“She…” He squinted, shaking his head. “She went to get us coffee, but shit, I don’t even know how long ago that was. I told her to take security, though. I don’t fucking trust this town.”
“Agreed,” Angelo muttered, rolling his shoulders like he could feel the slime of the brainwashing on his skin. “We’ll go find her in the cafeteria. You wait here.”
Rhett jerked a nod, already turning back to the VIP suite where his mother was being assessed by a team of doctors. Angelo, Jace, and I made our way along the corridor, ignoring the stares. All that mattered was getting our family home safe.
The cafeteria was on the floor below the VIP wing, and when we stepped out of the elevator, we found a whole commotion going on near the fire stairs. Uniformed Townsend police were gathered in the hallway, and a sick feeling curled through my gut.
“What’s going on?” I asked one of the closest cops. He glanced at me dismissively, then did a double-take, his eyes widening.
“You’re Grayson Taylor,” he said, shocked.
I narrowed my eyes. “I know. What’s going on here?”
The cop flinched like he’d just remembered he was on duty. “Can’t say, sorry. Crime scene.”
Not in the mood for shit, I pushed the cop aside and shoved my way through the crowd, knowing my bandmates were right behind me. My instincts were dead on, too; I pulled up short when I found my heart sitting on the floor with tears and blood streaming down her face while a bored-looking cop stood over her with a notepad in hand.
“What thefuckis going on?” I roared, and the hum of the crowd died off instantly.
Billie looked up, gasping when she saw me, then a moment later, she leapt into my arms. Sobs wracked through her as her legs gripped my waist, and my arms held her tight.
“This young woman was just found in the stairwell with a dead man,” the cop informed me with a sniff. “She needs to be questioned. Please put her down.”
“Fuck off,” I snarled.
Jace stepped forward with a more diplomatic expression than I was currently feeling. He spoke smoothly, laying on the signature Adams charm as he threw around phrases likelegal representationandpress releasedue to the public nature of our band. Then he asked the important question.
“Who was the dead man?”
“Unidentified,” the cop snapped back, clearly incensed by the challenge to his authority. “But if you let me question the suspect—”
“I can identify him,” Angelo called out from further along the hallway. I hadn’t even noticed the sheet-covered body on the gurney parked a few yards away. Angelo had taken it on himself to lift the sheet and take a look, though, and his expression was grim. “And she’s not a fuckingsuspect,she’s a victim. Pull up your security footage; whatever happened will be a clear case of self-defense. We’ll take her with us now to get somerealmedical attention, since she is clearly hurt.”
The cop spluttered, his face darkening with anger and outrage. “How can you possibly make that leap?”
Angelo rolled his eyes, dropping the sheet as he returned to us. “Because your dead man is Giovanni Ricci, head of the Siena mafia. Trust me when I say he’s no victim.”
Oh shit.ThatI hadn’t been expecting.
“Jace,” I rumbled, still holding Billie against me like a scared animal. “Head upstairs, and let Rhett know what’s going on. Angelo and I will take Billie out of here and get her checked on by people we can trust to actually do their job.”
We didn’t hang around waiting for consent. In fact, Angelo ended up decking an orderly who tried to prevent us leaving. But then we were driving away from the hospital and didn’t stop until we were outside the Townsend Community borders. Only then did Angelo pull over onto the shoulder and turn to scowl at me. Or at Billie, still curled up in my lap and sobbing into my chest.
“Bella, honey, you’re safe,” he said, running a gentle hand down her spine. “It’s us, baby, we have you. But we need to know if you’re okay.”
Billie sniffed back her tears, pulling away from my chest enough to look at Angelo. “I’m fine,” she croaked. “I just… Angel, I killed him! Your father, I just, he was, it all happened s-s-so f-fast. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Shhhh, Bella, hush,” Angelo smoothly cut her off, a tender smile touching his lips. “Baby, I don’t know what you’re apologizing for. We all knew he needed to die, butyou’re bleeding.”
“I am?” She touched a hand to her forehead, then peered at her fingers in confusion. “Oh. I am. I’m okay, though. Probably just a cut. We fell down the stairs, but Giovanni took the worst of it.” She swallowed audibly, wincing. “His neck snapped like a glow stick.”
Good visual. I was a little sad I didn’t get to see it, after all that man had put us through.
Putting my full focus on Billie, I kept her wrapped up tight enough for comfort but, hopefully, not so tight it put pressure on any injuries. Knowing that she’d fallen down the stairs with that asshole had my blood both boiling and iced over in fear.
It was pure luck she was still with us and not in the same condition as Giovanni.
“Tell us everything that happened,” Angelo said in a soothing tone. “Rhett said you went out to get coffee.”
