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Who did I call?
Lavena? Marcella? Both?
I called Marcella. She answered on the second ring. Her soft voice came out muffled with the rush of wind in her end.
“It’s me,” I said, voice wavering. I gripped the receiver harder.
“Kami? Alex, roll up the windows. I can’t hear. Kami? Is that you? Where are you calling from?”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
But that seemed to be my default. I couldn’t stop.
“You need to come,” I sobbed, breaking down. “Darius … we’re in the hospital…”
“What? Sweetheart, slow down. Take a deep breath for me, okay? What’s going on? Where’s Darius?”
I did as she said and sucked in a breath but couldn’t stop the tears. I stuffed tissues under my eyes, smearing makeup across the soft white.
“Let me, honey.” Leshandra scooted over and took the phone from me. In two minutes flat, she had explained everything in a quick, professional tone before passing it back to me. “She wants to talk to you.”
“Yeah?” I whispered into the phone.
“We’re on our way, okay? Just sit tight and talk to no one.”
I didn’t understand the last part but all that mattered was that Marcella and Alexander were on their way. They would know what to do. They would fix everything.
Leshandra guided me over to an alcove tucked just around the corner from the reception desk. A row of wooden chairs was lined along the three walls with a low table in the center cluttered high with magazines. I was told to sit and wait.
But sitting was the last thing I was capable of. Every nerve in my body was wired. Every sound in the corridor had me rushing to the opening to peer out. I couldn’t stop shaking. The blanket from the EMT was doing nothing to Edmund off the chill coming from deep within my own core.
I was still there, pacing and praying when Marcella charged into view, still in her sleek, blackRalph Laurenshe’d been wearing at the party. Alexander was right behind her, but I was running into her open arms before he even rounded the corner.
“I don’t know what happened.” I cried into her shoulder.
She shushed me gently, calming palms gliding over my hair and down my back. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Come on. Sit. Tell me what happened.”
I let myself get led to a nearby chair and nudged into it. Marcella took my side while Alexander stood a few feet away, face drawn.
I started telling them everything that happened after we left the party. I told them about waiting for the elevator and the hooded man who came up behind Darius.
“He had a hood?” Marcella pressed gently.
I nodded. “Hood, dark glasses and a mask.” I closed my eyes and tried to bring forth the image I knew was seared into my brain, but all that came up was the spray of blood arcing across the gray stone, the hot scent of copper and grease, and the weight of Darius’s body crumpling like paper to the ground. “I don’t know,” I gasped, eyes snapping open, unable to rewatch that horror on a loop. “I don’t know. He … he was tall, but not as tall as Darius. He…” I tried to remember without closing my eyes again, “was wearing a black coat, but like a windbreaker.”
“Did he say anything?”
I started to shake my head but stopped. “I think he said something to Darius, but I didn’t hear it.”
Marcella put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, our heads touching. Neither of us said another word, nor were we there for long when Lavena, Edmund and the girls hurried into the waiting room still in their dresses. Edmund was the only one who had changed at some point into dark trousers and a pale top. The girls were slightly rumpled, makeup faded and smudged, but their eyes were wide and alert as they took us each in.
“Holy fuck, Kami!”
Lavena crossed the room, but I was already out of my chair, blanket cast aside and running towards her. She caught me in a suffocating embrace that was reinforced by two more arms from the side and back.
“Are you okay?” Kas whispered into my ear.
I shook my head, unable to breathe without breaking. The hot well of tears was already burning my eyes and I could feel the tremors coursing up through me.
