Daring Dixie - Tara Crescent Page 0,1

for me to enter. Limping in after me, he hits the button for the second floor. "We could have walked," he says. "But my ankle is acting up today. Arthritis."

"I'm sorry." Henri reminds me of Albert in the Batman movies. I guess that in that scenario, Xavier Leforte would be Bruce Wayne. It's not a bad analogy. Xavier can be inscrutable to the point of mystery, and God knows he's rich enough.

When the elevator reaches our destination, I turn to Henri. "You don't have to escort me. Just tell me where to go."

"Thank you, Ms. Ketcham. That is very considerate of you. Head left. Mr. Leforte's office is the last door on the right."

Xavier's office door is ajar. I knock on it, and his voice tells me to come in. He looks up as I enter and gets to his feet to greet me. "Dixie," he says with a smile, shaking my hand with his customary firm grip. "It's good to see you. I'm sorry I couldn't be in the office for your first week. How are things so far?"

It's a disaster. "Pretty good," I lie. "I'm still finding my way around."

"Elisa said something about a contract?"

"Yes. You're buying a company in Japan. The contract needs your sign-off. I can summarize the details for you if you'd like."

"Nothing you tell me today will sink in," he says with a grimace. "I haven't slept in over twenty-four hours." I hand him my pen, and he scrawls his signature on the dotted line. "Is that it?"

He looks exhausted, and, though his smile is friendly, his words are a polite dismissal. I wasn't going to pour out my frustrations about Pierre—that would be unprofessional—but even if that had been my intent, now's not the right time.

"That's it," I confirm.

"Good. I'll see you at Happy Hour on Friday? We can catch up, and you can tell me how your first two weeks have been."

"Absolutely." I tuck the contract back into my folder, mutter a polite farewell, and ride the elevator back to the main floor. Henri is nowhere in sight, but I don't have time to wait for him. Already, my phone is filling up with texts from my assistant Andie Cromwell.

Pierre needs the Argentina proposal. Do you have it ready?

John Stone asked about the Tennessee negotiations.

And so on and so forth. I tap out replies as I walk, and I'm about to exit the castle when I realize I've left my pen in Xavier's office.

My mom gave me that pen.

It's my lucky pen.

"Great," I grumble under my breath. Xavier practically threw you out of his office, and you're going up there to bother him again. Way to make a good impression.

I retrace my steps back. Andie's doing her best to control the chaos, but I need to be back at the office. I smash my finger into the elevator button, my attention on my phone. It'll take me an hour to drive back, and then my team needs to make copies of the contract before the FedEx driver shows up at five. It's a little before two. I'm not running out of time, but I'm cutting it closer than I'd like.

The elevator arrives. I get in, the doors shut, and it starts to move. I'm not paying attention; I'm typing out another message to Andie when it whispers to a stop and the doors open.

That's when I hear the woman scream.

I'm not on the second floor of the castle. That much is clear. Ahead of me is a cave of darkness. It's daylight outside—I must be in the basement. I use my cell phone for light and take a step forward, my heart racing in my chest.

The woman cries out again, her voice thin and high with panic. "Help," she shouts. "Please—"

Her voice abruptly cuts out.

My fingers dial 911 on instinct.

But the call doesn't go through. There's no reception down here.

Now what? I freeze in place, but I already know what I'm going to do. I can't walk away; I have to intervene. I couldn't live with myself otherwise. I could get Henri, but there might not be enough time. I need to act now.

"Please," she begs. "I don't know anything. Please let me go."

I tiptoe into the dark void. The voice seemed to come from across the room. I grope my way toward a door. I turn the handle, and to my relief, it's not locked. It swings open silently.

I'm closer now. The woman cries out again, and this time, I hear