I was furious.
She wasn’t supposed to be here, she was supposed to be far, far away already. I’d lied to keep her safe, had Ace tell her I was gone, so she might have a chance at living a normal life. A life she deserved and yet here she is, having walked herself right into the hands of the man I wanted to save her from.
Seeing her walk into that building, seeing her hand herself over like that, it broke me. She was broken. And I had done that.
I was getting her back.
Everyone apart from Ace, Micha and Isobel thought I was dead. It made this a shit ton easier.
I follow behind the town car carrying Eleanor. He wasn’t stupid enough to kill her in an office full of people, he may be powerful, but witnesses were tricky and that many would send him down.
After what went down at the penthouse, I’ve had to keep it quiet, but my plans were still moving. Tobias had to die.
It was just coming sooner rather than later.
My chest burns and every intake of breath hurts, the wound pulling and twinging with each movement I make. I was lucky to be alive. Lucky Ace got me to the hospital as quickly as he did. I would have died otherwise.
The doctors and nurses had tried to stop me from leaving, but there was no way I was staying in a hospital. Not when everything I had worked for was going up in smoke, and Eleanor was still out there alone.
They take the roads out of the city and travel for a few miles before pulling into an industrial park off the motorway. Huge warehouses create a maze and I soon realize it’s abandoned, save for a few expensive cars and men in suits. I couldn’t follow any further. I park the car in a lay by and climb out, Ace following. We don’t wait for the others to show, they will and they’ll know what to do.
We keep to the gaps between the buildings, weapons drawn, ready for anything. Ace stays close, guarding my back as we round corner after corner until the town car comes back into view.
I ignore the pain in my chest, ignore how my breath rattles and wheezes. The only thing that mattered to me in this moment was her.
Tobias is yanking Eleanor out of the back seats. She snatches her arm back and hits him. I hear the slap from a hundred yards away, the echo of skin hitting skin bouncing off the walls of the warehouses.
His punch comes too quickly for her to dodge. Her head snaps back, and she falls, hitting the side of the car.
A rage so violent floods through me. I will tear him apart.
I’m suddenly tugged back, “Don’t be a fool, Kingston!” Ace growls.
My teeth grind painfully together, and all I can do is watch as he manhandles her to standing again, blood dripping from her nose and lips as he forces her towards the door of the warehouse. The door closes with a resounding thud, locking her inside.
There are three men outside patrolling and I use a gap in the cross-over to sprint across the courtyard towards the door, Ace behind me.
“Kill them all,” I hiss to him, “Get Eleanor out.”
He nods and we slip inside.