Page 74 of Fighting for Ella

It was something else, and by the time the end of the concert finally arrived Miguel was torn between being thrilled Ella had this opportunity to do something she obviously loved and disappointed that there had been no signs of Dora.

Spread as they were throughout the audience, Miguel was confident that if Dora was there then one of the men on his team or Rocco’s would have seen her by now.

Maybe he had been wrong.

Maybe self-preservation had turned out to be more important to Dora than her scheme for revenge.

They’d go back to the drawing board and make sure they figured something else out. Dora didn't get to cause the kind of pain and suffering to Ella that she had and get away with it. Whatever it took they’d get her, this was not the end.

“Still no sign of her,” Gumby said as the applause started to die down, people dropped back into their seats or began to gather their things.

“Doesn’t mean she isn’t here,” Rocco’s voice came down the comms. “She’s proven herself to be sneaky, she could have come here in disguise.”

“Prey are running facial recognition software on everyone here,” Rex reminded them. “If she’s here in disguise unless she was able to actually physically change her facial features, which I don’t see how she would have in just a couple of days, then that will pick her up.”

“If she wants to get to Ella she’ll hang around for the drinks,” Ace added.

That was true, this wasn't over yet, there was still time for Dora Hibbert to make her move. To give her that opportunity he was going to have to keep his distance from Ella. If he was hanging around right by her side like an angry guard dog, there was no way Dora would risk approaching.

Not that he had any intention of staying too far away.

Miguel needed to have her in his line of sight. Simple as that. The longer he was away from her the edgier he became. There was no use pretending he could keep a level head when it came to this woman, that he could stop himself from becoming obsessed with her.

It was already too late.

He was falling hard and fast.

And when he was around her he didn't even care.

“I'm going to get eyes on her,” he told the others, standing and working his way through the throng of people.

“Don’t get too close,” Rocco reminded him.

“I know,” he assured the other man. As badly as he wanted to glue himself to Ella’s side, he wasn't going to mess this up. Not when the stakes were so high.

“You need one of us to stick close?” Rocco asked, understanding in his tone.

“No. I can keep it together. I’ll stay close enough to keep her in my sight, but I won't get so close that it’ll scare off our target,” he promised.

Making quick work of heading for the backstage area, he was almost there when he saw a figure in black heading right toward Ella’s dressing room. The figure was small and slim, definitely a woman, and it was dressed like one of the staff. Was that how Dora thought she could get to Ella? By pretending she was there working.

Not going to happen.

Only just as he picked up his speed, a huge group of people spilled out into the aisles blocking his way and leaving Dora Hibbert a clean shot at getting to Ella.

CHAPTER TWENTY

February 14th

10:38 P.M.

Electricity buzzedthrough Ella’s bones as she walked into the dressing room and took a deep breath.

The concert was done, whether or not Dora had taken their bait and shown up remained to be seen, but regardless, it felt like tonight had been a win. It had been far too long since she last played in front of an audience, and she’d forgotten how exhilarating it was.

This was something she’d been doing since she was five years old. She’d done solo concerts and some with various members of her family, even a couple with all of them together. It was part of her, the music, the concerts, it was something she wanted to spend more time doing. As much as she loved working for Prey, and couldn’t imagine not having that in her life, she needed this in her life, too.

Needed more than she’d been giving herself.

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