“I said stop!” Ryan shouted again, then, “Fuck! Stop!”
Nally forced himself to focus and tried to sit. Immediately, Jude was at his side, both helping him up and clinging to him with ragged, vocal breaths. The duct tape still hung off of Jude’s cheek and his other cheek was splattered with blood. His nose was crooked where it hadn’t been crooked before, but all Nally cared about as he turned to throw his arms around his love was that they were both alive.
“Shit! He’s getting away.”
Ryan’s words as he dashed across the studio to one of the windows broke the momentary feeling of horrible togetherness Nally and Jude had. Nally glanced around and found Ryan standing at one of the studio’s large, open windows. He leaned out, looking down.
“We’re on the first floor,” Jude said, his voice stuffy and nasal, struggling to his feet and bringing Nally with him. “He had to have hurt himself jumping out the window.”
Nally stumbled with Jude over to the window even as Ryan pulled his body back inside, shaking his head. “He had a ladder up against the side of the house.”
The bottom dropped out of Nally’s stomach. “But how did he know? He’s never been here before. How did he know which windows were the studio?”
Even as he asked those questions the pieces fell together. Quentinhadbeen there before. Yesterday. He’d even had a tour of the studio. Nally’s mum had never actually seen what Quentin looked like. They’d downplayed the danger he posed on purpose,which seemed incredibly stupid now. She wouldn’t have known she was allowing his stalker to check out Hawthorne House in advance of what was obviously a premeditated attack.
“Call the police,” Jude said, turning away from the window after taking a look.
“I already have,” Ryan said. “I called them as soon as I heard you struggling in here. Thank the Goddess I happened to be walking by. Classes are over for the day and there’s no telling how long it would have been before someone from the family came down this hall.”
Nally didn’t want to think about it. Quentin had obviously known no one would be nearby. How long had he been scouting Hawthorne House as he planned what he was going to do?
He nearly threw up at the thought of what Quentin had actually been planning to do, not to him, but to Jude. The pliers and duct tape were only a hint of what Quentin had had in store.
“Does the rest of the family know what’s happening?” Jude asked, striding toward the door with Ryan and pulling Nally along with them. “Did you let them know?”
“Good idea,” Ryan said, then pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He tapped a few times, then spoke into the phone, “This is an emergency. Quentin is at Hawthorne House and he tried to attack Nally and Jude in the piano studio. I’ve called the police, but Quentin jumped out the window and is somewhere on the grounds.”
Nally assumed he’d sent the message to the family WhatsApp group. Fortunately for all of them, everyone would get that message almost instantly, since they all checked anything sent to that group at once.
Sure enough, by the time they rushed to the end of the hall and downstairs to the lobby, half the family was already rushing out of both downstairs hallways and the office to join them.
“Oh my Goddess, what happened?” Janice asked, running forward to Jude and clasping his face in her hands. “Where’s the first aid kit?” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Quentin attacked Jude and then me,” Nally said, his head still mostly scrambled with adrenaline. “We’re okay, I think, but Quentin is still on the grounds somewhere.”
“There are only a few cars left in the parking lot,” Nick said, walking in through the front door with Jordan in his arms. “No one’s out there, but I don’t recognize all of the cars.”
“We can shut the gate so none of the cars can get out,” Early suggested, their eyes wide with fear.
“Do that,” Robert ordered, taking charge as the head of the family. “The rest of us need to fan out across the grounds to try to find this maniac. Except you, Nick. You need to make sure the kids are safe.”
Nick didn’t look happy, but when Jordan started squirming and crying in his arms, he said, “Maybe Rebecca can watch them up in our flat while I pitch in with the search.”
“Is this because I’m a woman?” Rebecca asked, though she walked with Nick as he started for the family wing.
“It’s because I’m the muscle of the family and the best one to kick Quentin’s arse when we find him,” Nick replied.
Nally didn’t see whether their argument continued. The rest of the family was ready for action and headed out of the house to begin the manhunt.
“You need to stay here and tend to your nose,” Janice told Jude. “And you’re too shaken up to go anywhere,” she said to Nally.
Nally shook his head. “This whole thing is my fault. I have to help find him.”
“This is absolutely not your fault,” Jude said, using the wipes Early had ducked back into the office to fetch to clean hisface. His nose was still bleeding, though. “We have to help find Quentin.”
“You’re in no condition to do anything, young man,” Janice insisted.
“The two of us might be able to draw Quentin out of wherever he’s hiding, if he didn’t run,” Nally said.
