HEAT Vol. 2 (Master Chefs: HEAT Series #2) (9 page)

“I
didn’t have any classes this afternoon.  My last class let out just before
noon.  We were supposed to have lunch and then go looking for a throw rug for
her apartment.”

“Hey,
what’s going on?” Errol said as he came in.  “I can hear you guys way out in
the hall.”

“Lilly
is missing,” Taryn said.  As calm as she’d been a minute ago, she was now
bursting with urgency.

Errol’s
face was grave as he nodded.  “She left work early this morning.”

“To
go where?” Taryn said.

“I
don’t know.  I thought she went to see the doctor or something.  She just told
the supervisor she wasn’t feeling too good and wanted to go get some cough
syrup.  When she didn’t come back, he just assumed she’d gone home.”

“Okay,
so what do we do now?  Call the police?”

Errol
walked around the kitchen table and put his arm around Taryn’s shoulders, as if
to protect her from whatever fate Lilly might have met.  “Give me a minute,” he
said.  “I have a friend.  Let me see what I can do.”  Errol kissed Taryn then
pulled out his cell phone and walked away as he made the call.  “What’s Lilly’s
cell number?” he called to me.

I
gave it to him and waited as he continued the call.  The minutes ticked by and
my patience grew thin.  “This is nuts.  The woman I love is out there
somewhere, possibly hurt, possibly injured, possibly in trouble, and I’m just
sitting here sipping tea.”

Taryn
offered me a sympathetic glance just as Errol finally hung up.

“Okay,
let’s go.  We were able to triangulate where she is, or at least where her cell
phone is.  Let’s just hope she still has it with her.”

“Where
is she?” I said as I hurried behind him.

“Somewhere
north of Paris.  I have the GPS coordinates.  We’ll follow wherever it leads
us.”

My
heart beat so hard, I had trouble hearing anything else.  What could she be
doing north of Paris?  We headed to Errol’s car and I was relieved to know I
had him on my side.  He quickly punched the coordinates into the car’s GPS then
turned the car out onto the road, following the directions given.

North
of the city, he turned onto a narrow road lined with small homes.  After a few
miles we passed a stretch of deserted road and finally came upon a small, two
story hotel.

“This
is it.”

Shocked,
I froze.  Lilly was in a hotel on the outskirts of town.

“Are
things good between you two?” Errol said.

“Uh,
yeah.  I think so.  I mean, I thought so.”

“Any
reason she would come out here to meet someone?”

Searing
pain gripped my heart at the thought of Lilly having an affair.  “No.  There’s
no reason.  No, she wouldn’t.  We’re happy.  We’re…”  We were in love, weren’t
we?

Epilogue

Errol King

T
aryn’s kid brother had fidgeted all the way to
the hotel, and now that we were here, he didn’t know what to do.  I could
understand his fear, but we had to move quickly if we were going to save Lilly.

“So. 
How do we find out what room she’s in?” he said.  “Do we just bang on every
door?”

I
glanced at the GPS.  We were still fifty yards from the exact coordinates. 
Putting the car back into drive, I continued on until we arrived in front of
the doors numbered twenty to twenty-seven.

“You
think that’s where she is?”

“It’s
one of these rooms.”

“Or
one of the rooms on the second floor.”

He
was right.  There were more than a dozen doors she could be behind.

“Okay,
I don’t care how stupid it looks and I don’t care if we bother a bunch of
people.  Let’s go knock on all of them.”

I
shook my head.  “Why don’t you let me go see what I can find?” I said.

“She’s
my girl, Errol.  I should be the one going in to save her?”

“Yeah,
but we’ve got to keep a cool head, here.  I don’t think you're there.”  I
glanced at the office at the other end of the hotel and Bobby followed my gaze.

In
my peripheral, a shadow emerged from a room and disappeared in the darkness.

“Look,
why don’t you go to the office.  Give Lilly’s description and ask if they’ve
seen her.  Maybe they’ll even give you a key.”

“A
key?  I’m here to save my girl from Lord knows what, and you want me to get a
key?”

“With
the key, you’ll have the element of surprise.  We’ll have a better chance if we
can catch whoever’s behind this off guard.”

He
wasn’t convinced by my argument, but he got out of the car and headed to the
office just the same.

I
hurried to the door the dark figure had emerged from and tried the doorknob. 
It turned easily in my hand and as I pushed lightly into the door, I was
surprised by the lack of resistance.  I could hear a soft male voice coming
from inside and once the door was ajar I saw a dark haired man sitting on the
edge of the bed.  A woman lay back, her legs stretched out in front of her, but
her face was hidden by the man’s shoulder.

Was
I intruding on the private and intimate moment of complete strangers?

The
door creaked and the man jumped off the bed and turned around.  “What the
hell?”

I
glanced down at the woman on the bed, half expecting her to scream her head off
at the sight of a strange man in her room, but it was Lilly and her frightened
face was instantly transformed into one of relief.

Now
that I was sure I was in the right place, I let my anger take charge and rushed
the guy.  “What the hell is going on here?”  Pushing my elbow under his chin, I
backed him to the wall.

At
my height, we faced one another and stared, eye to eye.  There was something
familiar about him, and I was certain I’d met him before, but that didn’t
diminish my anger.  “Who are you?”

He
pushed me off him with surprising ease and there was suddenly something awkward
between us. 

“Do
I know you?” I said.

“I
have no idea who you are,” he said.

“What’s
your name?”

“Rial?”

“Rial…?”

“King. 
Rial King.”

Lilly
gasped, basically echoing my very sentiment.  I took a step back and stared at
him.  It couldn’t be, yet the similarities were right there, staring back at
me.  A slightly younger version of myself.

“Who…?”
I choked.  “What are your parents’ names?”

“Look,
I don’t have time for this.”

I
grabbed him and pushed him to the wall again, this time putting enough pressure
to keep him from getting free.

“Eliza
and Emmanuel,” he spit out.

It
couldn’t be.  I remember hearing something about a younger brother, a boy my
mother had had when I was seven or eight, but the child hadn’t survived.  My
mother had been distraught for over a year.  I remembered it so clearly.

“Rial,”
I said.  “I’m Errol King.”

It
took a moment for my name to sink in.  “King?”

“Yeah,
the eldest son of Eliza and Emmanuel King.”

“Ha,”
he let out as his lips turned to a devilish grin.  “Well, how about that?  So
all this time, while I’ve been fighting and struggling just to make… Shit…
Errol King, the great, world renowned chef Errol King is my brother.  Now
doesn’t that take the cake?”

This is the End of Part 2

HEAT Vol. 2. 

*****

HEAT Vol. 3 will be out in December 2014.

To be notified as soon as the next parts are released,
please join the Kailin Gow Mailing List at
http://www.kailingowbooks.com
.

  Also, please feel free to like my Facebook page for
more updates.

If you enjoyed this novel, please leave a review, and
recommend it to a friend.

*****

Let her know by leaving stars and letting her know
what you like about

HEAT

*****

Other Books like HEAT

The Protege

For 18 and Up

A quick read, all three books in The Protégé Trilogy
is available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Protege-Kailin-Gow-ebook/dp/B00C0TIQ0K

The Blue Room Series

Available
Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Room-Vol-1-ebook/dp/B00K7M775M/

When
Danny Blue of the Never Knights inherited his playboy billionaire father's
businesses and legacy, he didn't realized his father's pet project was the Blue
Room, the most elite and secret club in the highest circle. He was happy to let
his half-brother Terrence Blue run the club, but with Terrence's womanizing
ways and carefree attitude when it came to everything, he wasn't sure if that
was a good idea.
Terrence Blue wasn't sure that was a good idea as well because it would cramp
his style as a former patron of the club, but when he spotted virginal Staci
Atussi starting at The Blue Room, he had a change of heart. Not only was Staci
Atussi a knockout without knowing it, but she was the challenge he had been
craving.
For Staci Atussi, working at The Blue Room was her solution to a desperate
situation, but as she became integrated into the world of The Blue Room and the
mysteries surrounding its patrons and the sexy Blues, she wondered if she had
traded in her desperation for something far more sinister.
The Blue Room is a New Adult Contemporary Suspense Series intended for readers
age 18 and up.

DON’T MISS IT!

To
ensure you don’t miss Kailin Gow’s next book, text
ROCKINGBOOKS
at 41411
and you will get an email reminder on the day of the release.

WANT
MORE?  LET US KNOW.  KAILIN GOW’S BOOKS ARE FAN DRIVEN.  JOIN THE DISCUSSION
AT:

FACEBOOK
(http://www.facebook.com/OfficialKailinGow)