“Addison?”

I looked back. She was coming around the corner, another shadow behind her. A larger one, and he turned with her, almost towering over her. I paused, the phone in one hand and my other reaching for the bathroom handle. Our eyes met, and his narrowed.

“Addison, what are you doing?” Sia asked.

Dorian’s nostrils flared. His hand came down on Sia’s shoulder, and he began to pull her behind him. He surged toward me, and I slammed the door shut. I hit the lock a fraction of a second before he was there, yanking on the handle.

“Ms. Bowman.” He sounded so damned professional.

I kicked at the door, then regretted it. My ankle began to throb. I grabbed it, just holding on as he knocked on the door again. “Addison, if you tell me what’s the matter, I can probably assist you.”

Asshole. I couldn’t say a word, and he knew it. He’d hurt Sia.

“Addison? Come on.” Sia was becoming impatient. “This is ridiculous. You wanted me to call Cole. Dorian can do that for you. That’s what you wanted, right?” Her voice grew quieter. “You can do that? You’ll call Cole for her?”

“Mr. Mauricio is out handling business. I’m sure he’ll call as soon as he’s able.”

“Yeah.” Sia bought it. “You’re right.” She stepped closer to the door. “Did you hear that? Cole will call us. I’m sure the second he has his phone, he’ll call. Dorian’s right. Come on, Addison. Come back out. We can both snuggle in that bed of his—have you seen the bed? It should have its own Instagram page. It’s like nothing I’ve seen. Huge. And the sheets?” She groaned. “I felt them before. I’m pretty sure that’s Egyptian cotton.”

A growl formed at the base of my throat. She wasn’t helping, and I couldn’t say a goddamn word. I hit the door with my fist, still holding my aching ankle in the other hand. The longer I kept quiet, the better chance Sia would remain alive.

Enough was enough.

I didn’t want to involve the cops, but I had no other choice. Lifting the receiver, I dialed 9-1-1 and held my breath, hoping this would save the day without putting Cole behind bars.

“Addison?” Sia pressed against the door.

“Ms. Bowman.” Dorian was right next to her. I could see their shoes.

“Emergency. What is your loca—”

The line went dead. I hung up and tried again. Nothing. I kept hitting the hang-up lever to try again, but nothing. I started crying. This couldn’t be happening.

“Why’d you do that?” Sia asked, her voice suddenly different.

I froze, phone in hand.

“You yanked out the cord,” she said. “Why…I mean, why would you do that?”

No, no, no! She couldn’t ask more questions. I tossed the phone aside and began hitting the door with my palm. She needed to shut up.

I kept banging, as hard as I could. Maybe the other men would come in. There had to be more than Dorian. Sia said there were two. I hit the door with my entire arm, then both arms. I couldn’t yell, so I kicked with my good foot, too.

I whaled on the door until I heard a loud thud on the other side.

Then I stopped, my heart pounding.

What had happened?

I looked under the door, and their shoes were gone. I heard the soft tread of footsteps, and I gulped as Dorian’s feet reappeared.

His voice came through right at my level; he must’ve squatted down. “If you don’t come out of there, I am going to kill your friend.”

“Don’t,” I said, still so hoarse. “Please.”

“She’ll stay alive, but only if you come with me.”

I still didn’t know why Dorian was doing this. Who was he, really? I just knew he was a killer. He’d kill Sia. I had no doubt, and I had no options. It was my life for hers. My vision tunneled as panic and icy calm battled within me. I needed a weapon. Looking around, my head felt suddenly heavy, and I couldn’t see anything. God, I needed something—the phone! I yanked out the cord that connected the receiver and the base, and tucked the receiver into my…what the hell was I wearing? I had on a shirt and pajama pants. There were no pockets, nothing. I tucked the receiver into the waistband at the back of my pants and pulled them tight to keep it there. I gripped them in the front, hoping Dorian would think I was just scared. Which I was.

With near hysteria slicing through me, and my legs feeling like lead, I scooted back and unlocked the door.

There he was. He had squatted down, and his eyes were so hard. He smirked, looking like the murderer he was. “Good girl.”

My stomach twisted with disgust.

Dorian clamped a hand on my bad arm and yanked me out of the bathroom. The pain was almost blinding, and I bit back a scream as he said, “We don’t have a lot of time. I don’t know what you did in there, but if a call got through, you might’ve just gotten a whole lot more people dead.”

Sia was on the bed, her eyes closed and her head bleeding.

“What are you talking about?” I rasped. The pain was almost numbing now as he dragged me out of the room.

He paused, glancing down. “I see I didn’t crush your throat enough. You can talk, huh?” His eyes held the same murderous glint as they had when he was interrogating me. “I’ll have to fix that real soon.”

I could see his grip crushing my hand, but I didn’t feel it. Sia had said two men, but as Dorian pulled me all the way from Cole’s bedroom down to the kitchen, I saw no one. They were gone.