Synergy: New Adult Romantic Suspense (U-District, #1) (41 page)

She spotted Donald at the elevator. “Finally heading out? Have fun sail—”

Her words died in her mouth when Donald whirled around. His eyes were wide, almost wild looking. Sweat ran down the sides of his face. He clasped the laptop bag as if his life depended on it. Files and papers bulged out of it.

“Donald, what’s wrong?”

Jade’s eyes settled on a folder labeled Sentra, the name of the new bogus company. She stepped back. At last she knew. “You… it was you?”

“Jade, you don’t understand,” Donald pleaded.

“How could you do this to my grandmother, to me?”

“I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t like that at first.”

“Tell that to the police.” Jade turned for her office. She had to call Neal.

Donald’s hand clamped down on her arm like a vise.

“Let go of me.” She yanked her arm free.

“Please, let me explain.”

“You can explain it to the authorities, Donald. I’m not interested in your excuses.”

Donald dropped the bag. “I’m sorry, Jade. I can’t let you call the police.”

When he unexpectedly grabbed for her, she dodged then bolted down the darkened hallway. Automatic light sensors lit her path of escape.

“Jade, let’s talk about this. The police don’t have to know. I can make this right again.”

She stopped twenty feet away. Thankfully, she was wearing jeans and sneakers. She could outrun him. “I just sent Detective Hawkins the information. There’s enough there to figure out it was you. I was already zeroing in on it. Let me call the police and tell them you want to turn yourself in.”

“You sent him files? He knows what I’ve done?”

Jade walked toward him. His face revealed his shame, and she had an overwhelming desire to comfort him. There had to be a good reason he’d done this; the Donald Haley she knew was a good man. But as she approached him, that shame morphed into something else.

Pure fury.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Jade.”

She realized her mistake too late. She’d believed in Donald’s innate goodness.
I shouldn’t have told him about the police.

Sweat beaded along his brow, his hands balled into fists, and the look in his eyes alternated between terror and danger.

He was afraid, yet there was something else. Her brain was still trying to comprehend what her instincts were already screaming. Hair prickled along the back of her neck, and goose bumps formed all over her skin in warning. She took a step back.

Donald leapt forward, his full weight barreling down on her.

She failed miserably to get out of the way.

His center of gravity pitched him forward. He caught her foot on his way down and sent them both crashing to the floor.

“Let me go!”

Jade kicked his face. She wasn’t sorry when something crunched under her heel. He howled in pain and released her ankle. She could no longer feel sympathy for this man, this man she’d cared deeply for, this man who’d stolen from her grandmother, this man who’d broken her heart.

Feeling freedom, she took off and almost crumpled to the ground. Pain lanced through her left leg. Her knee had been the first to hit the floor on her fall. She limped away, gritting her teeth to fight back the agony.

Jade turned the corner and flinched. The fluorescent lights automatically turned on. They might as well have been a neon sign that read,
Hey, I’m over here
. She hobbled past the engineering cubicles, more light illuminating the way and telling Donald exactly where she was. Then she backtracked, her heart stammering at the sound of Donald’s labored breathing just around the corner.

She ducked under a desk and cowered, her knee screaming in pain.

He stopped a few feet away.

Follow the lights. Please, please, follow the lights.

If he found her here, she had nowhere to go.

He walked around the corner.

Jade stood and bit back a scream. Her knee was swelling against her jeans, and every time she stepped down, the floor might as well have been covered in tacks. She had no choice but to limp back the way she’d come. It took an eternity to make it to the exit.

The railing provided support as she staggered down the stairwell, each step pure agony. Yanking the door onto the next floor once, twice, three times, proved fruitless.

The key was in her purse, in the office.

Jade stared down the endless stairwell. There was no way she could walk down forty-one flights to safety. Her damp hands slid against the cold railing.

I can’t outrun him. If he tosses me down there, I’ll die.

For a fraction of a moment, she second-guessed herself.

Donald wouldn’t kill me, would he?

The pain in her knee brought her back to reality. If he was capable of this, what else was he capable of?

But how could she possibly save herself?

A fleeting memory of Bryce’s passionate kiss and his loving embrace reminded her she had every reason to keep fighting, no matter how hopeless the odds. She couldn’t give up. No matter how much Donald had taken from her.

Jade pulled herself back up the stairs, one excruciating step at a time. Thankfully, the door was still slightly ajar. She peered through the crack, looking for her demon.

There he was, panting at the end of the long hallway, his menacing eyes glaring… right at her.

Jade slammed the door and leaned her weight against it. Her heart drummed double time in her chest.

What am I going to do?

She hobbled her way up to the forty-third floor and sucked in a breath when Donald ran into the stairwell and peered down below.

The door slammed shut.

Her stomach dropped to a free-fall, and her knees went lax.

Now, there was only one way out, and Donald was between her and it.

She was trapped.

BRYCE WAS TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER
how Donald fit into the picture. It was obvious he had the financial acumen to steal from the company, even hide it. But Donald was a big teddy bear. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Or would he?

Donald was one of the newest members of the team. He’d started within a few months of Bryce. Donald had won Stan over and Jade too. Hell, who didn’t like Donald? He was a nice guy, but lately he’d seemed stressed. Probably because he hadn’t found a replacement yet and was doing Stan’s job in addition to his own.

Bryce had badgered Donald to interview a replacement, but he was always too busy. Or… An uneasy thought took root.

Or Donald didn’t want to hire a replacement because he was worried that his replacement might stumble onto something.

Donald had seemed shocked when he’d been informed of Stan’s termination and been offered his position. Frankly, they’d all been shocked about it. But what if Donald’s reaction had had more to do with his stealing from the company than with his replacing Stan?

It fits.

Bryce could rationalize both scenarios. And if Donald was responsible for this… The idea scared the hell out of him. What did a very large teddy bear do when backed into a corner?

Bryce wasn’t willing to find out. Not when he was staring at Donald’s car parked next to Jade’s.

Dammit!

He pulled into a spot, dug out his wallet, and fished out the detective’s card. He dialed the number and made a beeline to the garage elevator.

“Detective Hawkins.”

“It’s Bryce Radisson.” He stepped into the elevator.

“Do you… where… Jade….” The detective’s reception was cutting out.

“She’s at the office, Donald is here. Donald knew about the laptop.”

“Get her out… I’ve confirmed… I repeat… Donald. I’m…”

Bryce didn’t catch it all before the connection failed, but he got the gist. He ran across the lobby to the row of elevators to take him to the forty-second floor.

He only hoped he’d make it in time. Jade was up there, alone, with a man who’d already hurt her once. What would he do now that he’d run out of options?

JADE WAS TRAPPED
in the stairwell, her heart pounding. There was no way out. An unexpected breeze blew across her damp arms. She looked up.
Is the roof door open?
There was nowhere else to go. It was five stories up. She had to try.

She didn’t move fast, couldn’t move fast. It was torture ensuring each step was silent, biting her tongue to stop her pain from escaping her lips.

The echoes of Donald’s labored breathing and his footfalls were getting fainter. He must have gone down the stairwell, but his steps were slowing. Had he realized she was above him?

By the time she reached the top, her knee had all but seized up. She reached the fire door, and discovered where the breeze had come from. Someone—probably one of the men who’d been working on the air conditioner—had propped it open with a piece of wood. She pushed the heavy door with all her might. Slowly it began to open, the screech from the rusty hinges echoing down the stairwell. There was no doubt Donald had heard it, and now there was nowhere else for her to go.

She hobbled toward an HVAC unit, then remembered. She hadn’t moved the block out of the way to close the door. No one had a key to the roof. If she could close it so that the lock latched, Donald wouldn’t be able to reach her.

Jade turned toward the door, almost sobbing at the thought of having to cross the roof again. Each step was pure agony now.

Donald’s loud footsteps were getting closer.

It was too late. She had to hide.

BRYCE BOLTED OUT
OF
the elevator onto the forty-second floor and tripped on a—what was it?—a laptop bag. He bent down and checked out the papers scattered across the floor. The bag was Donald’s; the Maui pin made him sure of it.

He ran to Jade’s office. Her lights were on, her computer unlocked, her purse in her drawer.

Where is she?

He ran to Donald’s office.

Fear shot like lightning straight through him.

Donald’s file cabinets were open and papers were strewn over his desk. He’d been tipped off somehow and had been preparing to run, but since his car was still in the garage and his bag was by the elevator, he hadn’t left yet. Which meant he must be after Jade.

Bryce raced out of Donald’s office. “Jade?” he called. He didn’t bother to mask the anxiety in his voice.

He ran to the break room. The lights were on, but no Jade and no Donald. Lights were on in Engineering. Maybe someone else was here. He ran to the cubicle farm, but no one was in sight.

He started when his cell phone rang. It was Detective Hawkins.

“Mr. Radisson, I’m at your building. Do you have her?”

“No, I can’t find her, but Donald knows you’re on to him. He was clearing out his office and his laptop bag is on the floor by the elevator.”

“Both of their cars are still here. How do I get up there?”

“You need a key.” Bryce continued to run through the forty-second floor. “You need an elevator card key. I can’t come down. I have to find her.”

“I’ll watch for him down here and in the stairwell. I’m calling for backup.”

“The stairs!” Bryce hung up and ran to the emergency exit.