Page 74 of Payback

“M-Mr. Trommel?” said one of the bodyguards from behind the bed.

“Mr. Trommel!” the other shouted.

The bodyguard holding my arm tightened his fingers. “Talk!”

Hysteria filled my lungs and made my eyes bulge. Mr. Carbuncle dashed out of the door, and none of the wretched bodyguards tried to stop him. “No!”

A heartbeat later, the sound of a fist smacking into flesh had the caretaker staggering back into the room, clutching his nose. Henry stormed after Mr. Carbuncle, and with lightning-fast speed, he slammed his fist into the side of the caretaker’s head.

I sucked in a breath and whispered, “H-Henry.”

“Fuck!” The caretaker fell onto his ass, his back hitting the foot of the bed.

Behind him, the bodyguards lifted Rudolph’s still body onto the mattress. The old man’s robe gaped open, revealing a wrinkled chest, and his head lolled to the side. I wasn’t sure if he was unconscious or dying or dead.

A heartbeat later, a fist flew past my face and into the jaw of the bodyguard holding my bicep. The man let go and staggered into the dresser. Blake pulled me into his arms and hurried to the other side of the room. “Emilia, are you hurt?”

“N-no,” I gasped out.

“Y-you fucking ponce.” Mr. Carbuncle pulled himself up.

“Eat this.” With another fist in the face, Henry knocked him down to the floor.

Mr. Carbuncle’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, just as one of the bodyguards pushed Henry aside and pummeled the unconscious caretaker with the butt of his handgun.

My nostrils flared. Those guards were only good for maltreating women and attacking men who couldn’t fight back.

Henry strode across the room and wrapped his arms around me. “Emilia, did he do anything to hurt—”

“Not really.” I gazed into his verdant green eyes, and a fist clenched at my heart. Something terrible must have happened in the bedroom because only two of the triumvirate had come to my rescue. “But where’s Edward?”

“A and E,” said Blake.

I whirled around. “What?”

“Campus security stormed Elder House as we were leaving to track your phone. They saw Edward’s arm and held him back for the ambulance. We didn’t stick around.”

“But is he alright?”

“It’s just a flesh wound,” said Henry. “The bullet only skimmed his body, but he hit his head while dodging it.”

My muscles sagged with relief, and all the tension left my body in a dizzying rush. Blake held me upright and turned us to where the bodyguards still took their anger out on Mr. Carbuncle. One of them stamped on his knee, making the man wake up with a pained bellow.

Behind him, Rudolph lay on the bed, his face a bloody mess, his chest unmoving. My throat dried. Why weren’t his bodyguards performing CPR or calling for an ambulance?

“Drop your weapons!” A police officer clad in bullet-proof armor stepped into the room holding a semi-automatic rifle. Flanking him were two other officers carrying guns.

After rounding up the bodyguards, the paramedics arrived, took one look at Rudolph and told us all to leave.

What happened next was a blur of paramedics rushing in and out Rudolph’s room, bringing in oxygen tanks and a defibrillator. After a paramedic measured my blood pressure and other vital signs, the police took our statements. What I told them was mostly the truth, that a drunk and paranoid Mr. Carbuncle had abducted me for ransom but changed his mind when he thought Rudolph had taken his mother in revenge for kidnapping me last term.

A policeman tracked down Mom, who rushed down the crowded hallway and enveloped me in a Coco Chanel-scented hug. “They just told me that man abducted you again.” She stepped back and scanned my face and body. “D-did he hurt you?”

I shook my head. “Apart from a bump on the head and a few bruises on my wrists.”

She called over a paramedic, who sat me in their suite and checked me for signs of a concussion. Henry and Blake came along and murmured to each other while Mom fretted, and the paramedic retook my blood pressure.

Just as the paramedic left, Edward rushed through the door. The bodyguard grabbed at his arm, but Mom told him he was a friend.