livy.
I watched as Livy calmly held up her hand as if she was waving at someone.
If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that was exactly what she was doing.
But I saw the tiny black shape leave her hand, zip up past the grand chandelier, and take a turn down a hallway on the second floor.
There were velvet ropes stretched across the staircases, indicating the level was closed to the public.
But not us, I thought, as I hoped Sam could quickly get a view of something, anything, that would spur the SLED team to storm the house and rescue Cara.
If she was here. God. What if we’d been horribly wrong and she wasn’t even being held here? Sweat trickled down my back. I could only hope we hadn’t done all of this for nothing.
“Is that… Cara?” a horrified voice whispered somewhere close to me. I froze. I knew that voice. It was Garrison Hart. And he was staring at Olivia.
My heart started to pound. What should I do?
But Livy seemed to be in control. She dropped back into the crowd, disappearing easily amongst the tall, tuxedoed men.
“What’s wrong with you? You know she’s upstairs.
There’s no way she can walk, much less come down here dressed in a ballgown and blend in.
” I recognized Monty’s voice and looked around until I spied them in the center of the room.
They were several feet away from me, but I could hear them clearly.
I half hid behind a huge plant, hoping they wouldn’t see me.
Unless I needed them to in order to protect Livy.
“It looked exactly like her,” Garrison said suspiciously. “Could be that sister of hers…” His voice trailed off, and he stared towards the doorway. “Good glory. Would you look at her,” he said breathlessly.
I looked in the same direction and breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness for Lufton and Willa—and their perfect timing.
They were making a grand entrance, and everyone seemed to take notice.
How could they not? Livy was right. On their own, both Willa and Lufton were exceptionally good-looking people.
Together? They were almost impossible to look away from.
“Who?” Monty sounded bored. “Oh. Yeah, she’s pretty.”
“Pretty? Your head is too wrapped up in Cara, son. That girl is about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Monty made a dismissive noise. “I just want to go back upstairs and sit with Cara. How long do I have to stay down here?”
“Would you shut the fuck up about that girl?”
I glanced over in surprise. Garrison appeared nervous and sweaty. He was losing it, I realized. He was no longer in control of the situation. It had gotten away from him, and he knew it. Did he know this would be the last party he ever threw?
“Just watch the goddamn show this couple is putting on.”
Monty was silent for a moment, sipping his champagne, completely unperturbed at his father’s foul mood. “They are really good,” he said, surprise obvious in his voice.
I knew Lufton and Willa must be dancing, but I didn’t have time to watch. While the rest of the crowd was staring at them in awe, I hurried up to Olivia. I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind a huge palm fern in a massive blue-and-white china pot.
“Cara’s here,” I whispered excitedly. “I just heard Garrison and Monty talking about it…”
She was already nodding. “Sam knows. The drone is working. He hasn’t seen her yet, but he’s seen two empty rooms with medical equipment in them. He’s moving the drone down the hall now looking for her. SLED is about to storm the Hart mansion,” she said with satisfaction.
“Wait. But something’s not right,” I frowned. “Monty was just saying that Cara couldn’t walk—why wouldn’t she be in the bed…”
Sudden movement at the top of the stairs dragged my attention upwards. I sucked in a breath. “Oh my God.”
Nora Hart was standing at the top of the stairs.
She had unhooked the velvet rope and had Cara by the arm, pulling her out of a wheelchair.
Cara was clearly incapacitated. I could see hopelessness in her eyes.
She was standing on one leg, wincing in obvious pain.
Nora kept pushing her forward, trying to force her to the edge of the stairs.
Her intent was clear; she was going to either push Cara down the steep, curved staircase, or over the banister.
I’ve heard people describe panic attacks.
They say it’s as if the walls are closing in on them and they can’t breathe, or like they’re having a heart attack and are near death.
Watching Nora manhandle Cara was making me feel that way.
I judged the distance from me to her. There was no way I’d make it up the stairs in time if Nora pushed her.
And I wasn’t sure I could reach the center of the foyer in time to catch Cara if Nora pushed her over the banister.
Which one was she going to do? I paused, worried that if I went all in on one direction, Nora would choose the other option.
The crowd around me had gone silent, staring at the horror unfolding before our eyes. “Oh my God,” I heard a woman say. “It’s the missing ballerina!”
The sound of sirens in the distance caught Nora’s attention momentarily, and her eyes widened. For a moment, I thought she would stop trying to hurt Cara. That the threat of the police would be enough to stop whatever horrible thing she was plotting.
But I was wrong.
Nora got a determined look on her face and seemed even more intent on whatever her plan was.
I tried to read her face, her eyes, to see which direction she was leaning towards, but I couldn’t figure it out.
Her eyes were darting about, as if she was trying to figure out what to do.
And she was having trouble with Cara, who, even on one leg, was doing her best to fight back.
That’s when Nora seemed to make her decision. She pushed Cara hard in the back, forcing her to the very edge of the top of the stairs.
I wouldn’t make it in time, I realized, as I saw the whole thing starting to unfold.
But I had to try anyway. I pushed people aside, not even noticing as they fell to the sides while I sprinted towards the stairs.
I had my eyes locked on Cara the whole time.
Then, as if in slow motion, I saw Nora push her, hard, down the stairs.
I felt the breath leave my body as Cara started to fall.
“No!” I screamed, running as fast as I could up the stairs.
Then something amazing happened. As she fell, Cara reached out and managed to grab the banister with both hands, holding on for dear life.
A look of pure determination crossed her face as she saw Nora still coming for her.
Wrapping her arms around the banister for leverage, Cara used her upper body strength to take her good leg and swing her foot as hard as she could at Nora’s thin body.
She connected, catching Nora directly in her stomach.
The attack caught Nora completely off-guard, and she hurtled towards the banister, flipping over it.
Everyone gasped as Nora just managed to catch herself on the other side of the banister, her body hanging several stories above the ground. She hung there for a moment, before her fingers lost their grip and she fell to the hard marble floor far below with a sickening thud.
Screams rang out as she fell, and people immediately rushed to tend to her.
Cara had screamed out in pain as she kicked Nora, but somehow managed to steady herself and stay semi-upright, clutching onto the banister with both arms. I took the stairs two at a time to get to her.
“Edward,” she gasped out, a smile spreading across her beautiful face as she saw me. I picked her up in my arms, holding onto her as tightly as I could without hurting her. I never wanted to let her go again.
The next events unfolded quickly, but I had trouble focusing on anything other than the fact I had the woman I loved in my arms. I buried my face in her hair, vaguely aware that the sounds of sirens were now right outside the door.
I heard Garrison Hart boom out, “That’s the man who kidnapped her. Arrest him!” I looked down and saw that he was pointing me out to a swarm of SLED officers making their way into the Hart estate.
They ignored him. “Garrison Hart, we’re going to need to take you in for questioning.”
I turned and saw a detective directing several police officers. “Get his son, too. The daughter needs an ambulance.”
“Garrison? What’s happening?” Libby Hart, looking understandably confused and upset, watched as police invaded her home and began dragging Garrison and Monty away.
“We need two ambulances,” the detective said into his walkie.
Cara turned her head. “Three,” she called out, startling me. “Kelisha Kelley is upstairs outside the library. She’s been badly hurt.”
The detective nodded, called in the change, and sent a couple of officers hurrying upstairs to find Kelisha.
Cara looked up at me, smiled, and caressed my cheek with her hand.
Then she passed out.