“No. Have my grandma stay inside the castle tonight. Let her know I ordered it and need to talk to her.” Why the hell had she taken Dayanara out of her room and where did she get this pig to slaughter? “If my grandma refuses to stay in the room made up for her, just call me and I’ll deal with her.”
“Okay.” She paused for a second. It was unlike her. I waited for her to say something else. Finally, a small sigh traveled over the line. “Were you able to view the body?”
“Yes. Detective White will provide you with a report as soon as he can.” I waited for another few silent seconds.
“And will I be getting a flight for Hex’s new model. . . Elle?”
I didn’t like to think about Elle having to leave, but I was certain she would want to. The urge to protect her raged inside of me. I wanted her safe and far away from this psycho. “Yes, but not at this moment. Let me talk with her and I’ll let you know.”
“Will you be talking to her about this tonight?” An eerie edge laced each word. Reece never asked questions like that. She did whatever I asked and then continued onto the next duty.
“Yes. I’ll be talking with her about that tonight.”
“Should I also book you an appointment with Madam Miriam?” Her voice lowered to a whisper. It sounded like she was going to cry.
“I can handle those appointments if necessary.” I turned away from Elle so she couldn’t hear the conversation. “Reece, is there something you want to talk to me about? You sound sad.”
“I-I . . . never mind. I shouldn’t, but. . .”
“Go ahead.”
“I just don’t think this Elle is the right person for you. I saw you both together at the party tonight, dancing and I just didn’t see. . . I just don’t think she’s good for you.”
“Okay. I think we should discuss this in further detail tomorrow. Right now is not a good time for me.” I didn’t want to fire Reece. She was my rock in a storm, but her confession of having feelings for me was making our business relationship difficult. I didn’t relish the idea of her watching Elle and I dance and knew it had hurt her to watch it. I never spent time with any woman, not in all of the years of me knowing her.
“Okay...”
“Goodnight, Reece.” I wasn’t excited about this talk with Reece, or the one I had to have with grandma about her damn spells and where she’d found so much blood.
Chapter 13
Elle
Not much passed between us as we approached the stairs. What else could we say after seeing such a horrific scene like that? Although my guards walked four feet behind me, icicles of terror sliced throughout my body. I’d never seen a dead person before, and hoped I would never have to see one again.
I should’ve let go of his hand. I was a strong woman, right? I’d been through rough things by myself and survived. Yet Alvarez’s presence gave me a sense of safety, more than the bodyguards or even the tons of guards that now surrounded the perimeter of the castle, and much more than all of the cops that combed the property for clues and traces of the killer. Just being next to Alvarez decreased my booming heart to a steady beat and enveloped my mind with him, instead of the images of the cold corpse carved out between her legs.
I gulped down my fear. He probably had hundreds of things to do right now, most of them more important than spending time with a scared woman. “That looked like a pretty intense phone conversation between you and your assistant. That was her, right?”
“It was.” Tension crept over Alvarez’s face. “I have a bunch of things to do and she somewhat, well, without intending to do it, presented a new problem I don’t want to deal with.”
“I see.” I let go of his hand, but he seized it again. “I should let you go deal with all those problems.”
“I would rather not.”
“But do you have to?”
“Yeah.” He stared at the first step on the stairwell. “However, I’m starting to learn that no matter how quickly or slowly I solve a situation, another one comes right up to take its place. It’s like battling a forest fire with nothing but a worn out hose.”
“That sucks.”
“Pretty much.” He closed his eyes for a minute. “Would you like to have a drink with me? I promise not to keep you up too much longer.”
“A drink is exactly what I need. Maybe even several drinks. I think the question I should offer you is, would you mind me getting so sloshed that you have to carry me upstairs?”
“That actually sounds like fun after what we’ve seen tonight.”