I groaned. “Listen to me very carefully, Carter. Stop the meeting. Go there as fast as you can and tell Ace that I said, no, I pleaded not to sign the contract. You understand me? I need to tell him something important before he does it. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Grabbing my purse, I ran out the door.

“What? But what happened, Ms. Hutton? Is there any problem? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this contract—”

“Just do as I say! Give him my message and make sure he doesn’t sign anything. At least not before I get there. If you fail to do that, it can cost you your job, Carter. Remember it. I already left for the hotel.” I cut the call before he could say anything and rushed out of the enormous silver gate.

But my legs stopped as several big hulky men in black towered over me. Their tinted sunglasses hid their eyes. I could recognize two of them were from Ace’s security team.

I frowned. Where did they come from? They weren’t here yesterday.

“Ms. Hutton. We’re extremely sorry to inform you that you can’t go out anywhere until the boss arrives. Please, go back inside,” one of the hulks spoke in his deep voice.

“What? Where did this come from? I’m free to go anywhere I want! I need to go somewhere urgent, so move away from my path!”

They blocked my way again.

“We apologize, miss. But we can’t let you go. It’s the boss’s orders. You can’t leave the house.”

My temper rose. “Why?”

Why the hell did he tell them to lock me in the house? I didn’t remember him mentioning any of this yesterday. Everything was fine. What happened?

Then I remembered his note.

DO NOT leave the house.

He warned me not to leave. But forgot to give me the reason.

I was going to be late. The meeting had already started. If I don’t reach on time, he would sign the contract. I didn’t care at that moment about why he didn’t want me to leave the house. I had more important things to handle right now.

The guard shook his head. “We aren’t allowed to say anything. But we can’t let you go.”

“Listen here, I’m getting late. So, move away from my way. I’m going to your boss. I don’t think he’ll mind me leaving.”

They didn’t budge from their places.

My lips pressed tight. “Move.”

“Sorry, miss. But we can’t. We’re just doing our job.”