“Alex is gonna hang with you the rest of the night. I’m not sure when I can get home. And I don’t want you to be alone.”
My insides coiled tighter. “Roman, please tell me what’s going on.”
“We got her, Lis.”
A shudder shook my shoulders. “Who?” God, please let it be who I’m hoping it is.
“Tessa, baby.”
My hand flew to my mouth, and tears pricked the backs of my lids. “You got her?”
“Yeah. And Clare, too,” he added.
“Oh God,” I whispered with burning lungs.
“Listen to me. Everything is fine. They’re safe now. But they were a little banged up, so we’re up at the hospital.”
He hadn’t even finished before I was darting toward the door. Alex suddenly stepped in front of me.
“Move,” I ordered, not interested in any further conversation.
A daughter I had never met and the woman who had been raising her were currently at the hospital. In a few minutes, I was going to be there, too.
“Elisabeth,” Roman called.
I was more focused on Alex. “Move!” I barked, snatching my keys from the basket next to the door.
“Talk to Roman,” he replied.
“I’m talking to you. And I said move!”
“Elisabeth!” Roman yelled, catching my attention.
Narrowing my eyes on Alex, I snapped into the phone, “What?”
“You cannot come up here,” he answered.
Roman being bossy wasn’t exactly something new. However, the conviction in his voice took me aback.
“What?” I repeated—sans the attitude.
“Baby, it’s not safe. I need you to hang tight there and stay close to Alex. Devon’s on his way up here now, and I’m gonna call Leo and see about getting a few more guys sent down tomorrow.”
My heart sank, and a swarm of angry bumblebees came alive in my belly. “Wh…what do you mean it’s not safe? You’re there, Roman.”
“And I’ll be okay. I swear. But I can’t have you up here right now. Things did not exactly go as planned, and I have a feeling getting them away from Noir was just the beginning. This could go two ways: the DEA got him and he’s currently on his way to jail, or he could show up here, guns drawn, ready to reclaim a family that is not his anymore.”
None of that sounded good. It actually sounded really fucking bad.
“Roman, maybe you should come home.”
“I carried Tessa out, Lis.”
“Okay,” I drawled in confusion.
“She was terrified. Shaking and bleeding in my arms. But she held onto my neck and trusted me to take care of her.”
The ache in my chest grew as I imagined that scene. I hated that Roman could possibly be in danger, but knowing he had been there when she had been scared and bleeding did some serious things to my heart. Tears finally made their way from the corners of my eyes.
He continued. “If that maniac shows his face up here, trying to get to her, he will have to go through me. And, Lis, when I say that, I mean he will die trying to get through me, because I’m coming home, baby. And I’m bringing Tessa with me.”
“And Clare?” I choked out immediately.
His voice softened. “And Clare, as long as you feel comfortable with that.”
“Absolutely.”
“Jesus, you’re an amazing woman,” he breathed as though he’d been worried I would say no.
I wasn’t an amazing woman. I was just a mother. Who understood that losing your child was the most agonizing experience a person could experience. And, regardless of whose DNA was coursing through that little girl’s veins, Clare was her mother. I wouldn’t take that away from her. Ever.
“Roman, listen to me. Tessa may or may not be biologically ours, but regardless, she’s Clare’s daughter. Do not go in there barking at her and ordering her around, telling her how it’s going to be. Ask her if she wants to come here. She might have family or someone she’d feel more comfortable with right now. And that’s okay—”
“Bullshit!” he interrupted. “That is not fucking okay. She’s away from Walter. But she is far from out of the woods. So they’re coming to stay with us, and we’re gonna make them safe.”
While he had an excellent point, I didn’t figure that his attitude was going to go over well with anyone else.
I made a suggestion. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be the one to talk to her.”
“No, I should definitely be the one to talk to her. However, Light’s head might explode if I raise my voice above a whisper in her presence. He’s been all over anyone who has so much as looked in her direction. So I’ll go out on a very short limb and say it’s gonna be him who talks to her. But it’s gonna be me who talks to him.”
Interesting about Heath and Clare.
And good.
I’d only met Heath Light once, so I couldn’t be sure of what kind of bedside manner he had in the face of a crisis, but I knew Roman Leblanc well enough to know he needed to stay the hell out of it.
So, with that decision made, I replied, “Okay, Roman.”
“Now, where’s your head at right now? You straight with all of this?”