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“Five million pounds to walk out that door and let me finish, Jones.” Alexander’s voice is eerily calm.
The door closes again. Harold’s hands come up underneath my back, taking some of my body’s weight. He uses one of his hands to follow the line of my left leg till he is able to release me, and it falls as soon as the pressure is released. He then continues with the right leg until only my arms are now bound. “Can you stand?” he asks me gently. I test my feet without his assistance and even though I’m wobbly, I nod; he reaches up and makes quick work of untying my arms. Once I’m completely unbound, I fall to the floor in a heap.
I look up in time to see Alexander pounding at Richard with his fists to the point where he is no longer able to move. Alexander pulls Richard’s limp body toward him by the shirt and places the barrel of his gun directly against his forehead. “Look at me, you sick son of a bitch. I want you to look at me when I end your fucking life.” I see Richard’s eyes flutter open for just a moment. I want to launch myself at them and take the gun from Alexander’s hand and empty the entire clip into Richard myself. But before I even have the chance to move, Alexander pulls the trigger and I see the back of Richard’s head explode, blood and brain matter spraying everywhere.
Jones comes back into the room as the sound of the gun firing rings loudly around us. “The others are on their way up. Drag Rebecca closer to Richard’s body. Hurry, Alexander! You need to look as though you’ve thrown yourself over Rebecca to save her from a bullet. Give me the gun at your feet. Quickly! The other agents will be here any second.” I try to help Harold move my body closer to the corpse of Richard lying limply beside me.
Alexander’s body sprawls over my own, his breathing loud in my ear. “Are you okay. sweetheart?” he asks.
I can’t form any words right now, so I merely nod against his body, knowing he can feel the movement.
I hear the commotion outside and as the remaining agents run in, we are all in the positions Jones had instructed, including him holding the murder weapon. I don’t know what it is he is doing, or why he’s done this, but I daresay we will find out very soon.
“Boss, are you okay?” I see Agent Smith step into the room, his eyes taking in the scene around him.
“About bloody time you got here. Harold freed Miss Kennedy and Richard attacked her with the knife there.” He points to the blade on the ground close to where I had been tied up. “Mr. Black lunged at him and in the scuffle, he dropped the weapon. They struggled and Mr. Black got in a few punches. I pulled him away but Richard reached for the blade again. He got back to his feet, threatening our lives and waving the knife around, then he reached for Miss Kennedy and had the blade to her throat. He applied enough pressure that if I didn’t act immediately, he would have killed her. I saw that Mr. Black was about to try and get Miss Kennedy out of his grasp and as he did, I shot Lexington.” The last of the other agents enter the room as Jones finishes his recollection of the incident, never wavering in his made-up version of events, which sound totally believable.
“Now, let’s get these people out of here. Have the paramedics for Miss Kennedy arrived yet?” Alexander rolls off me and I look up at Agent Smith at the sound of my name.
“Yes, sir. Evans, go bring them up.” Smith turns to one of the men in full body armor and helmet, who exits the room immediately.
Alexander stays close to me and takes me into his arms, pulling me against his body. It hurts terribly to be touched right now, but I don’t whimper in pain, not after what I have just experienced. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he whispers into my hair.
“Don’t apologize—you did nothing wrong. Unless you count getting yourself shot, then you did something very wrong,” I croak back.
“I shouldn’t have put you in this situation. If I had just left you alone all those months ago, you would have been safe. Never knowing that this world even existed. Never knowing that I existed.” His voice shakes.
“Hey, look at me,” I command, his icy blue eyes meeting mine. “Don’t you talk about us never meeting, that’s extremely hurtful. I’m glad I fell in love with you, and I’m even more happy you fell in love with me. You and I are forever, Black. And just so you know, I would have done the exact same thing for you that you just did for me. I was actually about to launch myself at you both to take the gun from you. I wanted to empty the entire clip into him,” I whisper.
His eyes search mine and see my truth reflected at him. He leans down and presses his lips gently against my own. “Killing someone is something I never want you to have on your conscience, sweetheart. It’s something you can never escape.”
“Paramedics are here for Miss Kennedy.” Harold’s voice comes from above us. Alexander pulls back and moves to his feet, then he stoops down and scoops me into his arms, cradling my body against his as he takes me to where the paramedics wait for me with a gurney.
“She needs to be taken to the hospital immediately and I will be riding with her.” Alexander’s tone leaves no room for argument. Even so, the paramedics look to Agent Jones who nods at them. I reach out my hand so I can be connected to him.
The paramedics strap me onto the gurney and give me a green whistle to suck on for pain relief. I suck hard on it and I feel slightly better. Whatever is in this thing is helping to take the edge off; it is also making me feel groggy. “I’m so tired,” I whisper to Alexander. He smiles down at me and kisses me on the forehead.
“Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll be here when you wake.” His masculine voice soothes me.
“You promise you won’t go anywhere?” My voice is barely above a whisper.
“I promise, sweetheart. I’ll never leave your side again.” I close my eyes, never letting go of his hand. And I drift off to sleep.
~ Chapter Twenty-Five ~
Alexander
We arrive at the hospitaland I’m not allowed into surgery where they take Rebecca to stitch her open wounds. Instead, I’m asked to go to the waiting room. I object, throwing my name around at anyone who will listen, threatening lawsuits that I know have absolutely no grounds. Eventually, the one who listens to me ends up being the nurse in charge. He takes me into a private room where they will bring her as soon as she is out of recovery. I pace like a wild beast. Every minute I am away from her I get worse.
When I walked into that room in Chelsea earlier tonight, it took every inch of my self-control not to just charge directly at Richard and kill him. Rebecca was tied up in the middle of the room, completely naked, covered in bruises, deep gashes, and a combination of both fresh and dried blood. The floor underneath her was almost brown with the blood she had lost. I knew immediately that my previous thought of not letting him leave the room alive was spot on; there was no way he would get out of there still breathing. And I would be the one to end him; it would be up close and personal, with him knowing it was me who snuffed out his life.
When I pulled the trigger, it felt amazing. Ending such a scumbag’s life was doing every other human a favor; no one would miss him. I would have readily given myself to Jones to arrest him and yet he surprised me by giving us directions on what to do to stage the crime scene a little differently. I will forever be in the debt of Agent Jones now for taking responsibility for shooting Richard. And quite honestly, whatever he wants I will give him.
With one exception. Rebecca.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I answer it without checking who’s calling. “Black.”
“It’s me. All is settled with MI6. Jones has gone on record and so have I, so they shouldn’t need to talk to you for a while. They will need to speak to Rebecca, though, as she needs to tell them everything that happened while she was alone with Richard. They wanted to head over to the hospital tonight, but Jones told them she needs time to heal. I’d expect them tomorrow, though, sir. I’m going to swing by your place in Kensington and grab you both a change of clothes. Is there anything else you need?”
