“Yeah, okay. Of course. Give me a minute, I need to grab some portable leads and some supplies.”
He hurries out of the room while I untangle Ella from her wires. I wrap her in a robe and tuck her IV bag into it. Just as I pick her up and carry her, Alec returns, and we, along with ten security officers, make our way down a service stairwell to the back, private entrance of the hospital.
I let out a small breath of relief when all three of my town cars are ready and waiting. I get in the middle one with Robert, Jensen, Alec, and two other security guards, while the others file into the two remaining cars. I barely have Ella buckled before we’re off.
“I hate to ask, but is this . . . type of situation normal for you?” Alec asks, his brow creased. “First the poisoning and now this.”
I cradle Ella into me and brush my fingers through her hair, hating the truth. “It can be.” I let out a resigned breath. “It used to be extremely rare for a threat like this to hit my family, but now, it’s happening more often.”
“Why is that?”
“My family, being what it is, has many enemies. Some old ones have resurfaced.”
“And now Ella is a target because she’s with you.”
I flex my jaw, irritated. “Yes.”
“We’re putting more security protocols into place,” Robert says. “And increasing our numbers. This won’t happen again.”
Alec runs his hand over his face. “I hope not, for her sake.”
A heavy silence settles over the car.
A few minutes later, Andrew speaks from the driver’s seat. “There are two cars following us.”
Robert cranes his head to look out the windows, then speaks to the other agents through his wrist cuff. “Jenkins, call the building and let them know to shut down entrance to the garage as soon as all three of our cars are inside.”
“Shit!” I hiss in surprise as Andrew takes a sharp, unexpected turn at the last second.
“Sorry, Mr. Langford,” he calls from the driver’s seat. “I’m trying to lose our tail.”
For the next thirty minutes, Andrew ducks and weaves through New York traffic, taking a winding, confusing route to the penthouse. We manage to shake one of the cars, but the other stays with us, no matter how skilled Andrew is at shaking them. I grit my teeth and hold Ella close, doing everything I can to keep calm. But my patience and my nerves are shredding by the second. Yegor and Sergei have officially gone too far. It’s one thing to attack me. To threaten me. It’s another to come after Ella. I thought they might have learned their lesson after the message I sent with Dimitri: they threaten my family, I take outtheirs. But I was naïve. I should have expected a retaliation like this.
I can never let it happen again.
“Call the NYPD,” I bark at Robert. “I want squad cars surrounding the garage entrance by the time we reach it.”
A minute later, sirens wail through the streets as we all near the building of my penthouse. Finally, the black sedan tailing us slows and turns, obviously noting the dozen squad cars with their flashing red and blue lights, gathered around the entrance.
Andrew pulls in and the doors to the garage immediately shut behind us, then heavy locks click into place.
“No one is to come in or out of this garage tonight,” I order Robert. “I don’t care if they live in the building. It’s my building, and they’re out of luck until I know Ella is safe.”
“I’ll make sure it’s done, sir.”
The ride up the elevator is filled with silence. Everyone is relieved but still anxious. We have been anticipating retaliation and more threats from our enemies, but they blindsided us with this one. I knew there were security risks for Ella at work, but I never could have predicted this. And I certainly never could have predicted that Sergei would dare to infiltrate a hospital.
It seems as though every time I try to anticipate what Sergei or Yegor will do, they surprise me. I feel like I’m always on the defense, always on my back foot, and I hate it. I feel like I’m going crazy trying to stay as cautious as I can to keep Ella safe while also trying to eliminate my enemies. I can’t seem to balance the two and it’s fucking killing me.
I carry Ella into our bedroom, and Alec gets to work hooking her up to her portable leads as soon as I lay her down on our bed. He sighs in relief when her stats all look good, and he gets her IV bag set back up to hang from the bedpost.
“Since we’re not in the hospital and this has turnedpersonal, I’m going to call Zahra,” he says. “She needs to know why I won’t make it home tonight.”
I nod. “I’m sure she’d welcome an update from you; she was beside herself when I spoke to her earlier. There are three guest rooms upstairs, take your pick.”
“I think Ella should be fine, but if any of her monitors sound off, come and get me. I’ll be in first thing in the morning to check on her.”
“Thank you, Alec. I mean it. I know Ella is important to you, so you would be there for her anyway, but it means a lot to me that you’re here.”
