Page 79 of Fast Justice

David’s sharp rebuke from behind him jerked him out of his rage-fueled haze.

He shook himself, yanked his hands off Elena’s throat as if she’d burned him and took a stumbling step backward. His wife drew in a gasping breath and clutched her neck, the red marks from his fingers livid against her skin. They stood mere yards apart and stared at one another in the awful, suffocating silence of the room.

Something cold and hard and bitter formed inside him. Encasing his heart in an icy, impenetrable shell. “Get out of my sight,” he rasped out, afraid he might actually kill her if he touched her again.

Throwing him a look of mingled devastation and contempt, Elena spun around and fled from the room, her running footsteps growing muffled as she raced up the carpeted stairs. A moment later a door slammed shut overhead. She was smart enough to know to bolt it shut against him.

Slowly, Manny turned to face his head of security. David was watching him with a deep frown creasing his forehead. “What the hell, boss?”

He sucked in an unsteady breath, fought to get control of himself. “She ordered the attack on Oceane and Anya,” he said, shaken, queasy.

“Are you sure?” He sounded as shocked as Manny felt.

“Yes,” he snapped, reaching behind him to grasp the countertop for support. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

“What do you want me to do?”

“Find my daughter,” he rasped out, unsure whether he was going to puke or break down like a child. Jesus, his own wife had done this to him.

“What about Elena? Should I take her to a hotel, or…?”

“No. I’ll leave.” He couldn’t stay another minute in this house, under the same roof with her, afraid of what he might do.

He strode to the foyer, stared hard at the keys to his new Jag where they lay on the entry table. His mouth twisted as the truth hit home. Guilt. That’s why she’d bought it for him. He should have known. God, how had he missed the signs?

He reached for the keys to his Porsche instead, spoke over his shoulder without looking back. No more looking back now. Only forward. “Find my daughter, David, and bring her back to me. That’s all I want you to do.”

He stalked out the door, his life and heart in ashes. Oceane was the only good part of him left. She was his blood, his sole heir. The only way he could live on after he left this world was to pass the empire he’d built to her one day, free of the cartel.

Hehadto get his daughter back, whatever it took.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Now that she’d had a few minutes’ peace and relative quiet after the whirlwind of everything that had happened in the aftermath of being pulled from the water, exhaustion hit Rowan hard. Lying on the hospital Emergency room bed, she shut her eyes and tried to make her mind go blank.

The flurry of agency and other law enforcement personnel had finished interviewing and questioning her. The nurse had just left, the doctors were done with their tests and exams. Now she was just waiting for clearance so they would release her.

The pale blue curtain acting as a privacy screen around her bed parted. She looked up as her parents stepped through it. Her mother appeared on the verge of tears and her father’s face was pale, his deep blue eyes haunted.

“Oh, sweetheart,” her mother said, and grabbed Rowan in a fierce hug.

“Ow,” she whispered, pushing her mom away a little when she squeezed the bruises on Rowan’s ribs.

“Sorry.” Her mom eased the pressure but didn’t let go, her cheek pressed to Rowan’s hair. “Oh my God, we were so scared.”

“They wouldn’t tell us anything,” her father added, coming around the other side of the bed to take Rowan’s hand, as though he needed the contact with her. “You were already at the hospital by the time we got any more news.”

“I’m okay,” Rowan said, patting her mom’s back and squeezing her father’s hand. “Just a little banged up.”And traumatized. Let’s not forget that part.“All my tests came back fine, so they’re sending me home.”

Her mom leaned back to search her face, a worried frown puckering her brow. “Are you sure? You’re so pale, and…”

“Physically I’m fine. I just want out of here.” She looked between her parents. “How’s Kevin?”

“He’s worried sick,” her mother answered.

“Does he know I’m okay?” Of course he didn’t. Rowan sighed. “Mom, you’d better go up there right now and tell him I’m fine before he makes Nick put him in a wheelchair and bring him down here.” When her mother hesitated, Rowan raised her eyebrows. “You know he’ll do it.”

“Yes. You’re right.” Her mom kissed the top of her head and got up. “I’ll be back—without your brother.”

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