I froze immediately, blood thundering in my ears.
“Good girl.” His hand landed on the back of my head, where he fisted it, wrenching my head to a painfully unnatural angle. He leaned into my face, spit spraying from his mouth as he seethed, “I want my wife back!”
“I don’t know where she is,” I cried.
He tsked his tongue against his teeth as he furrowed his brow. “Now, that’s just not true. She was at your house when you left, right?” The butt of his gun slammed down on my nose.
My vision blurred from the explosion of pain.
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” He released me and pushed to his feet.
But I was helpless to try to get away. I rolled to my back, barely able to remain conscious.
“How’s my daughter?” He laughed maniacally, squatting in front of me. “Or should I say our daughter. We did make a beautiful girl, didn’t we?” He ran his gun down the side of my face.
A shiver shot down my spine as I struggled to focus. “I don’t know where she is,” I slurred, drunkenly lifting a hand to wipe blood away from my nose as it began to seep up into my eyes.
“I suggest you figure it out, Elisabeth.”
His hand drifted down to the hem of my blouse, tugging it up as disgust awakened my senses. I batted his hands away and then scrambled across the floor until my back met a wall.
He tipped his head to the side, a slow smile pulling at his mouth. “Rubicon?” he asked, pointedly glancing down to the exposed pink vest.
I didn’t reply as I kicked my feet, trying desperately to get farther away from him with no luck. My body trembled as blood poured from my nose and into my lap.
“Of course it is.” He laughed. “That ball-less son of a bitch has proven himself to be somewhat of a successful businessman. Trust me. I was just as shocked as you were.”
I remained silent as he began to pace the length of the bathroom.
“You know, when I paid that doctor to give me your egg, I lucked out that you resembled Clare. The truth is I picked you because I’d heard your husband was broke and worthless. I was doing you a goddamn favor.” He stopped and covered his heart with his gun. “I was brokenhearted to hear about our son’s passing.”
“No,” I croaked, acid burning in my stomach. “He wasn’t—”
“He was.” He grinned proudly. “I always wanted a son, you know?” Suddenly, he swung his gun wide and leveled it on me. “But I’ll settle for Tessa. Tell Light he has twenty-four hours to return my family or, the next time, I aim higher.”
“No. No. No!” I yelled, throwing a hand out as though I could stop him.
His sinister smile grew impossibly wide just before I felt the agonizing crush of my chest caving in.
The deafening sound of the gun’s explosion barely registered before the lights went out completely.
It could have been a second. It could have been a millennium. But, sometime later, I awoke to Roman’s pained roar.
“Elisabeth.”
Through slitted eyes, I saw him drop to his knees beside me. He then jostled my limp body until I was flat on my back.
“Call nine-one-one!” he screamed in a voice so agonizing that I didn’t even recognize it as my husband’s.
Though, as my sluggish eyes focused on his face, I didn’t recognize my strong man, either. His face was pale and contorted as though he were in the final stage of death.
“Are you okay?” I asked, raising a shaky hand to his jaw.
He frantically patted my neck and my chest down and then shoved my shirt up to do the same on my vest. “Oh, thank you, God,” he cried in relief as I heard the ping of something metal hit the tile. “Okay. Hang tight, baby. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“It was Noir,” I whispered. Even the simple act of talking was painful.
His wild gaze landed on mine. “I know. But I’ve got you now.”
“You need to get Tessa and Clare somewhere safe. He…he wants them back.”
“Okay, baby. Calm down and breathe. I’ll get word to Light.”
I closed my lids and forced the words from my throat. “He said Tripp was his.”
“Shhh. He was ours. Don’t worry about the rest of it right now. Just hold on. I’m gonna get you to a hospital.” He lifted my upper body and tucked my face into his neck.
The movement was unbearable, and the mixture of overwhelming pain and the comfort of knowing that he was there with me had me drifting into the darkness once again.
I perched on the edge of the bed as Heath paced a path in the carpet of his bedroom. His phone was at his ear, and a barrage of curse words streamed from his lips.
“And you decided using the APD to secure the movie theater was your best option?” he roared. “Jesus Christ, you might as well have just sent Noir an invitation.” He paused and raked an angry hand through his hair. “Bullshit. A man dying and Elisabeth Leblanc getting shot is absolutely my problem.”