Dr. Blackwood stood in the hallway outside the door.
I stumbled back, suddenly feeling sick. Oh my God, he’d found me? Why? Why wouldn’t he just leave me alone?
I stared at the door as I tried to get my breathing under control. I had to calm the fuck down. I was inside and he was outside. The door was locked. He couldn’t get to me if I didn’t let him in. Unfortunately, the new security that Lucy’s sister-in-law had organized hadn’t shown yet. I was alone.
Still, it was okay. He couldn’t get in. I kept telling myself. The door was locked. I tried to soothe my frazzled nerves.
Then, a man with a trolley appeared at the end of the hallway.
Blackwood turned to speak to him, gesturing toward the door. He flashed some kind of lanyard that was around his neck. Washe claiming to be checking on a patient? The kid with the room service trolley seemed conflicted. He glanced up and down the corridor. Blackwood impatiently looked at his watch like he was in a hurry to check on someone.
I backed away from the door. He was going to get in, one way or another. I just knew it.
I couldn’t stay here.
I ran through the hotel suite, shoving my sneakers on and pulling a heavy cream winter coat out of the closet. I’d just have to owe Lucy this one.
There was a terrace outside that attached to the one beside it. It didn’t seem very security savvy, and Lucy’s bodyguard hadn’t been happy about it, but maybe the hotel figured that the people who stayed in such luxury, high-end suites wouldn’t be sneaking around and stealing from each other’s rooms.
Anyway, right now, I was grateful for it.
I stepped out onto the terrace. It had stopped snowing, but it was still very cold. My feet slid a little on the ice coating the flagstones. I shut the French doors and headed to the metal barrier between the two suites.
The room next door seemed to be unoccupied. There wasn’t anything out on the terrace that would indicate another guest was staying there. I had to risk it.
I climbed up on the partition, my hands freezing on the icy metal. Slowly, I lifted my leg over the side, swaying scarily when I was halfway over, but I gripped harder and kept going. I couldn’t look away from the wall toward the city. We were ten stories up. It was the kind of height that would make my head spin, and I was dizzy enough as it was.
Slowly, I lowered myself on the other side of the barrier and nearly collapsed in a heap on the balcony. I had to keep moving.
I scrambled across the terrace, slipping and sliding, reaching the glass doors. With a quick prayer, I closed my eyes and pushed it.
It slid open. Relief hit me. I’d fully been expecting it to be locked from inside. That was the kind of luck I usually had, but today, it had worked out.
I slipped inside. The room was quiet, empty, and clearly unoccupied. I locked the door to the balcony and paced the living room, trying to think through my problem.
I could stay here, but Blackwood would work out I might have gone to a neighboring room. Hell, my footprints were pretty obvious on the balcony. I should have taken some time to go back and forth and make it confusing. Then again, there was nowhere else to go once I was out here, so he’d still find me. I couldn’t stay here, I realized slowly. The desire to stay in the warm comfort and safety of the hotel was overwhelming, but I couldn’t give in.
I had to leave, and I had to do it right now, before Blackwood got access to this room, too.
I crossed the room toward the main entrance and listened to the hallway outside. It was silent. Next, I peered out the peephole. Not a single soul passed by. If I was going to go, I had to go now. Slowly, I eased the door open. It felt like every single clunk of the electronic lock opening was a shotgun blast.
The hallway was silent. Blackwood and the room service guy had probably entered Lucy’s suite. I had to go.
I started down the hall, jogging close to the wall. When I got to the bank of elevators, I second-guessed my decision to take one. I went for the stairs instead. I padded silently down the stairs, ears straining for any kind of noise that would alert me that I wasn’t alone.
I made it all the way to the bottom and out into the foyer safely.Maybe I could do this. I really could. I was more and more confident with every passing minute that I didn’t get caught.
Outside on the street, I raised the hood of the heavy winter coat. I should wait somewhere nearby to watch for Lucy coming back, I decided. She had security with her, and her IT guy seemed like she could help with a lot. I shouldn’t just disappear on them.
I headed to an alley to the right of the hotel. I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t wait in any of the nearby cafés.
In the alley, steam poured out of a vent in the wall, immediately fogging the cold air. A generator hummed, and it was less cold than being in the direct freezing wind blowing overhead. I leaned on the wall and shivered, folding into a crouch.
Outside, the street was bustling, considering the cold day. The people of Torino getting on with their work, taking kids to school, walking their dogs. Everyone too busy to notice a girl huddled against the wall.
Then I saw him.
Blackwood.