TEN
ELENA
She still didn’t understand what was going on once Leon Marchetti shoved her into the backseat of the sleek sedan. Jamie followed, piling in behind her and holding tight to Elena’s hand as Marchetti took to the driver’s seat.
“Good, you do have some sense,” Leon muttered as he glanced back at them, eyeing Jamie with something close to begrudging respect before he ruined it with a sneer. “Or maybe you think you can stop me.”
“If I knew what the hell you were doing, maybe I would,” Jamie ground out as he scooted closer to Elena, hiding her behind his bulk as he glared at Leon. “Until then, I’m damned sure not leaving you alone with my charge.”
“I’m going to fix this.”
It was all Leon said before he revved the engine, the car peeling away from the curb as he set off at high speed through the afternoon’s traffic. It was insane, forcing him to dodge around cars and people alike as they went about their business on this side of town.
Elena didn’t dare breathe a word, so afraid he would pausein his focus and speak to her, thus ending all their lives. As much as she wished for both his and her deaths, she’d never forgive herself if Jamie died along with her. He’d feel guilt at her loss, that he was unable to protect her, but he’d be alive to do it.
She was bewildered as to what horrors Leon had planned for her now. As if last night wasn’t enough, and everything before it. He careened through the streets of the city, a man determined on something she did not know.
“We have to get out of here,” she hissed at Jaime’s ear, fisting the sleeve of his shirt as Leon executed a squealing turn.
“It’ll be all right, miss,” Jamie said, giving her arm a quick pat.
“No, it is not, Jamie! Gods only know what he’s going to do to me now.” Though she’d pitched her voice low for Jamie’s ears alone, the confines of the car did not allow for much privacy.
Leon’s ears turned vivid red, a quiet growl rumbling through his chest as he jerked the steering wheel into another turn, the tires screeching as they gripped the asphalt hard and sent them lurching down another street.
She didn’t recognize the area he was speeding through. There were soaring office buildings and skyscrapers, but that could be anywhere downtown. She’d never had cause to come here except for her single visit to Lamberti.
Angry that everything in her life had left her manipulated into being so vulnerable, Elena snarled as she was slammed into the back of the seat when Leon came to a hard stop before a shimmering glass building.
“What the actual hell do you think you are doing, Marchetti,” she shouted as she reached for the door handle only to have it wrenched from her sore hand. She didn’t care what the x-ray had said, her arm felt feeble and less than solid still.
“Get out,” Leon said, snapping his fingers at her.
Realizing she had no idea where they were or what his intentions were, suddenly Elena wanted nothing more than toremain in the car. She scooted back, tight against Jamie as he practically crawled on top of her to bar the open door.
“Both of you, get out now,” Leon growled, reaching in to haul Jamie out with as much ceremony as a sack of grain. Tumbling the hulking Beta guard to the sidewalk in his haste to grab at Elena’s kicking feet. He dragged her across the seat, heedless of her flailing.
He pried her cold fingers from the fine leather, wrenching her out into the crowded street. Hauling her against his side, he caged her against his body with an arm as thick as a tree trunk and just as immovable.
“What are you doing,” Elena whispered, her imagination running wild as fear took hold and turned her face icy. Blood running cold, she squirmed in his ever tightening embrace to find Jamie scrambling after them as Leon carried her into the building.
She still didn’t recognize the place. Not even when he dragged her into a large office and the woman behind the receptionist desk gave her a cursory glance.
“Do you have an appointment,” the woman asked, bored and uninterested in Elena’s distress or Jamie’s red-faced fury.
“No,” Leon said, gripping Elena’s arm tight enough to make her whimper to keep her silent. “I’ll pay the fee to expedite the process.”
“Yes, sir.” The woman rose, indicating an arrangement of chairs as she held out a clipboard full of papers to Leon.
“What are you doing,” Elena hissed as Leon shoved her into a chair. She only paused a moment before rising, swaying in indecision as she understood she had nowhere to go if she ran.
Long enough for Leon to grab her again, pushing her into the seat where he held her down with one arm as he filled out the papers, the pen making furious swoops and livid slashes.
“It’s a justice’s office,” Jamie breathed, collapsing into thechair beside Elena with an expression she’d never seen on his face before. He was stark white against his black clothes, his red hair somehow even more vivid.
Helpless. That was the name of the look she’d so often seen in her own mirror, now painting its way across Jamie’s rough features.
“A… what?” Elena didn’t think she’d understood as her gaze swung from Jamie to Leon and back again. She couldn’t have heard right. Never in a million years would this be the outcome of this day.
