Pamela sighed wearily. "Now?"

"Yes," Bob replied. "It's almost three."

She knew she had promised Bob to leave by noon, but she didn't want to leave. "I still have guests around. It'll be rude to leave them."

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I don't have a choice."

But I do! Pamela thought sneeringly. She was sick and tired of being a puppet in the hands of Devlin. Yes, he'd saved her. Yes, he'd protected her, but she felt like a prisoner. She belonged here, in her father's company, with her employees. She was sick of being a prisoner.

"Alright, Bob." She said with a smile. "We'll go."

He looked tremendously relieved.

"But," She stood gingerly. "I need to go to the bathroom – alone." She added when he made a move to follow her. "Just sit here and drink something."

"I'm not allowed to drink on duty."

"You're not on duty." She snapped. What an exasperating man! "At least not with me." She softened her tone.

He didn't reply. Pamela felt sorry for him when she saw how his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. He sure wanted a drink, and since he was on 'duty' – which would be every single time of the day – he couldn't drink.

Pamela started to move and saw he was still determined to follow her. "It's a bathroom, Bob. I don't need company. Not that I don't find your company stimulating, you're a laugh a minute." She picked up her purse. "But I need to be alone, you know, to do girl stuff, and I don't need you standing outside the bathroom door, my employees will think I'm a fugitive or something."

He still looked wary.

Pamela started towards the bathroom and sighed in relief when he didn't follow her. As soon as she was out of sight, she took a left turn towards another door and dialed Marcel's number.

It didn't go through.

Pamela cursed and kicked the wall. Thank God her stiletto heels could protect her toes from hurt. She tried Marcel again and it went straight to voicemail.

"Damn it, Marcel!" She cursed angrily. How the hell was she supposed to escape without help?

She could sneak out towards the elevator, but that would mean going back to the conference room. Bob would certainly spot her.

She sighed in resignation.

Downcast and discouraged, Pamela walked back to the conference room, and just by a streak of luck, she saw that Bob was drinking! Even if it's just one glass of whiskey, it showed he was distracted, even at the least bit.

She could sneak past him!

She started moving cautiously towards the door that lead to the elevator. She was halfway there when Bob jerked and scanned the room as if waking up from a dream. Pamela avoided his eyes and turned to look at one of her employees who was passing at that time.

"Ashely right?" Pamela grinned brightly at her. She looked at Bob and waved as if to say 'I'm here! Don't worry!' then pretended to be interested in Ashley and her dog who had just given birth to a litter.

When Bob looked away again, she cut Ashley off, saying she needed something she forgot in her car, and excused herself.

Moving, her eyes on Bob and trying to mask the fact that she was sneaking so her guests wouldn't be suspicious, she got halfway to the door and Bob wasn't looking. He'd filled his third glass, she was sure. If only she could just ease over to the stairway entrance without him noticing.

Pamela moved quietly, but cautiously. Bob's eyes roamed the room again and fell on her. She froze and tried to look bored. Maybe she should hum a tune. Twinkle twinkle little star was a little bit inappropriate, but she could hum the one coming from the speakers.

Bob jerked and placed a hand on his ear. He turned away and started speaking.

Not believing her luck, she all but raced from the room and took the lift to the ground floor. And as the elevator dinged and the door opened, she bumped into a hard body.

~

In the end, curiosity won. He just couldn't keep still. He was having an eerie feeling in his guts that something was amiss. The maps he'd been studying were useless anyway. One of his trusted spies had given it to him. It was the only way they could locate Bull's hideout.

The guy they had captured had been useless and stupid. He'd stood by Bull, showing him indisputable loyalty. Devlin wondered if his boys will go to such lengths to be loyal after being tortured. He had no doubt they would.

Bull's boy refused to break, even after severe torturing. But Devlin hadn't gone to him personally. It was his boys that did his dirty work now. It would have to be extremely urgent before he made his hands dirty with Bull's trash. So, all he could do was connect with his spies across the country, to ask for something, anything, that would expose Bull's hideout. All he'd gotten was an archaic map. Still, it was better than nothing. He'd traveled down to Texas to collect the maps himself.

Still, it had been on a dead end. Zilch. That had gotten Devlin mad. His only consolation was that his men hadn't been killed in the shootout. Hurt, yes – and that was enough to make him want to snap Bull's neck – but he was glad they were alive.

He also didn't want to go into battle blind. He needed eyes, ears, and a goddamned map.

He stood and went to refill his glass. Taking a sip, he picked up his phone and fiddled with it. He wanted to know if she was alright. If she was safe. He'd never left her alone in his safe house. He hated leaving her alone. The last time he had let her go to her father's funeral, he'd been more than glad to bring her back.

After the funeral and her hurtful rejection, he'd sworn never to bother himself with her issues anymore, but he hadn't been able to sleep well that night so he'd stationed his men outside her house to watch over her. By mid-morning the next day, they had called him to report suspicious vans around her residence and Devlin had dropped everything to go protect her. There was no one more qualified than he was. So he really couldn't be blamed if he wanted to check up on her although over fifty of his capable men were in the safe house with her.

He unlocked his phone and almost dialed her cell but changed his mind. After two more displays of cowardice, he decided to call Austin, one of his boys.

"Hello, sir." Austin picked up at the first ring.

"How's it going?" He asked, his voice clipped and professional

"We're safe. No danger around. Everyone is fine."

"And the lady?" Devlin almost hit himself for asking of her so soon into the conversation. But he couldn't wait any longer.

Austin hesitated and Devlin immediately knew something was wrong.

, "Uh boss –"

"Spit it out." He growled.

"The lady left the safe house –"

Devlin shot out of his chair. "What?!" He yelled. Cody ran into the study in alarm, his gun raised. He lowered it when he saw nothing was wrong.

"B-Bob went w-with her –" Austin's voice was shaking.

"How dare you let her leave? Where did she go?" He asked.

"Her f-father's company. I think."

"You think? You think? What did I order you? You're a dead man Austin. Dead." He snarled and hurled his phone against the wall and the screen shattered.

He balled his fists. "Get through to Bob." He said with gritted teeth.

Cody approached cautiously with the wireless device and handed it to Devlin. He yanked it and put it into his ears.

"Cody?"

"How dare you let her leave the safe house without my permission?"

"I – I'm sorry sir."

"Where is she?" He bit out.

"She's right –" He could hear Bob panting from the other end as if he wanted to faint. "She was right here! S–she escaped, boss. I– I– I can't find her. I could swear I saw her a second ago. I'll go check the bathroom –"

Dread settled over Devlin and it rendered him speechless and paralyzed with fear. With a pang, he recalled Peter's words, of him falling in love and she crushing his heart. He realized now that he might have fallen in love, and his heart was crushing. Crushing from pain and anguish and fear. The realization was like a breath of fresh air, that something he had been denying all along was true, but with that realization came the panic and dread that was coursing through him in shocking waves like he'd held a naked, electric wire.

She was all alone. She was in danger. If Bull got his hands on her –

He stood abruptly, his jaw set in determination. He was not going to give up now of all times. He was not going to lose her. He was not going to get his heart crushed. He was going to prove Peter wrong by showing that he could love and protect his heart from being crushed.

"I'm on my way."

~

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