lot. She didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there, hiding behind a vehicle or something.
“There could be others inside,” Tybo pointed out.
Valerian clucked with irritation at the suggestion and then turned back to Ildaria. “On second thought, wait until we knock these two out and truss them up, then one of us will walk you up to your apartment and check it out before we go.”
Ildaria considered refusing the offer. She’d been alone a long time with no one to turn to for help before Vasco and Cristo had entered her life ten years ago. And she hadn’t turned to them so much as they’d looked out for her, whether she liked it or not. Jess and then Marguerite had followed, both insisting on helping despite her best efforts to avoid it. But that didn’t mean she was used to accepting aid.
On the other hand, she didn’t really feel like having to fight again if a compatriot of one of these two was waiting inside. Besides, she was out of shoes.
A hissing pfffft of sound caught her ear, and she glanced around to see that Tybo had just shot the man who presently had her shoe heel buried in the side of his face. Once he fell, she saw that the heel had entered through his maxilla—the bone that forms the upper jaw. It had entered at a slanted upward angle too, going in just below and to the side of his nose and she suspected hitting and piercing his nasal bone at the top between the eyes. At least, there was a lump there that could be the end of the shoe heel.
Ildaria eyed the shoe now stuck to his face and felt her shoulders droop unhappily. They’d been super expensive because of the metal heels, but she hadn’t been able to resist buying them. She’d really liked the little black bows on the back. So had G.G. At least he’d had her wearing them, or a version of them in every dream they’d shared. Sometimes, they were all he had her wearing.
“We’ll get the shoes back to you,” Valerian said beside her.
Ildaria watched Tybo move on to shoot the man with her other heel in his groin and grimaced. She didn’t really think she wanted them back now, but she didn’t say that. Valerian was already moving to pick up the shoe-faced man while Tybo bent to the other one and heaved him over his shoulder.
“Fortunately, we parked back here,” Tybo told her as he and Valerian carried the men to a black SUV parked next to G.G.’s pickup.
“Convenient,” Ildaria murmured, petting H.D. soothingly as she watched the Enforcers dump both men in the back of the SUV.
The two men didn’t debate who would do what, Valerian simply told Tybo to wait with the vehicle and shoot the men again if they stirred, then returned to Ildaria.
He took her elbow to lead her to the door, but pulled her behind his back and took the lead when they reached it, so that he could check inside first and be sure the way was clear. He then led her up to her floor and did the same there.
“Which one?” he asked glancing toward the two doors in this hall.
“The left,” Ildaria answered and shifted H.D. to one arm so that she could retrieve her keys from her pocket and hand them to him. She waited patiently as he unlocked the door and slid inside to check the apartment, but her gaze kept sliding to the door to the stairway as she waited, half afraid another South American Enforcer would come rushing out and try to grab her. But nothing like that happened before Valerian returned to tell her the place was fine.
“Keep your door locked and call if you have any problems. Lucian will probably order Tybo and I to watch the building for any more trouble, but it could take us an hour to get back here. Of course, Tybo is probably calling to report in right now, and Lucian might send another team rather than risk leaving you alone. I will have Tybo text you either way so you know what is happening,” he promised as he handed her the keys and ushered her into her apartment.
“Thanks,” Ildaria called as he closed the door. The minute it was shut she locked it, and heard Valerian’s satisfied grunt on the other side. She suspected he’d waited purely to be sure she locked it, but