When Satine could speak again she said she'd been running through the trees, calling for Maddy. Then she spotted her, giggling with a man who looked EXACTLY like the Duke's bodyguard. "He told me we were going to play hide and seek with you guys," Maddy explained. "That's why he said I wasn't allowed to yell back when you guys called my name." She nodded.

"But that's not the worst part, Christian," Satine interrupted. "He saw me before he ran away. And he said 'this is just a warning.' Just a warning, Christian! The Duke is coming back! He's going to come and kill all of us..." She broke into tears again.

I pulled her into an embrace, trying to lend her some comfort that I didn't possess. "It's okay, Satine. It's okay. We're all safe; we're all together."

She shook her head violently. "No, we're not, Christian. Haven't you heard me?! The Duke's coming back to kill Maddy, you, me, all of us! We're not SAFE, Christian! Don't you understand that?!"

I nodded. "Yes, I do, Satine. But panicking isn't going to solve anything, okay? We need to calm down and figure out what to do. Okay?" I looked for a signal that she understood. She sniffled and nodded a little. "Okay. Now, you and Maddy go back to our room and start packing, okay? I'll take care of things down here. Ask around to see if anyone's seen the Duke or his bodyguard." I hugged her tightly and whispered into her ear. "Come what may..."

She sniffled again and took a moment to regain her composure. "Come what may," she whispered in reply. We looked at each other for a moment, then she kissed me and hurriedly took off with Maddy towards the hotel. I watched them leave, then looked around for someone to talk to.

Nobody was on the grounds, so I ran to the hotel. When I turned inside I ran into someone. I looked up to see Peter, looking at me quite surprised.

"Christian!" He said. "I've been looking for you! Where have you been?"

"Outside. Maddy's birthday was today." I said vaguely. "Listen, Peter, I need to ask you something. Maddy was almost kidnapped a few minutes ago. Satine said she saw the Duke's bodyguard running away. Have you seen anyone strange around here lately?" I gave him a brief description of the Duke and hi bodyguard.

Peter frowned. "No, Christian, I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone strange around here lately."

I sighed and found myself involuntarily scanning the room, something I'd done compulsively the years immediately following our flight from Paris. I was looking for the Duke. Was he here? Right now? Was he watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake so he could kill me? A horrible thought. I tried to shove it out of my mind, but it only made room for a worse thought; was he watching Satine?

"I need to go, Peter." I tried to shove past him, but Peter was a large man and could not be easily moved. "I need to go make sure Satine and Maddy are okay."

"Christian," Peter sighed. "What are you planning to do? Do you even know for sure that the Duke's chasing you? It's been almost seven years; nobody can hold a grudge that long."

"You've never met the Duke..." I muttered, and tried to get past him once again. "Peter, let me go. I need to go make sure my family's okay." He grabbed my forearms and held me tightly. I froze and looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"Christian, where would you go if you left? You don't even know for sure that the Duke's here. You could be running away for nothing. Satine could have just thought she'd seen the Duke's bodyguard. We don't know for sure. You could just be overreacting."

"But what if I'm not?" I said in exasperation. "What if she DID see him? And what if we don't take it seriously and stay here. We'd be sitting ducks, Peter! You can't guarantee that the Duke ISN'T out there waiting for us!"

"And you can't guarantee that he is waiting for you!" Peter said sharply. He sighed and spoke in a softer tone. "Listen, you don't know for sure either way, okay? So why don't you just wait and see, okay? Wait and see what happens. Keep an eye and an ear open and if anything else happens you can come talk to me, okay? I'll alert the staff, okay? If I see anything I will tell you."

"But what about Maddy? She was almost kidnapped, Peter. We can't stay here. The Duke may know what room we're in."

He shrugged. "All right, we'll get you a new room, okay?"

I nodded and numbly walked away. Peter didn't seem to be taking this seriously enough. Our lives were in danger, and he didn't seem the least bit worried. Paranoid thoughts began to creep into my brain. Is he in on the scheme to kill us? Does he know the Duke? How else would the Duke have been able to find us way out here in the middle of nowhere? Someone had to have ratted us out...

I shook my head to try and knock the thoughts out. No, of course not. Peter wasn't in on anything. He was just a skeptic. He WAS a doctor of psychology, after all. Maybe what he said was true. Maybe Satine imagined it. Maybe that's why he wasn't worried. He'd know more about paranoia than I would.

My worry still didn't leave, however.