‘I was under the impression that I was protecting your daughter. I told you I was concerned about your office,’ Nathan spoke briskly.
‘My office—although I trust all of my staff implicitly—is my office. I’m talking about me!’ Alison exclaimed.
‘No need to raise your voice, Foreign Secretary,’ Nathan said.
‘And what was that announcement about a relationship between you? If this is part of some plan, I need to know about it. I want to know exactly what’s going on.’
Autumn observed her mother, trussed up in a magenta cocktail dress, wearing shoes that were far too young and far too high for her. Her eyebrows almost met at the bridge of her nose with the ferocity of the snarl, and her lips were pursed like a cat’s bottom smeared in Max Factor’s Fantasy Fire.
Nathan grabbed hold of Alison’s arm. ‘We can’t have a fucking conversation like this here.’
As soon as he made contact, two men lunged forward from behind her, grabbed Nathan and had him on the ground with both arms up behind his back.
The crowd gathered around Juan, let out a collective gasp, and the photographers moved their focus from the semi-conscious rapper to the Foreign Secretary’s guards and Autumn Raine’s new boyfriend flailing on the floor.
‘Let him go! Mother! What are you doing?’
‘That’s it, I’m calling the police,’ one of the bystanders said, reaching into his jacket pocket for a phone.
Autumn read the look on her mother’s face, could see she was enjoying this show of her power.
‘Mother!’ she called again.
‘Let him up.’ Alison straightened her dress and watched Nathan get to his feet, pushing himself out into some space away from the heavies. ‘But I want answers from you, Mr Regan.’
Nathan let out a dry laugh. ‘Really? You want answers from me?’
‘What are you inferring?’
‘What are you inferring?’
Autumn looked at them both, her head turning from one to another as they verbally sparred with each other. Her concentration was only broken when someone took her arm.
‘Hey, Autumn girl, what’s going on with you?’ Blu-Daddy asked, his huge brown eyes bulging from his face.
‘I’m fine, Blu. Everything’s fine,’ she said quickly and smiled.
‘Everything don’t look fine right now, honey. Why don’t you and I get some air? There’s some stuff I want to talk about with you anyway.’ He linked arms with her.
‘I don’t know if I should,’ Autumn began, watching as her mother launched into another tirade about how security was paramount to her. Security, not her daughter.
‘I want to know what’s going down with you and Juan. I thought you two were the real deal. Who’s the new guy? He’s… alternative,’ Blu-Daddy continued, leading her away from the argument.
‘I know, he’s very different, but that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, did you know? About Janey and Juan?’ Autumn asked as they walked toward the doors.
‘Janey? And Juan? No way, girlfriend! What is that about?’
*
Where was she? She’d been standing right beside him and now she was gone. Alison yapped at him like he was a post-room boy who had forgotten to send a parcel, and her two goons had folded their arms in an attempt to look menacing. His head told him not to panic. Panic only made things worse and caused the same in other people. This party was full of the world’s rich and famous. It wasn’t the time or the place to have a full security alert. His eyes scanned the room. He saw someone he recognized from the cast of Homeland. There was Jason Statham, but where was Autumn? His heart was thumping in his chest. This was not the time to lose control, but that’s how he felt. Control was slipping as every second he couldn’t see her ticked by. He had completely zoned out of the row with Alison, and now he was preparing to move. He couldn’t see Autumn in the room at all. He needed to find her.
He pushed past Alison, knocking her into a waiter, and hurried through the other guests toward the hotel lobby.
Janey was just returning to the function room and smiled at him. That fake, false persona was instantly on show. She was hiding something and he was becoming more and more convinced that it was more than just her relationship with the bald rapper.
‘Have you seen Autumn?’ Nathan asked, his breath coming out in bursts.
‘Yes, of course. You arrived together not more than forty minutes or so ago,’ she answered.
‘Listen, don’t get fucking cute with me. Where is she?’ Nathan blasted, sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
‘I have no idea. Has something happened?’
Nathan shook his head and moved forward. ‘Your boyfriend might need a little TLC right now, apparently you’re good with that where he’s concerned. Oh, and you might want to ask the kitchen for a steak for his black eye.’
‘Teo, this is Regan,’ Nathan spoke into the microphone under the sleeve of his jacket. ‘Have you got a visual on Autumn?’
The answer came through his earpiece.
‘Negative, Regan, but it’s all quiet out here.’
‘She’s missing. Jazz, can you see her?’
‘Affirmative, she’s out front with some big guy. All looks friendly though. Hold up…’
‘What is it?’
‘I’m not sure, give me a second.’
‘Give me something here, Jazz, or I’m going to blow this party wide open with the fire alarm.’ Nathan swallowed down the ball of anxiety in his throat.
‘Get out here, Regan, now! Everyone to the front. There’s a van!’
He didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted down through the hotel lobby and out into the street, just in time to see Autumn wrestling with Blu-Daddy, who had hold of one of her arms while two other men pulled her toward a white transit van.
Nathan yanked out his weapon, but before he could fully draw, shots were fired. One… two… three. He tried to take a breath and focus on the scene before him. There were shouts, a cry, passers-by on the street were screaming and ducking for cover. Three men in familiar uniforms appeared. The
