Fidelity (Infidelity #5)(81)

We all leaned one way and then the other as Clayton swerved around slower moving vehicles as he continued speeding toward the city.

“Let him.”

I turned to Nox. He was now on his phone too.

“Let him,” he repeated to his phone. “Keep her safe, but let the asshole hang himself.”

“No,” I pleaded.

Nox hung up his phone and covered my knee with his hand. “It’ll be all right. Isaac won’t let anything happen to her. If Isaac keeps Spencer away, when the police arrive they’ll just talk to him and he’ll still be free. If he’s at the room, his ass will be back in jail.”

I shook my head. “No. Chelsea isn’t a pawn in some damn game. You can’t keep using her to get what you want.”

“What I want is for you to be safe. What I want is for both of you to be able to sleep at night without nightmares. What I want is Edward Spencer to be someone’s bitch behind bars for a very long time. I want him to suffer for what he’s done to you.”

I lifted the phone to my ear again. “Chels…” I tried to sound strong. She didn’t answer. “Chelsea!” Still no response. I tried one more time. “Chelsea!”

I turned to Nox and Deloris. “Call Isaac. She isn’t responding.”

Nox reached for my phone and looked at the screen. “The call’s still connected.”

“I know. I’m not hanging up.”

“Alex,” Deloris said, “the police are already on their way.”

“Deloris, do you have that other phone? The one Alton gave me?”

“It’s back at the hotel. It’s turned off. They aren’t tracing it, if that’s what you are concerned about.”

I shook my head. “No. I was hoping you had it. I’d call Alton and tell him that his son is about to violate the restraining order and risk his bail. If anyone could get Bryce to listen, it’s him.”

“Do you remember turning off the location on that phone Saturday night?”

I tried to remember. “No. I knew it was on. It was part of the reason Alton gave it to me. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that it was one of his ways to keep track of me.”

She shook her head. “The location was off when I found the phone at Lennox’s house. I heard the chatter from Mr. Fitzgerald. They knew exactly where you and Chelsea were. I’d assumed it was through your phone, but I was wrong.”

“What does that mean?” Nox asked.

“It means that just like we have eyes on them, they have eyes on you.”

“Do you think they knew she was alone?”

Deloris nodded. “I think it’s a real possibility.”

I lifted the phone again to my ear… nothing… no voices or noise. The small timer on the screen was still clicking the seconds. The call was still connected. “Chelsea!”

A crowd was gathering as the blue lights of multiple police cars flashed near the hotel. As soon as Clayton brought the SUV to a stop, I opened the door and jumped to the sidewalk. Ignoring Nox and Deloris’s shouts, my heart thundered as I ran toward the glass front.

There were more police than I’d first realized, some wearing visible vests over their uniforms, and many were conversing in groups.

The driveway in front of the building was roped off, yellow ribbon with the words CRIME SCENE blocked my way. I slowed just enough to duck under the tape when an officer in uniform stopped me. “I’m sorry, miss, no one in or out.”

My breathing stammered my speech. “I have to get in. It’s my friend in there.”

Nox came up behind me, also catching his breath. “Officer, we’re the ones who called this in. Let us enter.”

“I’m sorry. I have my orders. The hotel is on full lockdown.”

I shook my head faster with each of his words. “Lockdown. No. What happened? I can’t reach her.”

Nox also hadn’t been able to reach Isaac since their last call.

The officer reached out and touched my shoulder. “We have a possible hostage situation.”

The ground beneath my feet tilted as fear strangled the muscles of my throat, seizing my response. Nox was speaking to the policeman. His words grew fainter and fainter until my knees lost tension. I reached for his arm, but it was too late. The world went black.

“Miss Collins. Miss Collins…” My name repeated as I blinked away the haze.

There was a woman in a uniform with a very bright light. I squinted my eyes as I tried to make sense of where I was. There was equipment around me—medical things, but it was cramped. The bed below me was soft and narrow. There was a large opening, near my feet allowing daylight and noise to enter.

An ambulance.

I was in an ambulance.

“W-what happened?” I asked. And then I remembered. Struggling to sit, I pushed against the blankets. The back doors of the ambulance revealed a surreal scene of lights and uniforms. It was as if the doors were a screen and beyond was a movie. But it wasn’t fiction or even dramatization. It was real life.

“Miss Collins, you fell. You hit your head.”

I looked around as I sat taller. “My head?” I reached for my own hair and tenderly pushed. The back of my head was sore to the touch but I didn’t have a headache. “Where’s Nox?” When the woman’s gaze narrowed, I explained. “Where’s my boyfriend? He was with me.”