Prince and the Pauper

Chapter Thirty-Two

I could barely breathe as I rose up in the elevator, my heart  hammering in my chest. It was hard to tell the difference between the stickiness of the coffee I spilled down my legs and the sweat that had broken out of fear. The elevator chimed as the doors opened and I stumbled out of the elevator tripping on my damned heels and landing on my hands and knees on the ground, carpet burn stinging my skin. A strangled cry escaped my throat and I scrambled to my feet as I practically pulled the door off the hinges as I entered Harry's office. I must have looked like I had gone to hell and back because the minute Harry's and Zaiden's eyes landed on me they were both on their feet, and Harry rushed over to me.
"Dev?" Harry ordered, my watery eyes connecting with Harry's panicked ones. "What happened?" His voice hardened and I blinked, once, twice, three times, trying to compose myself.
"I-D-and-Bash." I shook my head and Harry's hands landed on my shoulders to try and get me to snap out of it.
"She's having a panic attack." I heard Zaiden say, and Harry scooped me up in his arms and carried me over to his chair where he placed me down on it.
"Put your head down between your legs." Harry ordered gently but with an edge to it. I obeyed and I felt Harry's hand rub up and down my spine and I gulped in deep breaths.
"Does she have a history of panic attacks?" Zaiden asked.
"Yes but this is different." Harry's worried voice replied. "I can always get her to snap out of them. She usually comes back to me." I heard his voice crack and it acted as if somebody had dumped an icy bucket of water over me. My head rose back up, and I followed the 4-7-8 breathing technique I usually did when I had flashbacks to Geordie's attack.
"Dante and Sebastian." I got the words out. "I think they plan on hurting on me. I know they are." I shook my head.
"How?" Harry asked with widened eyes.
"I overheard them." I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. "I pressed the wrong button on the elevator, luckily, and I heard them planning to dispose of me. Dante knows I finish work at five and they said that when I do, they will be waiting." I heard Zaiden cuss under his breath, and Harry turned rigid, his jaw clenching.
"Lucky screw up. Next Sunday I'm going to church." Zaiden tried to lighten the mood.
"Zaiden," Harry's dark voice cut through the tension in the room, "I want you to take Dev to the penthouse. Stay with her, don't let her out of your damn sight."
"What are you planning?" I asked Harry, my hands grabbing his.
"Ending this for good."
"Harry." Zaiden spoke up. "Not a good idea."
"I'm not going to sit around and let them hurt my girl!" Harry growled.
"If they plan on abducting Dev then they will most likely be armed. Don't go confronting them bringing a knife to a gun fight." Zaiden spoke in a calm tone, his passive approach making Harry swear and glare over at his best friend.
"I don't know what to do then." For the first time Harry let fear sink into his voice. His fingers locked with mine and I let my head collapse onto his shoulder.  
"I think feigning ignorance is our best defence  right now." Zaiden suggested carefully, pacing up and down the office, stopping at the glass window and staring down at the busy Adlington streets below.
"The authorities will question them and they'll know we are aware of their plan. I don't mean to bring up the past, but we all know they are good at getting away with things." I nodded in agreement, and Harry remained still but attentive.
"I will have the best of my men on surveillance. We will see them before they see her. Harry, you need to go to your mother. Warn her about Dante and Sebastian, get her to occupy Trace."
"Trace?" Harry and I asked in unison.
"This is his two sons, and he is no saint. It wouldn't surprise me if he was involved, and quite frankly, I am not going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Devonne, you're my best friends' girl, so you're family now." I smiled at his sincere comment, taking in a deep breath.
"But we can't put Monica in the firing line." I argued, Harry nodded in agreement.
"Would Trace hurt Monica?" Zaiden inquired, making us all think if he was that cold.
"He has had trouble letting go of her." Harry offered in contemplation.
"I don't want to risk it. Not for me, not after all she has done for me." I shook my head, and Harry ran a hand down his mouth as he stared out the glass window, as if searching the sky for answers.
"What if I try getting through to Sebastian?" I offered quietly.
"No." Harry and Zaiden barked.
"He was reluctant to agree to the plan, Harry. I heard him. He doesn't want to do this, I could get him to listen." I reasoned, Harry's eyes bored into mine, his eyelids flickering as he weighed up his options.
"I am not letting you go near him." He spoke in a deep tone.
"She could call him." Zaiden suggested, and I glanced over at Harry.
"I thought feigning ignorance was our best option?" Harry grumbled over at Zaiden, aggravation giving his words a bite.
"With Dante, yes. Sebastian is a coward. He doesn't like getting his hands dirty. If Devonne can talk him out of it, then it's just Dante on his own."
"He won't cave." Harry shook his head. "He's been following Dev around relentlessly. Anton the guard downstairs has kept him away, but it shows determination." I sighed in agreement. I had noticed that too, and I knew Harry was right. Sebastian wouldn't back down, he had too much to lose. The heart breaking factor was he was prepared to lose me.
"If we want them to believe we are oblivious to this, we can't all just leave work early. They'll be suspicious. We need to act if this was a regular day." I tried being reasonable, but my voice was trembling, and Harry heard it, his hands clasping mine tightly.
"The fire escape in the library." Harry spoke up, my head shooting up in shock.
"What fire escape?" I had never seen one in there, and I had spent  a lot of time in there, it seemed impossible to miss.
"It's hidden well. Father thought it looked tacky for the business, but my grandfather always loved it. It reminded him of his old flat when he lived in New York growing up. So instead of demolishing it he had two walls built and shelves placed along the two walls where the door to the fire escape sits in the corner. If you climb in between the  shelves and reach behind the left shelf, there's a window to the fire escape." Even Zaiden looked impressed, and we both looked at one another in bewilderment that Harry had managed to keep this hidden from the both of us.
"Okay Nancy Drew, any other secret tunnels or magic wardrobes we should know about?" Zaiden asked, making Harry roll his eyes.
"You two climb down it, and I will go out the normal way, people will just assume I am out on a business trip or something." Harry suggested, but Zaiden disagreed.
"They'll find it strange you leaving your PA behind and me."
"It's not like Harry is an imposter here. He  can walk in and out of the building without arising suspicion." I scoffed.
"Work colleagues watching aren't my concern. Dante and Sebastian are lurking around somewhere, and they need to continue to assume that you won't leave this building until five." Zaiden explained cautiously.
"Okay." I breathed out, my feet tapping up and down in anticipation.
"Zaiden, what if you find Sebastian and act as if you are setting out the last details for the fight tomorrow. When you're talking to him, slip in to the conversation that Harry is leaving for a last minute meeting with a client, and won't be back in Adlington until late tonight."
"But I'm not." Harry said slowly.
"But if they think I am home alone in the penthouse..." I trailed off, and Harry straightened in realisation. His gleaming eyes met mine, and I forced a brave smile.
"One of you has a secret escape route, the other is a master of lies and scheming. What are you, a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde?" Zaiden snorted, making both Harry and I smirk at one another.
"So Devonne goes down the escape route, I distract Sebastian whilst Harry goes out the front entrance, and we both meet you in the alley." Zaiden summed up, and Harry and I nodded slowly.
"Okay, show me the fire escape." I said, standing to my feet, and letting Harry lace his fingers into mine as we all walked into the library through the joining door. I followed Harry over to the far right corner, and Harry let go of my hand and shove a heavy shelf out of the way. My eyes widened in shock, the fake shelf looking so real compared to the other ones. I shook my head in amazement, and Harry opened the window, sliding it upwards.
"Careful climbing down, Angel." Harry warned, and I smiled in appreciation.
"Okay." I breathed. I climbed out of the window, and onto the black railing outside. I cringed as the metal groaned beneath me, and felt a wave on nausea roll through my stomach as I looked down.
"Don't look down." Zaiden suggested as I shrieked slightly. The ground was three storeys down, and it made my whole body tremble helplessly. My fear of heights was certainly not helping right now.
"I'll see you down there." Harry spoke from behind me, and I nodded with my back to him, too scared to move too much. Climbing down was certainly going to be a mission then. I heard the window slide closed behind me, then the groan of the shelf being pushed back into place. My trembling hands reached for the hair elastic around my wrist, and pulled my long hair into a low, messy ponytail. Full vision was most certainly required right now. Kissing my fingertips and forming the cross symbol, I  shuffled to the first ladder, and I squeaked like a mouse as I turned around and crouched down, my hands gripping the railing tightly.
"I'm gonna die." I  moaned as I stepped down the first few steps, the old metal screeching in protest. One, two, three steps down a heel fell from my foot and I cursed in fright.
"I'm going to diieee." I whined as the second shoe fell from my left foot, leaving my bare feet, slick from a film of sweat, being the only thing keeping my footing in place. Five more steps down and I reached the next landing. I sighed as my feet touched flat landing, and braced myself for the next level. The good news was I had made it safely from the third level to the second. The bad news was there was another level keeping me from the safety of the ground.
"It's fine." I assured myself. "It's just like climbing out my window as a kid, only the high probability of death added to the mix." I slowly crouched down again, my hands clasping onto the railing. I stepped down and as my feet climbed down three steps the metal made a groaning sound and I felt the whole staircase sliding down. I screamed as the metal railing that was holding me up slide out of the brackets. My eyes squeezed closed and my stomach plummeted as I prepared to fall, when the whole ladder jolted to a stop, making my bones quake. Slowly I opened one eye, then the right, and looked up to see what was holding me from my doom. The ladder still remained latched onto the metal brackets, and my eyes widened in realisation. The ladder was meant to slide down, it hadn't been falling off, but sliding down and lowering me to the ground, rather than make me climb down it. Clever, in a give you the fright of your life, kind of way.
"Dev." I looked down and saw Harry on the ground, a few feet below me.
"Houston, we have a problem." My voice shook.
"Let go." Harry instructed.
"This is not the time to start singing 'Frozen!'" I shrieked, and Harry laughed at my panicked state.
"I'll catch you." Harry shouted slightly, and I forced a jittery laugh.
"A common phrase used, right before somebody fails miserably and results in a death." I retorted, my arms starting to scream in pain from holding myself upright.
"Either you jump, or you fall. However, the odds are slightly more in your favour if you jump into my arms, rather than plummet." Harry reasoned.
"Arse!" I yelled. "You were supposed to say something comforting and romantic, to make me trust you!" The ladder shook, and I shrieked again.
"Romance? Okay, you are a few feet above me, I am looking right up, and you're wearing a skirt. Killer view, baby." Harry laughed, and my eyes widened.
"Okay!" I growled, looking over my shoulder. "I'll jump."
"Good girl." Harry praised, and I shook my head. I released a heavy breath and let go, my body falling and I screamed, right before strong arms wrapped around my torso and roped me into a muscular chest.
"You realize this is the second time you have fallen for me." Harry smirked down at me, and I moaned as I hit him in the chest lightly, making him laugh.
"Take me home please." I pleaded in a weak voice, and Harry flashed sincere smile, and I let my head lull into the crook of his neck as he carried me to the car.