If I went to inform my father about Yusef being the in-house mole, Claire would see how wounded I was. And she’d get up and be inconvenienced to help me, which I wanted to avoid.
Avoiding my father and his new wife had become another pesky habit I couldn’t kick. I loved them. But something about seeing him so settled and happy for the first time in his life was difficult to accept. I felt… jealous of that peace and serenity they’d found in belonging to each other.
Instead of lying here and groaning in pain, though, I could drag my ass to the bathroom and at least clean up. Wincing as I pressed on my shoulder, I tried to rock my body for momentum to get up.
More pain shot through me, and I grunted louder.
“Let me help.”
I opened my eyes a bit at the soft, feminine voice. A hint of fear clung to the end of her offer, but the brunette kneeling over me executed authority. Knowledge. Determination to help. Without asking for my permission, before assessing what was going on, she took a rag and pressed it over my shoulder. She didn’t slap it on randomly but held it with pressure where it would help slow the bleeding.
I blinked, stunned by this angel showing up out of nowhere. And in my office? I furrowed my brow as I opened my eyes wider. “Who the hell are…” I didn’t bother finishing the question. Black and white garments shielded her lusciously curvy body from my sight. The lace trim on her maid’s apron seemed so frilly when the woman wearing it bore an expression of no-nonsense as she tended to my wounds.
“I’m… a maid. I just started today.”
Clearly, she was a maid, dressed like that. She sure as hell wasn’t stodgy Renee, who’d been handling my building for years. This young beauty must be the new hire that Renee had mentioned to me in passing, someone from the staffing agency who’d be starting soon.
As I slumped to the floor and accepted her help, I dismissed the soothing comfort of her gentle hands on me as she began to unbutton my shirt and push the fabric aside. Feeling her delicate fingertips on my bare skin was enough to jolt me out of the all-consuming pain, but it wasn’t enough to push me into the territory of being turned on. She looked too serious. Her touch was too clinical.
“A maid?” I winced as she bundled up my shirt to smear away the blood from the gash on my side. “Or a nurse?”
“I’m just a maid.” She frowned as she inspected my wounds, too analytical in her study. Something deeper hid in her gaze, some trick of the eye. She wasn’tjustanything.
“Welcome to the household,” I replied wryly as I focused on breathing through the fiery stabs of pain. “But what the fuck are you doing in my office?”
She glanced up, stunning me with her worried, dark-brown gaze. “I was… I was…” She swallowed, and I watched as she swung her attention to Yusef, dead on the floor. “I was cleaning in the hallway, and I heard…” She swallowed hard again.
“You heard what…?” I frowned at her. “You got a name?”
She nodded as I tried to sit up. “Easy. Go nice and slow. Or better yet, perhaps you should lie down for a little longer until?—”
“A name?” I prompted again.
“Sofia. Sofia Gonzalez.”
“Sofia, what did you hear?”
She licked her lips, her face a show of complete concern as I tried to get upright. I wasn’t going to bleed to death. Not here. Not like this. But the sooner I cleaned up, the sooner I could rest for whatever was left of the night. Because first thing in the morning, my father would need to be informed about all that had happened tonight.
“I was cleaning the hallway floor?—”
“This late?”
She nodded. “Renee gave me instructions…”
I nodded, grimacing as I pulled myself up to stand. Sofia’s hand stayed on me, both compressing my wounds and assisting me as I got up.
“And I heard someone in this room. I was startled by that man and hid under the desk. Then, then…” She cringed, glancing at Yusef dead on the carpet.
I didn’t need her to explain anything else. I was there. I remembered. I’d killed the mole who’d been hiding too close for comfort.
“And then that,” I finished for her.
She cringed and nodded, seeming to put effort into not looking in Yusef’s direction.
At least she didn’t freak out at seeing a dead man so up close. Or cry. Or try to run away and hide, hysterical from the trauma. No. She wasn’t leaving me. She was right here, her hands dirty with my blood as she assisted me.
Together, we rose to stand. Keeping her close, I had the steady balance to stagger fully upright. But as soon as I took one step forward, I lurched to the side and groaned.
