Page 118 of Pink

TWENTY-THREE

LEV HAD never felt fear like the absolute terror that racked his body and trembled through his hands as he drove like a madman through city traffic to reach his daughter’s elementary school. It wasn’t calmed by the phone calls he had with both enforcers posted at the school; both of which confirmed there was a threat made to the school, and the evacuation of the children was well in progress. If anything, that only made it worse.

Real.

Was she fine?

Was there an actual bomb?

None of those answers were clear from the enforcers. They weren’t allowed in the school. The kids were evacuated to the parking lot across the street, a spot that was predetermined by the district’s education officials. The same place he had to go to meet up with his daughter and pick her up. He hated that despite the school preparing parents—and the kids—for events like these, it still happened at all.

And on Arely’s first week.

Fuck.

She’d been so excited to start school; she counted down each one of the days until the morning of her first. This wasn’t how he wanted her to start kindergarten. Not at all.

He blew through every red light and hit fifteen over the limit when he could manage it despite the clogged streets. Probably caught a few radar tickets on the way, too. Lev didn’t care about any of that.

The only thing on his mind was his baby.

Arely.

Her name was a mantra in his mind even as his shaking hands reached to answer the call ringing through the Bluetooth in the Jeep. Another two blocks—through worse traffic now, as he bet a lot of the cars ahead of him were probably other parents flooding the pickup spot—and he would have his daughter in his arms.

Where she belonged.

Safe again.

Like she should always be.

Vaguely, he registered Nessa’s name crossing the screen of his radio, but he didn’t fully connect that it was her until her voice filtered through the speakers, confirming at least one thing the enforcers hadn’t been able to during their last call. Of which he spent the majority raging at the man for not knowing anything as though he was in any better of a position now.

“It was a prank call,” Nessa said, the very first words out of her mouth. Yet, the fear clutching Lev’s heart didn’t let go of its painfully tight grip in the least. “I was able to find that much out. They’re still letting parents check the kids out for the day. Probably because they’re terrified, I mean—”

“Who does that kind of shit?”

“Teenagers who want the day off school, maybe.”

“Teenagers don’t attend elementary school, Nessa.”

That quieted her. Only for a second.

“Sorry, I was just trying to help,” Nessa replied. “I tried to get off work after you called—thought maybe I could make it to the pickup spot first, but my boss is being a bitch.”

Lev sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face in an attempt to ease some of the tension coiling through his nervous system. It did little. His tone tempered a bit when he said, “They wouldn’t have let you sign her out, anyway. Only her guardian. Me. Can’t even get her bodyguards—”

“Are you still going to pretend like she has bodyguards because your girlfriend is famous, or is it because of what they were saying about you in those magazines that you were so pissed off about? You know, the … mafia stuff.”

A sharp breath sucked into his lungs, aching the whole way. Despite knowing only a little about the situation with Gigi, Nessa had been kind enough not to push for more information when Lev didn’t offer it. Not that the two of them had very much time to chat at all lately.

“I can’t really talk about that shit,” Lev muttered. “What matters is that she’s safe, anyway.”

“Is she?”

“What?”

“A bomb threat was sent to her school today. She has bodyguards, Lev. Is she really safe?”