My eyes haven’t moved from the door since she left. I’m waiting for her to return.
I’ll give her five minutes exactly, when that’s up, I’m going for her.
She’s scared.
I see it all over her, but I won’t let anything hurt her, won’t let anything come for her.
When the five minutes are up, my legs are eating up the distance between us. I ignore everyone as I stride through the hotel, heading for the doors in the foyer but it’s snowing out and when I look, she’s nowhere to be found on the sidewalk.
Heading back inside, I glance around the few faces lingering but they pay me no attention.
And then I hear it.
A scream, filled with so much terror it chills the blood in my veins. It’s muffled and barely audible and it doesn’t appear anyone else heard the sound, but I did. I know I did.
I’m moving before I even register it, shoving open the staff door.
And there she is.
But she isn’t alone.
She’s being pinned to the wall, an arm across her chest, a hand gripping her face. She’s lax in his grip, there’s blood on her lip, a smear of it on the wall.
Rage unlike I’ve ever felt before consumes me. It makes my blood boil, my heart pound as red overcomes my vision.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife!” I roar and begin to thunder toward them. One man runs in the opposite direction immediately, whereas the one holding my wife drops her and begins to move too.
But I’m already there, grabbing him by the neck to slam his head into the wall. He goes down, dazed as I reach into my suit pocket and grab the knuckle dusters I always carry. I could beat him with my fists, but these hurt worse, these guarantee agony. It’s the only thought in my head, the only thing keeping me moving is ensuring he suffers for what he has just done.
They’re on my hand in the next breath, and my fist is rearing back on the next, the cold black metal slamming into his face with a satisfying crack.
I hit him again, and again, blood coating the metaland my hand, splattering up and onto my face. It takes no time at all to leave him a fleshy, bloody mess, face split open as blood pools beneath him, a couple teeth scattered in front of his face. I can see bone and muscle, his skin torn and mangled.
“That’s my wife!” I growl but the guy is dead.
Behind me I hear footsteps and I rear up, ready to take on the new threat but it’s Sebastian, his eyes wide with shock as he moves them between me, the guy and Olivia who is laying on the ground, eyes closed.
Shit.
I drop the guy and move to her immediately, the rage pulsing like a living breathing thing inside of me. The dusters fall with a clang to the floor as I drop to my knees next to her.
“There’s another one,” I growl to Sebastian, pulling Olivia into my arms. She’s limp, her arms falling heavily at her sides as a thin trickle of blood runs down her chin. “Escaped through the office.” I tell him, eyes moving away from Olivia just for a second to make sure he understands this is not a request but an order, “Find him. I want him in the cells by the end of the night.”
Sebastian jerks his head in a nod, and pulls out his phone as he moves past us, following my orders.
“Olivia, baby,” I move her hair away from her face, my thumb swiping over the blood on her chin and then notice the blooming bruise on her cheek, darkening her pale skin. “Wake up, kitten.”
I smooth a hand down the back of her head only tofind it wet and warm. My palm comes away stained red.
“No,” Panic consumes me, my heart slamming against my rib cage. She’s breathing, her chest rises and falls steadily and it’s the only thing that keeps me centered.
Sliding my arm beneath her knees, my other under her torso, I lift her carefully, making sure to cradle her head against my shoulder. There’s enough blood leaking from her skull that I feel it soaking through my shirt.
Carrying her in my arms, I kick the door open at the end, leaving the body of her attacker behind. The guys will handle it.
I ignore the gasps of horror as I break out into a jog in the foyer, keeping it steady so I don’t jolt her. I don’t feel the cold as I make it outside. The hospital is a block from here, there are no cabs or cars around for me to use.
So, I run.
