Page 106 of Knights Game

I have multiple missed calls from Luca.

The sound of her ringtone goes off as mine continues to buzz. She appears in the doorway. “Must be urgent if Roman is calling me.”

I decline the call, not quite ready to face him yet, but it starts ringing almost immediately. “What part of ghosting do you not understand?” I say, turning it to silent and throwing it across the bed.

“Yeah, she’s here.” Katy appears in my doorway again. “In bed, hang on, hang on, you need to slow down. What do you mean, how do you treat severe dehydration?” She pauses and I frown. “I know, Roman, but I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

She pauses again, listening.

“I’m not giving you sass, you’re not making any sense. No, I won’t put Layla on, you called me. God, you’re an arsehole sometimes. Let me put you on speaker.”

I narrow my eyes before mouthingNo, but before I can fight the inevitable Katy has flopped onto the bed holding the phone between us.

“Start from the beginning,” she instructs.

“I need to know how to treat severe dehydration, then I need you both to get dressed and be ready to leave the house in ten minutes, bring a spare pair of clothes.”

“What?” I reply.

“Jesus Christ,” he says.

“I can practically see him pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.” Katy whispers.

“Layla.” Something in his tone kills my laughter. “We need you here. We need your skills. It will take you an hour to get here, and the girls are in dire need of medical attention.”

“Girls?” I ask. “What girls?”

“No time. How do we start to treat severe dehydration?”

“They need fluids, an IV, and a hospital, Roman.”

“Not going to happen, we don’t have that stuff, not yet, what can we give them?”

“What the hell?” Katy asks.

“If I can get you what you need, can you help?”

“Of course.” I reply, not even having to think.

“What?” Katy exclaims.

“What?” I retort. “People need help, I’m not exactly going to say no.”

“No, but—” Katy stops herself, “Why the spare clothes?”

“Because Duchess made a mess.”

“Give them water, but don’t let them glug it, it needs to be sipped and controlled.”

“Okay. Send me a list of what you need it will be here by the time you arrive.”

“Rome, we need you.” Luca’s voice is in the distance, and I can hear for the first time the chaos of the background noise.

“Ten minutes,” Roman says before hanging up.

We sit in silence staring at the phone. What are we about to walk into?

The car twists and turns around corners, through an industrial estate hugging the river Thames. Offices, warehouses, commercial units pepper the roads, and we both sit in apprehensive silence as the black Mercedes takes us to where I think the warehouse I was taken to before is.

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