Chapter 12
ROBERT
I’m halfway through a meeting when I realize Eleanor’s Pilates class should have ended twenty minutes ago. At first, I try not to think anything of it. She and Paul could have hit traffic, or they could have decided to stop off somewhere else.
I try to shake off the feeling I’m having, but I can’t. Something is just off. I pick up my phone and dial Paul’s number, but after three rings, he hasn’t answered.
I suck in a breath. Paul always fuckin’ answers the phone when I call.
I call my wife, and when it goes straight to voicemail, I stand up.
Bennett is bent over the desk, looking through papers, but my sudden movement has him standing up. “Dad?”
I look between him and Knox. “Get the cars.”
The room instantly shifts into action, and everyone starts moving at once.
I pull my gun from my desk, stuff it into the waistband of my pants, and then follow them out the doors.
We’re pulling out of the estate less than a minute later.
By the time we get to the street outside the Pilates studio, that same feeling in my chest has become unbearable, and I know something isn’t right. I barely wait for the SUV to stop before shoving the door open.
And that’s when I see her. Eleanor is standing on the sidewalk with Victor Sterling.
Every muscle in my body tenses, and it takes everything in me not to pull my gun and shoot him right now. But there are too many witnesses, and I’d be buried under the jail by the end of the night.
For one terrifying second, all I can think is that he touched my wife.
I look at Eleanor, and she’s openly staring at Victor, who is standing way too damn close to her. She appears unhurt, but that doesn’t soften me at all.
I don’t hear Knox behind me or Bennett cursing under his breath. All I see is my wife standing too close to the one man I would happily kill with my bare hands.
“Ellie.”
Her head jerks toward me, and the relief on her face nearly drops me to my knees.
I reach her in seconds and cup her face in both hands, searching every inch of her. “Are you okay? Did he touch you?”
She shakes her head quickly. “No. I’m okay.”
She’s pale, her hands are trembling slightly, and rage slams through me so hard that I can barely see straight.
Only then do I look at Victor.
He stands there as calm as ever with his hands in his pockets like he wasn’t just threatening my wife in broad daylight.
“Kingston,” he says smoothly.
“Sterling.”
I step slightly in front of Eleanor without even thinking about it. He and everyone else knows that I would die for my wife.
Bennett comes to stand beside me. “He knocked Paul out. Knox is with him.”
I flex my hands into fists, and my jaw clenches.
“You knocked out my security?” I ask quietly.
Victor shrugs. “He’ll live.”
That calm response nearly pushes me over the edge. I take a step toward him and immediately feel Eleanor’s hand wrap around my arm.
“Bobby.”
Just her voice is enough to stop me from doing something I shouldn’t.
Victor’s eyes flick between us, and a smile spreads across his face. “You know, for a couple that was supposedly falling apart, the two of you seem pretty attached.”
I stare at him. “You come near my wife again, and I won’t just kill you. I’ll dismantle everything you’ve built piece by piece until there’s nothing left.”
For the first time, the smile slips slightly from his face.
He glances over my shoulder as more of my men spread across the street. “Looks like I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
“You were never welcome,” I snap.
Victor looks back at Eleanor one last time. “Be careful, Eleanor. Kingdoms fall every day, and the Kingstons are next.”
It kills me that I just have to stand here and watch him walk away. I want to end him right now, but I can’t. Not with all these people watching.
I pull Ellie against me. “Fuck, Ellie.”
She wraps both arms around my waist and presses her face against my chest. “I’m okay.”
Knox walks toward us while helping Paul to walk. “He’s got a concussion, but he’ll be all right.”
I nod once. “Take him back to the estate and get a doctor there.”
Paul looks stricken. “I’m so sorry, Eleanor.”
She waves him off. “This isn’t your fault.”
Bennett’s gaze shifts toward the end of the street where Victor disappeared. “What do you want us to do about Sterling?”
I don’t answer right away because right now all I care about is the woman trembling in my arms.
Finally, I look at my son. “Victor Sterling just signed his death warrant.”
Silence falls between us because he knows exactly what that means.
I carry Ellie to our SUV and hold her in my lap the whole way back to the Kingston estate, where I take her straight upstairs.
The second we step inside our bedroom, I lock the door behind us and pull her into my arms again.
“I should’ve never let you go there alone,” I mutter against her hair.
She leans back enough to look at me. “First of all, I wasn’t alone. And Bobby, you can’t blame yourself for this.”
“The hell I can’t.” I cup her face gently. “You were standing on a sidewalk with Victor Sterling while I wasn’t there.”
Emotion flashes across her face, and then she says, “But you came for me.”
I hold her cheeks in my palms. “I will always come for you. Always.”
I start the shower and slowly undress her, needing to touch her, reassure myself that she’s safe and here with me. Her hands shake slightly as I slide her shirt over her head, and my chest tightens.
“You’re freezing,” I murmur.
“I think the adrenaline wore off.”
I pull her beneath the warm spray and hold her against me while the water runs over us both. She melts into my arms slowly, and I rest my chin on top of her head.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper. “You don’t have to be afraid of him.”
She wraps her arms tighter around my waist. “I’m not afraid because of me. I’m afraid of what you’re going to do.”
I pull back enough to look at her. “Ellie—”
“He wanted a reaction from you, Bobby.”
“And he’s going to get one.”
She studies my face for a long moment before reaching up and touching my cheek. “Just come back to me when this is over.”
The words hit me hard because she says them like she already knows there’s no stopping what’s coming now.
I lean down and kiss her softly. “I’ll always come back to you.”
Later, we’re tangled together beneath the blankets, and Eleanor is curled against my chest while I run my fingers up and down her bare back.
“I’m never leaving again,” she says quietly.
My hand stills instantly.
I look down at her and search her face, trying to see if she really means it.
“I mean it. I know that walking out like I did has you worried. I know you didn’t even want me to go to Pilates because you were thinking I may not come back, but I promise you, Bobby, I’m never leaving you again.”
Relief moves through me so hard that I have to close my eyes for a second. I pull her closer and bury my face against her hair.
For months, I thought I was losing my wife.
Now she’s here in my arms, back where she belongs, and I know without a doubt that I will burn this city to the ground before I let anyone threaten her again.