What a total fuckup. As if those vultures hadn’t been bad enough before they thought Cara and I were engaged.

Now that they thought they had a hot scoop, they were never going to let this go. Not as long as we were in fucking London. Not that anywhere else except home would be much better.

We needed to get there—fast.

Thompson said there was no place for the cars to pull up without being mobbed, but I told him the walkway to a neighboring hotel that Cara and I had used yesterday. He sent a man ahead to check the route.

A few minutes later, he put his phone to his ear and had a quick conversation before turning to us. “Okay, that way’s clear at this time. Once there, we can take a service elevator to a sub-level loading area.”

“An underground parking lot?”

“It’s for staff vehicles only. We need to move before they discover where we are, sir.”

I kept a vise-like grip on Cara as we followed Thompson. He led us through back hallways, but still, there were people around, some guests and some staff. Most were probably going about their days without the slightest care who we were or what we were doing. But all it took was one.

If you put your trust in the wrong person even once, it could change everything. You could lose everything. I was fucking furious with myself for forgetting that.

We crossed the tenth-floor walkway, Cara clinging to my arm. She was doing a great job of keeping up with men with much longer strides. She was a tough young woman.

Another one of Thompson’s men was waiting by an ancient-looking service elevator. As soon as the doors closed, he tapped his earpiece, listening and then frowning. “Sir, it’s a no-go.”

Thompson reacted instantly, hitting the stop button on the panel by the door—but the elevator didn’t stop—we were already passing the fifth floor. Then the fourth. He cursed and pressed the button for floor two, but the fucking, piece-of-shit elevator just kept moving.

In desperation, he pressed other buttons, but the elevator continued its journey downward. I wanted to strangle whoever had inspected this fucking thing.

The elevator jolted to a halt and the doors opened up to hell, to the throng of people jostling for position. Lights flashed and voices shouted. They weren’t even comprehensible, it was just a wall of noise engulfing us.

My arms went around Cara, pressing her against me. “Stay close!” I shouted, but I wasn’t sure she heard me.

Thompson’s men dove into the crowd, their arms out, trying to push the vultures out of the way. I followed as closely as I could, wanting Cara to be protected on all sides.

The bastards were closing in on every side, shoving each other, banging against me. The corner of a camera struck my shoulder. I shoved the man nearest me away and urged Cara forward.

The shouted questions were deafening, they filled my ears like warm, salty water. Cara bounced against me, and I knew someone had run into her. I held her as tight as I could, but it was like trying to protect her from a kraken rising from the depths of the sea to claim her.

Ahead of me, Thompson fell to one knee, and I nearly tripped, my grip on Cara loosening as I strove for balance. Thompson was already back up, angrily shoving away the man who’d crashed into him. For just a moment, there was a break in the throng and I saw the waiting car.

We were close. So close. Just at that moment, when I thought we were going to get out of this unscathed, someone slammed into me hard from behind. I stumbled, managing not to fall, but Cara was wrenched from my grasp.

“Cara!”

She’d already been swallowed up by the dark mass of wretched humanity. It was like trying to reach a person being pulled away by a strong tide.

“Nico!”

I heard my name. It was Cara—or was it Lisette, bobbing up and down in that dark water?

I couldn’t find her. Panic filled me, like water pouring down my throat…

Cara cried out, and I pushed through the crowd, searching frantically. Someone grabbed my arm and I balled up my fist and punched him. He fell back, but there were others rushing in like water filling a breached hull.

Someone shouted in my ear, and I turned, my fist raised, but it was Thompson. I couldn’t hear what he said, but he pointed. I pushed through the crowd in the direction he’d indicated, and I saw a small gap in the throng—the kind of gap caused by someone on the ground.

Howling with rage, I caught sight of her small figure. I knelt down, protecting her with my body. Was it too late, like it had been with Lisette? Had the vultures let the watery depths consume her?

She stirred, and my heart started again. One arm was bare and covered in blood. I lifted her, her body light, her limbs motionless. Her coat trailed below her and I wrapped it around her and cradled her in my arms.

The flashbulbs continued, the noise was worse, but all that mattered was that I’d found her in the sea of photographers. Thompson’s men renewed their efforts and the sea parted, revealing refuge. Holding Cara tightly to my chest, I half-climbed, half-fell inside the SUV

More men piled in and then we were moving. Cara moaned in my arms, looking up me in a dazed manner.

“God, Cara, are you all right?” Worry made my voice unrecognizable.

“Did you hit your head when you fell?” Thompson asked.

“She didn’t fall,” I growled. “Those animals pushed her.”

“Sir, if she has a concussion, we need to get her to a hospital.”

“Fuck that,” I spat out. “Take us to the plane. Get a doctor to meet us there.”

“But if she’s—”

“I’m okay,” Cara said weakly. “It’s just my arm…”

I peeled her coat off and took a look. There was a large, deep gash on her forearm. It would definitely need stitches. “Anywhere else?”

“Someone stepped on my leg, but I think it’s okay.”

Unwilling to believe that, I examined her as best I could. She was dirty and disheveled and it was all my fucking fault. I never should have brought her here. Just like we never should’ve been out on that lake that night two years ago. It was all jumbled together, but in both cases I knew who to blame.

Not those fuckers out there—they were the result. I was the cause.

“I’m so sorry, Liebling.”

“I’m okay, Nico. I’ll be all right.”

“Here, miss.” Thompson handed her a bottle of water.

I snatched it from him. “She doesn’t need water, she needs stitches.” Still, I unscrewed the lid and held it to her lips. She drank a few sips.

“A doctor is en route to the plane now, sir.”

I ignored him, glaring out the window. To my surprise, we had a police escort now. Thompson was big on reacting to an emergency but needed to fucking learn how to prevent one.

Cara’s blue eyes were on mine, but she looked exhausted. Her injured arm was cradled against her chest, and her other hand held onto my sleeve. I tilted her more so that she could lean against me and save her energy.

I wished she’d go to sleep. It was the only way to mute the experience, to get a little distance. Hopefully, when she woke up, this memory would fade like a nightmare.

God, why the hell had I put her in this position? Never, ever again would I let anything like this happen. I’d already lost everything once. I couldn’t risk that again.

I knew what I had to do.