get to the bottom of this later. Right now, I need to know she’s all right.
“She’s with Pavel. But Alek…” Saint kisses Willow’s temple as she whimpers. “She’s hurt badly. I had to carry her out discreetly because she was unconscious. Luckily, Ella made friends with one of the maids who escorted me to an unused exit. From what I could see, Frank beat her to within an inch of her life, and from the torn underwear, he—”
“Enough!” I exclaim, placing a fist over my mouth to stop my vomit. “Max, please drive faster.”
Willow shakes her head, angered and afraid. “She put up a fight. She’ll be okay,” she says for both our sakes. The fact she’s covered in blood affirms that she helped Saint get Ella out of there.
“And Frank? What did you do with him?” I ask, jaw clenching when I think about how I want to string him up and kill him again.
“I threw him off the balcony. He’s hidden in the hedges underneath, but it won’t be long until they find him. The bloodstains on the carpet are a dead giveaway that something ugly happened.”
“We’re all in danger,” I state, my brain racing a million miles a minute. I need to come up with a plan—and fast.
“They’ll think Ella escaped on her own,” Saint says, and he’s right. At first, they will. But it’s only a matter of time until they work out the truth.
“Santo won’t rest until he finds her and kills her for what she’s done.”
“We can hide her,” Willow says, always coming to the rescue of others.
“That’ll only work for so long. We’re talking about retribution for the death of the Macrillos’ youngest son. This is war,” I declare, not believing those words are coming from my mouth.
I wait for Saint to argue, to tell me I’m overacting, but he doesn’t, and that’s because he knows I’m right.
“What will you do?” she asks, nervously biting her thumbnail.
“There is only one thing I can do. I need to leave Russia and go where no one can find us until I can work out a better plan.
“You need to do the same,” I order Saint. “They will be coming for us. They’ll be coming for us all. We don’t have much time.”
My time to reign was short-lived because now, I’m a fugitive. There is no way I’ll fail Ella again. I have a target on my back because I saw the way Mila looked at me. I thought I was discreet, but she knows I have feelings for Ella. Ella couldn’t have gotten far without help.
And they’ll eventually figure out that help was us.
The tires screech as Max speeds toward my house. He doesn’t even have a chance to turn off the motor before I open the door, throwing my cane across the lawn with a roar. It only slows me down. Racing for the front door, I almost tear it from the hinges as I frantically search for Pavel.
I don’t want to scare Irina, so I don’t call out.
Seconds later, he appears at the top of the staircase. “She’s in your bedroom.”
That’s all I need to know as I take the stairs two at a time, my limp nonexistent because I’m running on pure adrenaline.
“She’s in and out of consciousness,” Pavel quickly informs, chasing me. “I’ve given her some strong painkillers.”
I can’t speak. I can’t even think clearly. All I want to do is see her and make sure she’s okay.
Bursting through my bedroom door, I thought I prepared myself for this, but I haven’t. Nothing could have prepared me for this.
A broken figure lies in the middle of my bed, but there is no way it can be Ella. She is barely recognizable. Her body looks beaten, and her face…her swollen face is covered in so much blood. Running over to the bedside, I come to a sudden stop when I see the full extent of her injuries.
Tiny slits cover her face that look like they were caused by shards of glass, and the cuts are seeping blood. Her dress is torn, and her feet are bare. Her hair is snarled, almost standing on end like it’s been pulled. Every part of her body looks bruised and bloody. Her chest rises and falls sluggishly as she struggles to breathe.
I see this clearly, but my mind refuses to accept this as truth. This can’t be Ella. This broken woman cannot be her.
Slumping to my knees by her bedside, I brush the matted hair from