Page 77 of Fighting for Ella

Getting to Ella.

Standing back, he slammed his foot into the door and was rewarded by a crack, and then a moment later, the broken remains parted enough that he could see inside.

A figure in black was running through the room.

No signs of Ella.

“They’re on the move,” he said into his comms as he shoved his body through the too-small gap. Miguel barely registeredthe shards of broken wood ripping at his tux, his mind was too focused on its single goal.

As soon as he was through, he started running in the direction the figure had gone, toward the other door to the dressing room. He didn't waste time checking the room for Ella’s body, the mole wasn't running because they’d already achieved their goal and wanted to escape. There had been no time for Dora to kill Ella and hide the body.

The mole had to be chasing Ella.

Somehow, she’d decided running was the better option and he wished he knew why. What had Dora threatened her with? Ella knew he was right outside the door, why hadn't she called for help or pressed her panic button?

Whatever the reason, he picked up his pace. He could catch up to them. Ella was fit but she didn't spend hours every single day training. He had no idea about Dora, but Miguel was confident he could catch up to them before the mole had a chance to hurt Ella.

If she hadn't already.

He had to believe that Ella was so far unharmed because there was no blood trail. Whatever Ella’s reasons for running, she was making them with a clear head, so he had to believe she knew what she was doing and had some sort of plan.

This place was like a maze, corridors heading in different directions, crisscrossing one another, leading to dozens of dressing rooms and storage rooms. If he lost them then he could lose Ella for good. All it would take was the mole to get her alone for a moment without interruption and it could all be over.

There was not a doubt in his mind that Dora was armed. Although why the woman hadn't just shot Ella and been done with it he had no idea. Maybe she’d been armed with a knife instead and hadn't been able to get close enough. Ella had self-defense training, and he knew she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

“Hey, Dora, stop!” he yelled when he spotted her up ahead.

“Miguel! Stay back!” Ella’s voice screamed even though he couldn’t see her.

At least he knew she was still alive.

Although she was crazy if she thought he wasn't coming after her.

Dora disappeared around a corner, and then the next thing Miguel knew the world around him blew up.

The force of the explosion was enough to take him to his knees, but not enough to pick up his body and slam it into the ground. Certainly not enough to injure him beyond making it feel like he’d been given a single-body jarring blow.

“Miguel? What happened?” Rocco’s voice demanded in his ear.

“Bomb. Dora had a bomb,” he replied, shoving off the shock and scrambling back to his feet, consumed with the need to get to Ella.

Just because he hadn't been injured didn't mean she hadn't.

She was a whole lot closer to the blast than he was even if he had been a mere fifty yards or so away from Dora when she set off her bomb.

Now he knew why Ella had run, why she hadn't pressed her panic button, or answered him when he’d been on the other side of the door.

Damn, brave woman was trying to protect him.

Protect them all.

Dora must have told her about or shown her the bomb and Ella had drawn her away. It was the only reason he could think of that she would run instead of reaching out to him when she knew he was just on the other side of the door.

The closer he got to the epicenter of the explosion the more his heart dropped.

While the force of the explosion hadn't been all that powerful it was enough that parts of the walls and ceiling had collapsed, blocking him from getting to Ella.

Not acceptable.

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