Chapter 22
Too Long
Rhys
“So, what do you think?” Jake Chancellor asks me.
“What?” I ask. I haven’t been paying attention, not since Stella walked away.
I know she needed a break; her social battery wears down fast, but she’s been gone too long.
I don’t like her out of my sight, not with so many threats in the room.
If she’d have let me in, I could have confided in her that the threats were homegrown on both fronts and we have to proceed carefully, but she still doesn’t trust me.
And because of that, she has no idea that I’m a member of one of the oldest fraternities in the world, a legacy passed down to me from my father.
Jake is not just president of the United States, he’s also a member of the Guardians of the Crown.
“I asked what you think about New York and if they’re going to win the pennant this year?” he asks. I should have known that he wouldn’t be asking me about his new trade deal with Japan at a social engagement like this. “So where did you go? What are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that Stella has been gone too long,” I admit. “I don’t like it.
Jake smiles. “Ahh the newlywed phase. Take your time because when the babies come you have a lot less time to fuck your wife.”
“This is more than that,” I say quietly so only he can hear me. “I know she heard the earl the other night talking about getting her out of the way.”
“Think she’ll run?” he asks me.
“No. She knows I’ll find her.”
“Eventually.”
“No,” I corrected him. “She knows I’ll find her immediately.”
“That’s ridiculous unless you have her tagged like a polar bear,” he says. When I just raise an eyebrow he corrects his opinion. “That’s genius. Well, where is she now? Look.”
I slip my phone out of my pocket and pull up the app. She went to the ladies’ room more than twenty minutes ago and she’s still there now. Her tracker is blinking but it’s not moving at all. Shit. I have to get to her.
“Something’s wrong,” I tell him. “She’s been in there for ages and she’s not moving. Find Leo.”
“On it,” is all he says before he’s moving. Before Jake was president, he was a navy seal, so I can trust him to complete the mission. Besides, I helped him with a mission of his own not too long ago.
I move through the crowd as quickly as I can without alerting anyone, I make my way out of our wedding reception and down the hall to the ladies’ room where an out of order sign has been placed in front of the door.
Fuck!
“Stella!” I shout, pounding my fist on the door. “Stella, I’m coming in!”
When I push open the door, my heart seizes in my chest just as Jake and Leo push in beside me. Laying on her back with her eyes open and unseeing, Stella’s beautiful face is swelling. I’ve seen this recently, she’s been stung by a bee this shouldn’t be happening inside my own fucking house.
I drop to my knees and feel for a pulse, it’s there, but it’s faint. “Call an ambulance!” I shout.
“It’s on the way, sir,” Leo says. “Here’s her bag.”
He hands me the small evening bag she was carrying to conceal her EpiPens and I rip it open and grab one. I shove the skirt of her gown out of the way and jab the needle into her milky thigh, the medicine depressing into her body but it’s not enough.
I grab the second one and jab it into her other thigh and pray that she doesn’t leave me. I’ve only just found her, just made her mine. I knew that there were threats inside our own home and I didn’t tell her. This is all my fault.
As the second hit of epinephrine hits her bloodstream she gasps, and her eyes fly open.
Thank God.
“God save the Queen,” Leo says.
My sentiments exactly.