AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ten
This was why we weren’t supposed to get attached.
The barely-restrained anger, the shallowly-buried fear, the willingness to disregard your training, your rules, maybe even your mission, all because of a short phone call, and a handful of words.
“Come to the hospital. There’s been an incident.”
An incident.
Anincident.
An “incident” didn’t say shit, but set off dozens of horrific possibilities in my head. So many that, as soon as I hung up from that call from Marcus, I got up from my desk to get dressed. Kay was sleeping, and I let her stay that way, giving her a kiss on the forehead before I pulled the covers up over her and left, making sure to set the alarm on my way out.
As I headed to the car, different scenarios played out in my head – none of them ended well. But there was little use in giving in to those thoughts when I had no details – that was another part of protocol, never giving more information than absolutely necessary over the phone. And apparently, Marcus only deemed it necessary that I know Monica was at the hospital, and I should come.
The rest, I would find out when I got there.
I didn’t like how the shit felt. Was there distance between us now? Yes. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be concerned about her. Was she sick? Had she passed out from stress? Had she done something to herself? Had someone done something to her? All that shit was swimming around in my head, to the point that by the time I made it to the hospital I was agitated as hell, and ready to fuck something up.
As soon as someone told me what the hell was going on.
Following the instructions Marcus gave, I found my way to the restricted area of the hospital where Monica was being kept – a string I knew someone inFive Star Securityhad pulled. I recognized the guard at the door, and he immediately moved aside to let me through.
“They’re in P5,” he told me, pointing out one of the doors that lined the hallway. Through each door, there was a private waiting area, and beyond that, the actual hospital room. Marcus and Chloe were the only ones waiting in Monica’s.
“Aiight, I’m here now,” I said, addressing Marcus after I’d greeted Chloe. “Can somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Marcus nodded. “Chloe knows better than I do, so I’ll let her tell the story.”
My eyes immediately went back to Chloe, who gave me a wry smile. “I suppose that’s true, but even I don’t know very much.”
“Anything you can give me. Y’all called me in the middle of the night for a reason.”
She tipped her head. “Well, yes. Of course. So… today was Monica’s first day back at the office – she told no one that she was going ahead of time, as far as I know. I thought the distraction was probably good for her, so I didn’t press it, but I’d been checking in with her every few hours to make sure she was okay. Around eleven tonight, she didn’t respond. I knew she’d decided to stay at the office late, so I didn’t think much of it, but about an hour and a half later, she still hadn’t replied, so I called. When I didn’t get an answer, I tried to call her direct line in her office, but I kept getting a busy signal, which was odd for her business line at that time of night. That’s when I called the building security.Theyinsisted that she was just fine, sitting at her desk working according to the cameras. But I insisted that someone go and physically check. Put eyes on her, not just watching through a screen. And… that’s when they found her.”
My eyes went wide. “Found her? What does that mean?”
Chloe let out a breath, and when she spoke again, her voice was shaking. “She’d been attacked.”
“Attackedhow,” I managed to grunt, my gaze stuck on the closed door to the hospital room. “What are her injuries?”
“Concussion. And um…” – her voice broke again – “Pretty bad bruising, uh… around her neck.”
“She was choked.”
Chloe nodded, and then cleared her throat. “Yes. Until she passed out. And… um, she was hit in the head, with something. Doctor says she’ll likely have a headache for a few days, but other than that, she’ll be okay.”
“Yeah. Physically maybe. Should I even ask if a culprit has been found?”
“Ha.No,” Chloe scoffed, shaking her head. “The useless security at her building didn’t even discover anything amiss until I called. Whoever did this had recorded part of the security feed earlier in the night, and had the cameras from her office, reception area, and hall playing on a loop. They called the police of course, but the culprit was already long gone. I called Marcus to meet me at the hospital, just in case whoever this was wanted to finish the job once it was realized that she’d survived. She needs protection.”
“Which is why I called you,” Marcus cut in. “Our client roster is completely full right now –Ishouldn’t even be here. I have Mimi acting as attendant for me right now, but that’s a temporary solution. I know you’ve told me over and over that you aren’t interested in playing protector, but—”
“I’ll do it,” I said, interrupting whatever long-ass spiel he was about to go on. “Why exactly didn’t we already have her under protection already?” I asked, hoping to hear something that would make me feel a little less guilty about not having insisted on it before now. But before now, there hadn’t been a physical threat to her, there was no reason to think someone wanted to do her bodily harm.
Now we knew different.
“She didn’t want that,” Chloe answered, after Marcus gave me nothing but a shrug. “I asked her about that after her place was broken into, but she was adamant. Said she wasn’t a celebrity, didn’t need a bodyguard.”
