“Oh my God, what happened?”
“I need you to focus and do this right away. Olivia was attacked at the gym and the attacker knows about Sophie and where she goes to school.”
“Oh my God, oh my God.”
“I’m going to text you my number. Save it. Go now, Winnie.”
“I’m already on my way.”
“Call me when you have Sophie.”
“I will. Is . . . how . . . Olivia? Is she . . . is she okay?”
“She’ll be okay. We’re on the way to the hospital, but I think everything is superficial. I’ll keep you posted.”
“I’m going to have to call Tom to verify all this, you know?”
“I would be disappointed if you didn’t,” he said, before hanging up, texting himself Winnie’s number, then texting Winnie his number.
While Olivia was being treated, Jax called. “I have Sophie and Winnie. I’m also with Annie and two of the guys. What is going on, man, and where do I take them?”
“Take them to ICS. I’m at Mount Sinai Hospital. Olivia was attacked in the locker room of the gym. Man, he slashed her body. Marked her bad. I don’t know what else he did. Sh-she was naked.” A lump the size of a baseball stuck in his throat.
“Fuck.”
“She was alone. Naked,” he repeated, almost in a daze. He swallowed thickly and was a second from losing his shit.
“Take care of her. We’ll figure things out. Right now keep her safe. I have Sophie, I’ll bring in Megan if Winnie needs to go. She’ll keep Sophie entertained.”
“Right,” Joey said, unable to say much of anything else, and then hung up.
How the fuck could he have dropped the ball this fucking colossally? And Tom? Tom was abso-fucking-lutley fired! After Joey ruled out for having anything to do with the attack. Damn it, he should have fired Tom himself, the night of the gala. Better to apologize then to ask permission, right? But with what authority? The overprotective . . . boyfriend?
* * *
A burning, stinging feeling woke Olivia up in a jolt. “Ow!”
“Shh . . . Ms. Russo. It was just a tetanus shot. Do you remember what happened?”
She had worked out. Then she was in the shower of the gym. And then . . . a man held a knife to her throat and then moved it down her body, threatened her child and said she’d had to give him money immediately. “Yes. Oh my God. Yes! Where’s my daughter? I need to get to my Sophie. What time is it? How long have I been here?”
She turned her head to see Joey and a huge surge of relief came over her. Somehow she knew—knew it in her bones—that he’d protect Sophie from harm. Soft, he put his hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been here for about an hour. They gave you something for the pain . . .”
“It was mostly the stress, I think, that made her pass out.”
“Sophie?”
“She’s safe. She’s at ICS with my team, and Winnie is with her too.”
“I need to see her. She needs to be here safe with me.” The beep in the monitor began to speed up.
“Calm down, Ms. Russo,” the nurse said, looking up at the machines and then typing something into a computer.
“Livie, honey, look at me. Sophie is in a compound with Winnie and about ten ex-military personnel. She is safer than anyone. Trust me when I say she is fine.”
She shifted and then winced, remembering the ordeal.
“You were—you were cut,” he said. “Do you remember?”
The doctor, a woman in a white coat, stepped closer and interrupted. “I need to ask you a few things and examine you. Maybe it’s best if he steps out for a minute.”
“No!” She gripped Joey’s hand. “No, please.”
“It’s okay, Livie. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, Ms. Russo,” the doctor said, placing the stethoscope on her chest. “You have some superficial cuts on your torso. We just gave you a tetanus shot. Right by your rib cage, the cut was a bit deeper and we did have to put in two stiches. They’ll come out on their own. You just need to keep the area clean. We’ve dressed it and you should change the dressing a couple of times a day. I’m also going to give you some antibiotics as a precaution, and you may want to take some over-the-counter painkiller if needed.”
“Okay.”
“Now, I need to know, when Mr. Clad found you, you were nude. Did the man touch you—”
She shook her head. Her chin wobbled. “No. He didn’t. Not the way you’re thinking.”
“Are you sure, Ms. Russo?”
“I’m positive.”
“Okay, then a rape kit will be unnecessary.”
Thank God for small favors, Olivia thought. Joey closed his eyes and let out the deepest breath she’d ever seen.
“Any other place where he hurt you? Anything feel broken?”
“No it was fast. He just—that was it, just the cut, and he pulled my hair.”
“There are police officers who are eager to speak with you, Ms. Russo. Are you up to speaking to them?”
What was she supposed to say? He threatened to hurt her if she said anything. She didn’t know what to do. “Can I have a moment with my . . .” What the hell was he to her? “ . . . friend, first, please?”
The doctor finished her examination and made some notes and then before she walked out she said, “I’ll tell them you need fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
As soon as the doctor left the room, Joey pulled a chair right next to the bed. “Are you okay? Really?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I-I don’t know. I feel violated. I’m mad. I’m scared.”
“Of course you are.” He balled his hands. “When I find him, I swear to God, I’ll kill him.”
“Joey, I need to tell you something. He said that if I told anyone he’d hurt Sophie and that next time, he’d mark my face. But I need to tell you.”
“Fuck him,” he spat. “No one touches you or Sophie.”
“He wants a hundred thousand dollars transferred by tomorrow and then nine hundred thousand more within the week. He put the information in my wallet. He took some money.”
“That’s not gonna fucking happen.”
“I—he can’t hurt my daughter. I’ll give him the money. I’m telling you because I’m not sure what to tell the police. He told me that if I told, he’d hurt Sophie. What do I do? Tell me what to do.”
He took her face in his hands. “You give him the money, sweetheart, and he’ll come back and ask for more. It won’t end. You need to tell the cops everything. Who is he? Why would he want you?”
“I have no idea who it was. I saw his hands, and I know he’s white. His voice sounded a little familiar but nothing significant, it could’ve been any man’s voice, really. He’s taller than I am, but not by much. That’s all I know, Joey. I didn’t see his face. I—he held a knife to my throat and I . . . I couldn’t see his face.”
“I have guys going through the gym’s surveillance with the cops. We’ll get him.”
“What about the money?”
“Did you ask to talk to me alone because you wanted my take on the money?”
“Yes. I don’t know what to do.”
“You trust me?”
She nodded her head.
“Remember you said that, okay?” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Come on, let’s get the police in here. I want you to tell them everything you just told me.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“It’s the only thing you can do right now. But I’ll get to the bottom of this, okay?”
“Okay.”
A minute later she was reliving the horrible details from hours ago. They’d taken the piece of paper from her wallet and placed it into a plastic evidence bag. She could practically smell him on her, and once the police left, she asked the doctor if she was free to go. She needed a shower. Immediately.
Within the hour, the doctor had discharged her. For a moment she forgot that she was a public fi
gure. Her life wasn’t her own. Cameras were everywhere, clicking and shouting questions, the instant she stepped out of the hospital. She went from the wheelchair right into one of Joey’s cars, the driver someone she hadn’t yet met. Her head down, Joey making sure to move everyone out of the way.
“Where are we going?”
“Until we figure out what the hell going on, we’re staying at ICS. At least until things are tight at your house.”
She wanted to complain about Sophie being scared and confused but she stifled it. They needed to be safe, and if staying at a fortress uncomfortably for a few days made them safe—so be it. They’d have to be uncomfortable.
CHAPTER EIGHT
BREAKING NEWS: Gubernatorial candidate Olivia Russo brutally attacked at NY Fitness in downtown Miami. Information about her condition is not yet available. Stay tuned for more information.
She was quiet. Too quiet.
As someone who didn’t worry too much about too many things, worrying about a female was new and very disconcerting. He wanted to hold her and make everything go away, but he also wanted to drop her off at ICS and go find whoever did this and kill him with his own bare hands. But that would mean leaving her alone, and the way she had held his hand and begged him to stay with her at the hospital—his heart swelled so big he could barely contain the way he felt. She made him feel important and needed.
Growing up in a military family, going into the armed forces was a given. It had been ingrained in him since birth. But, he’d never been the fastest or the strongest. Shit, the truth was, Annie could probably kick his ass, even if he’d never actually admit it. He’d always been more book smart than the rest of his family. He wasn’t physically incapable, by any means, but he’d never been the one someone would call on to protect them, until now.
Normally, he was the man behind the scenes, and not only at ICS. Even when they’d been in Iraq he’d been in the central command post ordering instructions, finding intel, deciphering codes. He had undergone the same training as everyone else, but he’d always been more cerebral and less physical. He thought things out, analyzed, reasoned, and then acted. He wasn’t like Jax, who wore his heart on his sleeve and if it meant going head on into bullets to save someone, he’d do it. No questions. No thoughts.
It wasn’t that Joey was a coward. Far from it. But he calculated and reasoned. If there was a safer way of doing something that yielded the same result, or possibly a better one, he’d find it and go that route. Dying or getting hurt didn’t help anyone. It didn’t make you braver. In his opinion, it made you stupid and hotheaded, and he wasn’t either of those things.
But now, with Olivia hurt and scared, he’d run through fire if it made her safe, even if it made not one iota of sense. Totally and completely, he now understood why men made stupid and irrational decisions when it came to women.
That feeling of trust and wonder that Olivia placed on him, it made him feel stupid and irrational. It made him want to beat his chest with his fists and roar.
He swiped his prints at the door to ICS and opened it, then escorted her in.
“I want to see Sophie,” she said. She hadn’t said one single word on the quick car ride over, but she had allowed him to tuck her close and run his hand up and down her arm.
He took her hand and led her to the security room. It was full of monitors. One wall was internal and monitored the inside and outside of the compound. The other walls displayed various jobs they were keeping tabs on. Ruben and Jacob, two ICS employees, sat at the controls clicking and changing screens. “Hiya, boss.”
“Guys,” he said as a hello and then led Olivia to the screens for ICS where he quickly located Sophie and pointed. “See, she’s fine.”
Olivia leaned in to see that Sophie was sitting with Annie, Megan, Winnie, and Jax, coloring. Sophie looked up at something Jax must’ve said and all five of them began to laugh. Olivia took a visible breath. “I wanna see her.”
“Babe, look . . .” he pointed to one of the monitors that was off, which made their reflections visible, almost like a mirror. “You still have some blood on your face. You should clean up. You don’t want to frighten her.”
She leaned in closer and touched her face and then her hair before nodding somberly. “Why don’t you take a shower? Change to some fresh clothes, and then we’ll go find Sophie, okay?”
Again, she nodded. She looked like a zombie and he hoped that after the initial shock wore off, she’d be back to normal.
“This place is enormous,” she said as he escorted her down some winding halls.
“It’s three warehouses that have been reconfigured. The first one is the offices, which you’ve seen. There’s another one right through that door,” he pointed, “that has a big room where we do simulation training. And then there’s the third warehouse, which has been made into an apartment. It has three bedrooms, two baths, the kitchen slash lunchroom, and a living room.”
“Why would you have rooms here?” she said, as he opened a big set of doors.
“Sometimes the staff needs a place to rest before missions if they don’t want to fly back to their hometowns, or sometimes they’ve been here too many hours and need a place to rest. And sometimes it’s a safe house where we bring clients we’re transporting.”
She ran her hands through her hair. “Safe house? I don’t even want to start to understand.”
Sometimes they had to transport dignitaries or “off the books” assets for “off the books” government jobs, but he decided not to explain that to her right now. The only way of getting into this safe house was through a fake wall on the west side of the building. Even some of the guys who worked for ICS didn’t know about it.
Once they were inside, he shuffled her to the back to the big room with the en suite bathroom. “Take a shower. There’s some clothes in the drawers that should work for tonight until we can get you more things. I need to change the dressing on your chest afterward, since you’re going to get it wet.”
“How bad is it?” she asked.
It was bad. The doctor had said it should heal with minimal scarring, but right now, it did not look good. He took her hand. “You’re alive.”
“That bad, huh?”
He leaned in and kissed her lips. It was soft and quick, but it communicated what he felt at the moment. “You’re beautiful. You’re strong. You’re brave.”
Her chin wobbled like it had earlier. “Oh, Joey,” her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t feel brave or strong. I froze.”
“Of course you did, Livie. He had a knife to your throat. Grown men with military training would’ve frozen.”
“I should’ve fought back.”
“No! No, you did exactly the right thing.”
“I—I thought,” she swallowed. “I thought he was going to rape me or kill me or both.”
That had been his worry too, but he didn’t voice it. “But he didn’t, and he’ll never get that close to you again.”
She wiped under her eyes and walked into the bathroom. “D-do you think that . . . can you stay close?”
“Of course. Let me help you.”
“It stings when I lift my arms,” she said with a pained look, trying to take off the T-shirt she’d had in her gym bag.
“Sit down.” He closed the toilet seat lid and helped her down, then he got on his knees and took off her sneakers, then her socks. “Slowly lift your arms for me.”
“Joey . . .” She looked mortified.
“I won’t look, I promise.” The doctor had told her that she should avoid wearing a bra for a few days, since it would rub against the wound. A tear slid down her face and she closed her eyes and lifted her arm. “Hey, hey,” He softly pinched her chin with his index finger and thumb. “Please don’t cry. The worst of it is over and you’re here and you’re okay.”
“This is so embarrassing and I just . . . I can’t believe this even happened,” she sniffled.
“Would it make you feel any better if I tell you tha
t I was eventually, probably in the very very near future, going to see you naked anyway?”
She gave a watery snort. “That’s very presumptuous, Joey.”
“I like you smiling.” He leaned in and kissed her lips softly. “And you know you want naked Joey time as much as I want naked Livie time, so really, it’s no big deal.”
She rolled her eyes and sniffled one last time before sitting upright and slowly lifting her arms. Joey pulled the shirt gently over her torso and then over her head trying to avoid looking at her tits. But fuck, they were nice tits. A little more than a handful, pink plump nipples on skin so pale it was almost translucent. He remembered exactly how she tasted. It was amazing that it had only been a couple of weeks. It felt like he’d known her for years. He swallowed and moved his eyes up to her face. As soon as the shirt was over her head she covered herself with her arms and then stood. “I can do the shorts myself. It only hurts when I stretch my abdomen.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. Thank you.”
“Okay, I’ll be right outside waiting. Holler if you need anything. When you finish, I’ll change your bandage to a dry one.” He closed the door behind himself and sat on the bed to wait for her, his mind wandering to what had happened. He needed to sit in front of his computer with all the account numbers she’d been given. He needed to find a motive. He needed to work. But she needed him, so he sat there and waited. Luckily, she didn’t take too long to finish.
When she emerged from the bathroom, steam billowing out, she was fully dressed and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed.
“I could’ve helped.”
“I managed.” She handed him the waterproof wrapping so he could help her change out the bandages.
“Lay down and lift your shirt.”
She followed his instructions, lifting the shirt right under her breast exposing her soft but flat abdomen. Carefully he removed the clear covering and then the bandages and gauze. He tried not to make a pained face when he saw the angry marks. Then he had to move higher to where the motherfucker had cut her actual breast, starting from right underneath her nipple. Gently he lifted the shirt, exposing her breast.
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