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Lana smiles. “I’ll just finish up the details with your fiance.”
I nod, giving Gabriel’s arm a little squeeze as I walk by. “I’ll just be a minute.”
“Are you ok?” he asks, and I smile.
“Yes.” I rush toward the side entrance and inside where I stop an employee to ask where the bathroom is located. She directs me toward a short hallway. Once there, I push open the door and head right to the sink. I turn the faucet on, letting the sound of water rushing soothe my overworked nerves. I need to get out of this constant state of fear I’ve been living in since Ronin told me I was in danger.
The door opens, and bent over the sink, with a handful of water ready to splash over my face, the soft sounds of footsteps causes me to pause.
I suck in a deep breath just as soon as something flashes out of the corner of my eye, causing me to duck my head down.
“What the…” my words are silenced when a hand covers my mouth.
I clamp my teeth down on skin, tasting flesh as the hand covering my mouth lets go. “You bitch,” a man says.
“Help,” I scream, hoping someone hears me.
I kick my foot out, connecting with the man’s shin.
He doesn’t go down, but stumbles back some, and then rushes from the bathroom in a blur of dark clothes.
I hurry out the door, still screaming for help, just as Gabriel is running inside. “He attacked me.” I point in the direction the man fled, but can no longer see him.
Gabriel palms my face. “Did he hurt you?”
“He’s getting away,” I say, feeling the hot sting of tears forming.
“Don’t worry.” Gabriel wraps his arms around me, checking to make sure I don’t have any injuries as a security guard arrives. “What happened?”
I retell the story of how the man was in the bathroom with me, and how he covered my mouth. The guard for the Juniper takes my statement, and then I tell the story again once the cops show up.
A man with gray eyes and cropped dark hair pulls Gabriel away, speaking close to his ear. Gabriel and the man glance over at me as they talk, and then they speak with the police officer in charge.
“I’m so sorry about everything,” Lana says, sitting next to me on the lounge couch. “I’ve just talked to the manager, and they’re going to double up the security here.”
I shake my head, knowing this wasn’t just a random attack.
When Gabriel finishes with the police, he walks over, flanked by the dark haired man.
“Clementine, this is Dean. He’s going to assign a man to stay with you at all times.”
“What do you mean?”
“Security,” Dean answers. “We want to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. You’re marrying a very important man, Clementine. We want to ensure your safety because people could use you to get to Gabriel.”
“It won’t. I have an idea who did this,” Gabriel says more to Dean than to me.
I blow out a deep breath, knowing he’s thinking about Bishop just like I am, and stand. “Can we go?”
Gabriel nods, wrapping a protective arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the Juniper where Stefan waits, holding the door open to the back of Gabriel’s sedan.
“I need to get away,” I say once the Juniper is behind us. “A beach somewhere in a tiny town sounds perfect.”
Gabriel places his warm hand over mine, brushing his thumb across my skin.
Never in my life have I ever just run away from a problem, mainly because I didn’t have the means to, but sometimes self preservation overrides everything else. No matter how many times Gabriel assures me we’re safe, I fear this wedding will ruin all my plans. Ten million dollars is not worth the price I’ll pay if Bishop Blackstone finds out what I’m hiding.
Chapter 28
