Chapter 4
EVAN
Outside the hotel Rosalie was staying in was a fucking nightmare. Reporters all over. I’d seen the papers and gossip rags. She’d been attacked outside. They made it sound like she’d been stabbed and was dying.
That pissed me off.
The image captured made it worse.
In it, she stood covered in blood as people scrambled to run.
The headline read: Bishop Attacked and Rushed to Emergency Room.
Opting to avoid the reporters, I was instructed to head to a back entrance.
“Come on,” I said to Trix as I gathered Ellis into my arms. Ellis wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.
“Nugget, I need you to hold on tight,” I murmured to her.
“Daddy? I’m scared.” She buried her face in my neck and held tighter.
“Shh. I got you, princess.” I kissed the top of her head fiercely before Trix tossed a blanket over her to shield her from prying eyes.
No one knew Rosalie had a daughter or was married.
Anson was good at keeping her private life under wraps, so having to bring Ellis into the fray pissed me off, but there was no way I’d leave her and Trix, her nanny, behind.
I didn’t bring Ellis out in public often. We owned a large enough estate that Rosalie could run the property with our daughter without ever seeing anyone. The massive fences and the security perched in towers helped.
But out here? Where anyone could hurt her?
I was ready to rip some heads off.
Hotel staff knew we were coming, and ushered us in quickly, Trix’s arm threaded around mine as I shielded Ellis from the noise. Luckily, the inside of the place was secured, and Anson met us in the lobby.
“Come on,” he said tightly, his blue eyes taking in everything around us.
We followed him into the elevator and went to the penthouse. The elevator was private and went directly to where we needed to be.
We stepped into the massive living room, and Anson took the blanket off Ellis’s head.
She lifted her head, her blonde curls tumbling around her, her blue eyes wide.
“Dadda?”
“Hey, baby,” Anson said gently as she released me and reached for him. I let her go, and he took her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “How’s my angel pie?”
“I flew on a plane!” she said, grinning. “And Daddy let me have a wowwipop, and Trixie and Daddy let me color their nails!”
Trix held up her hand to show that Ellis had used her markers on the plane to fill in her nails. It was a sloppy job, but Trix loved Ellis and let her do silly things like that.
Hell, I did too.
I held my right hand up to show the blues and greens on my nails.
“Well, you’re going to have to do mine next,” Anson said, kissing her cheek and making her giggle again.
“With pink?” She fluttered her lashes at him.
“Of course, angel pie. All the pink you want.” Anson kissed her head again, making her wiggle in his arms.
Ellis’s eyes widened as she looked over Anson’s shoulder.
“Unkie Dunkie?”
“Hey, peanut butter,” Dante greeted her, coming into the room.
Ellis had a major love for Dante. Anson put her on her feet, and she rushed to him. He was quick to sweep her into his arms and nuzzle against her.
At first, I was nervous about Ro’s relationship with Dante, given all the shit I knew and had suffered. It took me a long time to even be near him, but eventually I overcame it, and we were good with each other.
Mostly.
I adjusted my aviator sunglasses, something I only took off at night, and watched as Ellis hugged Dante, who seemed to enjoy the affection, chuckling at her stories.
“It’s weird to see him with her,” Anson muttered.
I nodded.
“Where’s Ro?” I asked.
“Napping,” Anson said. “You should go wake her.” He gave me a pointed look before he focused on Trixie. “Trix, how are you?”
“OK,” Trix said, smiling. “Surprised to be in New York. How is Rosalie?”
Anson sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. “She was fine until she saw the news this morning. Now she’s not so fine.”
Trix looked sad and shook her head. “People suck.”
“That they do,” I muttered, continuing to watch Dante and Ellis. He’d put her on her feet, and she was showing him one of the ballet dances she was working on for her upcoming recital.
His green eyes sparkled as he watched her, and she pushed his leg to get him to twirl with her. He did so without hesitation, making me smile.
He looked so out of place doing ballet with her. Shrouded in black with a meaner than hell personality. He was a monster, but to her, he was just Unkie Dunkie.
“I’m going to go see Ro,” I murmured, stepping away from Anson and Trix. I ruffled Ellis’s curls as I passed by, making her laugh, before I entered Ro’s room to find her curled up in a tiny ball in the center of the big bed.
Immediately, I slid in behind her and held her in my arms.
“Mm, Evan,” she murmured after a moment.
I smiled that she recognized me without even opening her pretty eyes.
“How’s my girl?” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.
She rolled over and faced me, and I drank in her beauty. Gently, I reached out and brushed a rogue curl away from her face.
“I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you,” she whispered.
I brushed my lips against hers. We spoke several times a day on the phone and did video calls at least once a day, but it was different. “Two months, one week, and four days.”
She smiled against my lips. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Oh, my Ro, I’ve missed you too, baby.” I kissed her again, this time far deeper. My cock was alive and well in my pants, and I ground against her, making her whimper softly.
“Fuck, baby,” I whispered between kisses. “I’d take you right here and now if we didn’t have a living room full of people.” I slowed the kiss and stared back at her. “Ellis is here.”
Her eyes widened, and she was out of my arms in an instant.
I sat up and watched her scurry around and pull out a long, pretty pink dress. She quickly looked around before she found what she was searching for.
Pink ballet flats.
She shoved her feet into them while I watched her, smiling.
Ellis and Rosalie had a very close relationship despite Rosalie being gone often.
If I wasn’t on the phone with Rosalie, Ellis was.
Every night before Ellis went to sleep, Rosalie would video chat with her, Anson at her side.
I’d read a story some nights, and other nights, Anson or Rosalie would. We did our best at family time.
“I didn’t know she was coming,” Rosalie said, rushing around. “I thought Trix would be with her at home.”
“Baby, relax,” I said, chuckling. “I didn’t want to leave them behind.”
“I-I got her a new outfit for Mr. Rufus.” She dug through a bag and unearthed a cute pink jacket for the bear she’d given Ellis.
I knew Cole had given the bear to Rosalie, and Rosalie had passed it to Ellis because it held a lot of sentimental value.
Since Cole was Ellis’s real dad, she made it a point to let Ellis know she had another dad out in the world.
I liked that she did that. Rosalie was as honest as she could be to our daughter.
I got out of bed and went to Rosalie. Gently, I took her in my arms and stopped all her scurrying.
“I love you,” I whispered.
She sagged against me, her fingers twisting in my gray t-shirt. “I love you, too.”
“Are you OK?”
“No.” She sniffled and buried her face in my shoulder. “I was so scared. I can’t get the smell out of my head. Ani said they’re going to run tests on it to see if it was animal blood or-or…” She shuddered against me.
“Hey, look at me.” I cradled her face and tilted her head up.
“We’re going to get this sorted, OK? We will find out who did this, and they will be dealt with.
There were a lot of people. Someone knows something.
Anson said Ryder was out all night and got a few leads.
Let’s just go to Boston and have a nice couple of days, alright?
Ellis is excited that she gets to go to the concert. ”
She gave me a sad, tired smile. “I’m excited for her to go too.”
In the very rare event that we ever went to one of Rosalie’s shows, Trix pretended to be Ellis’s mom.
People were unassuming and never questioned it.
If anyone asked, Trix was one of Rosalie’s best friends and brought her daughter to the shows.
It was as simple as that. Of course, we’d only ever done it once, and it hadn’t even made people turn their heads at it.
I prayed this time would be the same because I wasn’t going to sit in a hotel room while my girl risked her life on stage.
If shit were going down, I’d be there. Trix was a smart girl and knew our drills we’d pounded into her head over the years. She was a pro at this point.
Plus, the band and Trix had a longstanding history, and Vic was Trix’s stepbrother. While they didn’t really get along, they were family. The guys treated Trix like a little sister, so I had no worries that they wouldn’t get her and Ellis out if something happened. They promised they would anyway.
“Come on.” I kissed Ro’s cheek tenderly. As much as I wanted to monopolize my time with her, I knew I couldn’t. I’d get to be with her later.
I took her hand and led her out to the living room.
The moment Ellis spotted her, she stopped dancing and rushed forward. Ro bent and scooped her into her arms.
“Mommy!” Ellis threw her arms around Rosalie’s neck and held on tightly.
“Hey, sweet pea,” Ro said, her voice choked as she hugged her.
I knew being away was hard on both of them. I caught Anson’s eye, and he offered me a sad smile. As much as I hated the reason why we were here, I was grateful to have the chance because fuck, I missed my family.
I’d do anything to protect them.
I’d brought my bat with me as proof.