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least Leon would be there and—
    Marcus flew out of the doorway to his office and crashed into the wall. He let out a groan and slumped to the ground.
    Isabella skidded to a stop and dove back around the corner, out of sight. Dear God! What was going on?
    Marcus grunted with pain, and she peeked around the corner, her heart pounding.
    Leon was striding down the hall toward them from the other direction, and she sagged with relief. Leon would save him—
    “We lost the girl,” Leon said. “We need to find her.” Then he turned toward Marcus, and hauled him to his feet. “Is she wearing the real thing, or a fake?”
    Marcus just leveled a cold stare at his best man. “Fuck off.”
    Leon scowled and slammed his gun into Marcus’s stomach.
    Isabella sucked in her breath. Leon was involved? He was the only one she trusted and—
    Footsteps raced down the hall toward her, and she whirled around. Shit! She ducked into the room and pressed the door shut as someone ran past.
    “Did she come this way?” Zack barked. “She was heading for Marcus’s office.”
    “No,” Leon answered. “Get Marcus to the car whilewe find Isabella. Don’t shoot him yet. We need him alive until we find the necklace and Isabella.”
    Don’t shoot Marcus yet? Dear God, what was going on? Isabella raced toward the window and unlocked it. She popped the screen and stuck her head out. No one was around. She slipped outside and ran down the patio stairs toward the kitchen.
    She sneaked inside the kitchen, and then froze when she heard screams.
    “Where the hell did she go?”
    She recognized the voice of another of Marcus’s men, and Isabella moved behind a shelf, wanting to see who else she couldn’t trust. She peeked through the boxes of flour in time to see Nate Sampson, one of Marcus’s top retrievers, raise his gun and point it across the room. “Tell me where she is.”
    “I don’t know! I swear I don’t know!”
    Isabella gasped at the sound of Roseann’s voice. Her friend was huddled against the wall, her eyes wide with terror.
    She couldn’t let them hurt Roseann and the baby! Isabella leapt to her feet to run around the shelf.
    “Then you’re useless.”
    “Wait! I’m right here!” Her shout was drowned out by the explosion of a gun going off, and then Roseann was sprawled on the kitchen floor, a red stain oozing out from under her upper body.
    Isabella gasped and went down on her knees, unable to stand. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
    “Isabella has to be around here somewhere,” Nate said. “Find her.”
    A man moved past the shelf, mere feet away, jerking Isabella out of her stupor. She lurched to her feet andbacked toward the door, unable to take her gaze off the slumped figure of her best friend. Her only friend.
    She heard another gunshot in the distance and more screaming. From the party guests.
    More dead?
    She had to get away. Escape. Find help.
    There was only one way to get out. One hope. A dead end if Leon thought about it and got there first.
    She slipped through the kitchen door, hoisted up her dress, and broke into a frantic run toward the south garage. Did Leon know about the SUV Marcus kept in bay five? Did he know she knew about it?
    She was deep in the gardens when she heard a shout. “She’s in the yard! Get out there!”
    Isabella ran harder, her bare feet getting sliced on the sharp rocks. Her dress caught on a bench and she went down hard on her knees. Shouts echoed behind her, and then the gardens were flooded with light.
    She ducked beneath the thick foliage and scurried along behind the shadows. Less than two hundred feet from her destination.
    “She’s heading toward the garage!”
    Isabella abandoned hiding and broke into a run again. Her lungs were burning, and she heard more shouts. No guns, though. They needed to keep her alive so they could ask her about the necklace, she realized.
    She yanked open the heavy door and ran inside, then threw the deadbolt. She only needed a moment. A