Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
A scream lodged in her throat. This couldn’t be happening. Not now.
Giles ducked out of the man’s grasp and ran back down the alley away from her. Donoghue leapt from the cab. But the man caught Giles again. He slashed wildly with the knife, and Giles screamed.
“No!” Christina’s cry echoed through the alleyway. She scrambled out of the cab and ran as fast as her feet would carry her. “Giles!”
Donoghue tackled the man. “Get her inside!”
Giles howled with pain. His hands were pressed over his face, blood oozing and dripping everywhere. She reached for him, but the world flipped upside down. Her breath was forced out of her as she landed face down over a large shoulder.
“No!” she screeched. “I have to get to him! Let me go!” She stretched as far as she could, as Giles wailed and collapsed onto the ground. But the distance between them only grew. She kicked her feet and pounded her fists against the security guard’s back, to no avail. “Put me down!”
Once inside, he put her back on her feet, pulled on some kind of cord a few times, then shut the door in her face, leaving her alone in the hallway.
She slammed her hands against the door. “Giles!” she sobbed.
Allister appeared at her side, along with another man she didn’t know. “Get her over to Raven House,” Allister barked.
“Come with me, miss.”
“No, I can’t leave him. He’s hurt.” She struggled against the man, but she was no match for his strength. When she tried to sit down, he picked her up with a muttered apology and threw her over his shoulder, the same as the last man.
She bounced against him as he took the stairs two at a time, completely ignoring her fists as she pounded them against his back.
“I’ll take her from here,” Ash said when they reached the top. “You man the balcony.”
Ash put an arm around her shoulders. “I know you’re frightened right now, Christina, but I don’t have time to argue. Are you going to walk with me? Or do I need to carry you as well?”
“Giles is out there, and he’s bleeding,” she cried. “Please, I have to go back.” She could see from the change in his demeanor that he hadn’t known Giles was hurt. But he still remained calm. “Please,” she begged, gasping through desperate sobs.
“He’s not alone out there. His first priority would be your safety. Come with me, so I can make sure he has every resource I can muster.”
Giles needed Ash right now. Needed all the help he could offer. With a nod, she took his hand, continuing to cry. “Please help him. Please.”
He led her through another door, into a large room with nothing but a grand piano in its center.
“Gwen!” he shouted, and his wife ran into the room.
At the same time, a man rushed in from the hallway. “What’s happened?”
Ash held up a hand to him. “Gwen, keep her in here. No one goes in or out of here but me.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around Christina. “It’s alright.”
“You’re with me, Fogg.” Ash gestured to the door. “I’ll do everything in my power for him, Christina. You have my word.”
“Please, just help him,” Christina begged once more before the two men rushed out the door and the lock clicked into place.
“It’s going to be alright,” Gwen said quietly.
“Giles. Giles.” She couldn’t seem to say anything else.
Gwen simply nodded and held her close. “Ash will see he has everything he needs.”
She hadn’t told him she loved him. Sobs overcame her and she collapsed to the floor in a heap. What if she never got the chance now?
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. She gasped, praying to whoever would listen to keep him safe. He would be. Ash would make sure he was safe. Wouldn’t he?
Numbness grew in her lips, and slowly crept through the rest of her, forming a wall between her and everything around her.
Gwen helped her up off the floor, and eventually, her wailing eased.
Her body progressed from trembling to jerking sporadically, and her breathing was uneven and fitful.
All she could hear was the sound of Giles screaming inside her head.
She didn’t see the room around her. She only saw Giles. And blood.
Gwen ushered her into a small sitting room and offered her some tea, but Christina could only shake her head. She sat on the sofa and rocked forward and back. Please. She couldn’t lose him now.
It felt like days passed before Ash finally came through the door. She jumped to her feet, but couldn’t speak.
“He’s alright.”
“Oh, thank God.” She threw her arms around Ash, renewed sobs racking her body. It was a moment before she realized she was hugging a virtual stranger. But he only held her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, taking a step back and wiping her tears.
“Shhh.” Gwen wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “That’s what we’re here for.”
“Where is he?” Her body still twitched as she tried to calm herself.
“He’s in a bed downstairs. He’s sedated right now, but he’s going to be alright. I’ll take you to him if you’d like.”
“Yes, please.”
When they reached his room, she rushed to the side of the bed. His chest rose and fell steadily as he breathed, but bandages circled his head and covered the whole left side of his face, including his eye.
“I love you, Giles,” she bawled, throwing herself across his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it before.”
He didn’t move or speak. “I love you,” she whispered again.
He was warm and soft beneath her. Not stiff like a suit jacket would have been. They’d changed him into pajamas.
“Are you sure he’s going to recover?”
“Yes,” Ash said with a nod. “The doctor is keeping him sedated right now for his own comfort. He won’t be awake until at least tomorrow. Perhaps longer. But he’s not in any danger now.”
“Thank you. Thank you for helping him.”
Ash merely nodded.
“What happened to the man who attacked him?”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that. I assure you he’ll never hurt you or Giles again.”
She wasn’t so naive to not grasp the meaning behind those words.
When Giles had spoken of the protection provided by his family she hadn’t fully understood how far that went until now.
The man who attacked him was either dead, or soon would be.
But why had he attacked Giles? Was it really just a random robbery?
“I’m going to head over to the Den and make sure everything is still running smoothly. It’ll be closing time soon.” Ash pressed a kiss against Gwen’s forehead.
“He’ll be alright, Christina,” he assured her. “And so will you.”
After a few minutes, she slumped into the chair. Now that the danger had passed, uncompromising exhaustion swept over her, sapping her strength.
Gwen crouched beside her. “There’s a room across the hall you may sleep in.”
“I’d rather just sleep in the chair here. With him.” Her voice faltered as she remembered the night he’d watched over her from the chair in his room. She hadn’t known him then. Hadn’t known what a good man he was. Hadn’t known that he would love her.
It must not have taken her long to succumb, because next she knew, she was slowly coming awake. There were hushed voices in the room. She recognized Ash’s deep tone, but not the other man’s. It definitely wasn’t Giles. She kept her eyes closed and feigned sleep so she could listen.
“I think it’s best we keep him sedated for another day. Allow him a little time to heal. It’s going to be a hard thing for him to come to grips with when he wakes.”
“You’re absolutely certain it was the right decision?”
“There was no decision, Ash. If there had been even the slightest chance of saving his eye, I would have seen him to a hospital myself.”
Oh God. His eye. The man had taken Giles’ eye.
She pushed down her grief. It took every morsel of self-control she possessed to stay silent, but eventually, the door opened and closed, and they were gone.
She squinted through the sun that shone through the sheer curtains. Apparently, she’d slept for at least a few hours. She walked to the bed and held his hand. Even if he was missing one of his eyes when the bandages came off, she would still love him just the same.
Her mind suddenly flashed back to the face she’d dreamt about. The man from the alley. Now that things were calmer, she knew who the attacker was. Not personally, but she’d seen him before. With her father.
She closed her eyes and anger and grief constricted her heart. This was her father’s doing. She hadn’t even forgiven him for the last thing he’d done, and he’d already made another attempt to get money from her husband. But he hadn’t taken money. He’d taken his eye.
For a few minutes, she simply stood beside the bed, holding his hand. Anger churned in her belly. So much that she feared she might be sick. But she didn’t have time to be sick now. She needed to confront her father. If Ash knew it was her father behind the attack, he just might kill him too.
She walked straight to the back door and opened it, but the large doorman stopped her. “I’m sorry, miss. I can’t allow you to leave.”
“Do you know who I am?” she asked, her voice as haughty as she could make it.
“Yes, Mrs. Henderson.”
“Then you also know you have no authority to keep me here.”
His large body blocked her exit. “Perhaps. But my consequences will be far greater if I allow you to run off on your own.”
“You cannot hold me here. I am not a prisoner!”
“I’m sorry, miss.”
She shoved against his chest, but it was like pushing a brick wall. She had to get out of here. “Please. I just need to see my father. You may even accompany me, if you must.”
After a long pause, he sighed with a small nod, and blew one quick whistle. A moment later, another man came to take his place. He escorted her out of the building, but before they left the alley, he stopped her.
“Let me make one thing very clear. I am hired to ensure your safety. So, Mr. Henderson’s wife or not, if you try to give me the slip, I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you straight back here.”