Grayson
I gently laid her in bed, and she moaned. I kissed her softly on the forehead. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”
She stirred. “He would’ve found me anyways,” she said sleepily and drifted off. I froze. She was completely out. I had no idea what she meant by that.
I was glad she was out because I was trying hard not to lose my fucking shit in front of her. I went back into the living room with the sole intention of getting blood on my hands.
The head of security for the hotel started to approach me and stopped the moment I glared at him. “I want to know how a billion-dollar company rents a theme park that’s guaranteed prestigious security that would basically rival the royal fucking family, manages to loop a breach, and not only have an attack, but an attack on the girlfriend of the CEO of the fucking company?”
“Mr. Mandrake, I assure you...”
“Don’t.” I held up my hand. “Don’t you dare say a fucking word to me right now. I want to know who that person was, and I want to know now. As far as I’m concerned, this entire park should be expecting a fucking lawsuit from my lawyers. Now unless you have answers for me, or are cleaning up this mess, get the fuck out of this room.”
“Mr. Mandrake, we’ll need your cooperation for further questioning. We’ll review the feed, of course. You can ensure my team is sweeping the grounds for anyone that matches the description that’s on the security feed.”
I nodded at the detective. “Of course, whatever you need. Just make it happen.”
I turned to Benny. “I don’t want us here any longer than we have to be. Get the plane ready. Corporate is already in the process of making arrangements for everyone else here, as well as offering our sincerest apologies, and PR is already on it.” I rubbed my head thinking of the major fuck up this was causing.
While Emmalin slept, I was in the living room waiting for Jack, while Benny made sure all the footage from the hotel security was secured.
Benny turned to me. "So, anyone with a vendetta against you, or do you think it was random?”
I shook my head. "Someone always has a vendetta against me. How long before we're in the air?”
He checked his phone. "Plane will be ready within the hour.”
I nodded. "She'll be out the entire flight, which is good. I just want her out of here, away from all this.” I stared at the crystal vase sitting on the dining room table, filled with white roses. Emmalin loves white roses. She hated red. I learned that in a session with Dr. Klein.
"Her things are all packed. Do you want me to grab her?”
I shook my head. "No one touches her but me.” I stalked over to the vase, gently touched the roses, and plucked out a single stem, admiring the softness of the petals. I then picked up the vase and threw it at the wall and watched all the roses and water trickle down the wall.
Benny walked up next to me. "Feel better?"
"No."
Five hours later, we were back in Chicago. Emmalin slept the whole way, and I just held onto her. I couldn't stop thinking what could've happened. Hell, I still don't know what happened, and she didn't say much. She finally started to wake up as we reached our new apartment. I got rid of Caliscades shortly after Emmalin started therapy. Besides, I fucked it up so bad. I decided a brand new start was best, and I couldn't do that with memories of my deceased wife in a house I built for her.
We finally reached home, and even though she was exhausted, she said she was going to shower and asked if I would join her. I wasn't going to pass that up.
We stood there, just holding each other. I grabbed her favorite soap and started slowly soaping her up, not missing an inch of her body. She moaned as I massaged over her body. "Enjoying yourself?” She whimpered in response, and I laughed. I pushed her hair to the side to get better access to her neck and froze. I traced the finger marks on her neck and felt my blood turning cold, even with the heat from the water. "What's wrong?” She turned to look at me with her big green eyes.
"Time to rinse off," I half muttered. I knew if I spoke any louder, I was going to snap, and right now I was focused on counting and trying to control my rage that was brewing. My inner beast was ticking and scratching on the cage to escape. We got out, and I dried her off quickly and gently. She walked to the dresser to get a dress shirt. I walked up behind her. “Tell me what happened.” Her body stiffened.
“I told you. He came in and threw me around a bit.”
I turned her to face me. “He didn’t?”
She shook her head. “No.”
I clutched her to me. “I would’ve killed him. I swear I would’ve fucking killed him.”
She shuddered in my arms. “I’m fine, alright? I’ll be fine.” She tried giving me a reassuring smile, but it failed and tears glistened her eyes as she turned away from me. “I think I’m still a little loopy from the meds.”
“I want you to eat something. You haven’t eaten. I’ll have something brought up.” She got into bed and turned on the TV, volume set to low. After she finished eating, she started to drift off.
While Emmalin slept, I went to my office and waited for Jack while Benny sat at my desk with multiple monitors opened, studying them carefully.
"You keep doing that and you're going to be bald.”
I looked up. Chace. "At this point, I might as well be.” He nodded at Benny before sitting down.
"What's going on? For two in the morning, must be pretty important.”
I sighed. "Emmalin was attacked.” Chace sat up straighter. "I had a meeting this morning. I came back to the hotel room, glass was shattered, and she said someone broke in. Emmalin locked herself in the bathroom.”
"Okay, here's you leaving your room.” We all turned to the monitors Benny had opened and studied the footage as I walked out. I barely walked into the elevator, when someone in all black walked around the corner and knocked on the door to our room. "Here's the footage that angles into your room, to where the door opens.” We all leaned closer to the monitor as we watched Emmalin open the door and then get shoved back hard, where she fell. The person walked in and closed the door.” Benny rewound the feed a few times, from all different angles.
I jumped up. "My laptop! My laptop was there, it was open, and the camera was on. Maybe it caught something."
"The one time I'm glad you were filming your activities, Grayson."
"Not the time, Chace.” I turned my laptop on to the video settings, rewinding it. "Fuck, there's no audio, but there's a clear view.” We watched as Emmalin was swung across the room, and the guy stood over her with his hands around her throat. Her arms flailed relentlessly as she tried to fight him off. Good girl. I grimaced as she looked up at him with complete fear in her eyes. He touched her face, and she flinched. My hands clenched.
"He's just yelling at her. Fuck man, the way he manhandled her, if you don’t kill him then I sure as fuck will.” Chace looked closer. "We don't have a clear shot of him, just a profile to go off of?" Chace turned back to me.
"That's where I come in.” We turned, looking to see Jack coming into the room. Thank fuck. We played the video a few more times.
"He's been in your room.”
I looked at Jack. "How do you know? “
“He knew exactly where to stand. That's why we don't have a clear shot of him. We also don't have a clear shot of him on any of the camera feeds from outside of the hotel. He knew exactly where to stand. He knew exactly what he was doing. I'm willing to bet your house, he's been following her for a while.”
I rubbed my face. Fuck. I glanced at my watch; it was nearing four. “Wait. You said her.”
Jack looked at me. “Yeah.”
“What makes you think he’s following her?”
“The way she looked at him. She looks like she knows him. Benny rewind it. You see here,” Jack said and pointed to the screen. “She’s talking to him. I can’t make it out for sure on your laptop, but it looks like she’s saying ‘what the fuck do you want’ and then she dips her head, so I couldn’t read her lips for the name.”
Benny rewound the scene five more times just to be sure. I’ll be damned.
“Let’s wrap this up. I appreciate you guys coming here. Benny and Jack, I need security increased.”
“Already on it.” I nodded. Jack started gathering up what footage we had. “Try talking to her. We need as much information as we can, and I’ll question Tyler.”
“Trust me, I plan on it. Hostile force.” He smiled before everyone left.
I finally made my way back to bed. Even in sleep, she seemed troubled. We’ve come so far together, yet this seemed like a huge step back for us. I got into bed and pulled her to me. She gently stirred. Knowing that someone had their hands on her and hurt her, made me want to kill. And that’s exactly what I would do.