“Physically I am,” I say. “Emotionally I’m going to be fucked up for quite a while.” I might as well give him the truth.
He looks at Lillian and then stands in the middle of the room, his legs braced. Power fills the oxygen around us, along with a terrifying tension. His eyes are a darker black than I’ve ever seen them, but there’s something different about him. His shoulders even seem wider, and wild muscles ripple beneath his clothing.
“I see you charged our servers,” Lillian says, smiling.
“I did,” Alexei says.
She claps her hands. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist. I have tons of guards around this entire property, and there’s nowhere for you to go now that you’re here. You have no backup, and we both know it. Being a romantic myself, I thought you might want to say goodbye to each other.” She pulls a nine millimeter out of a pocket on the side of her skirt.
I push away from the table and stand, throwing my napkin on my teacup. “You have a gun?” I glance at the tea and cookies. “I thought you were trying to poison me.”
“I was. There seemed something poetic about that,” she muses. “I figured everybody would think Alexei tried to poison you if anything was found in your system.” She glances at the gun. “I’ve never watched anybody die from poison. Oh well. Maybe next time.”
Unbelievable. “She killed Hendrix and had Blythe murdered,” I blurt out in a rush.
Alexei looks like he turns to stone as he focuses fully on Lillian. “You murdered your firstborn?”
Her browse draw down slightly. “I’ve always done what needs to be done to save this company.”
“She’s going to have in vitro with three babies tomorrow,” I say, wanting to get all the truth out so he understands everything. “So she can charge the servers.”
For the briefest of moments, he looks vulnerable. “You killed your own son?” he repeats, and then his face hardens again.
“I’m done talking about this,” she says. “Do you want to die together or separately?”
I hold up a hand. “Tell me you brought your men. I mean, the mob.”
He shakes his head. “No. There’s nobody coming.”
Just then, twin pings echo through the window next to me, and both guards go down. Lillian shrieks and lifts her gun. Another ping echoes, and blood spurts from her head.
Glass shatters and something hits me in the temple. Darkness swirls around me, and I feel myself falling. Pain lances along my cheekbone as I hit the ground. My vision is gone. Terror slithers through me.
A ruckus echoes around me before a series of explosions rend the atmosphere. I smell fire, but I can’t move or open my eyes. More gunfire cracks through the air, followed by the sound of pounding footsteps.
“Rosalie. Rosalie wake up.”
I know that voice. It’s dark and it’s mine. Then I feel a kiss, his mouth on mine, and my eyelids flutter open. I reach up and slide a hand through his thick hair. His eyes open on mine, and he releases my mouth, leaning back.
“Rosie?”
I blink. The side of my face feels wet. I try to touch my face, and he holds my hand back.
“You’ve been cut, glass right in the temple.”
“Here you go.” Felix runs inside with a washcloth. “This is cold. We have to bring down the swelling right now.”
Alexei gently places the washcloth against my head and helps me sit up.
“Doc?” I ask, looking up. “What are you doing here?”
Percy runs inside with a semi-automatic weapon over his stooped shoulder, followed by Wally and Kenny. Soon all seven of my boarders are in the room along with Garik, Alexei, and a few men who look Russian.
“What in the heck just happened?” I ask weakly.
Alexei shakes his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Percy moves closer. “You okay? Wally and I shot through the window. We didn’t mean to hurt you.”
