Page 86 of The Voicemail

“Can you stand?” I ask.

“I think so.”

I slide one arm behind her back and the other under her knees, unwilling to take that as an answer.

“Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

“Everything already hurts as bad as it’s going to.”

“Then tell me if anything changes.”

She nods.

I lift her as carefully as I can. She sucks in a breath and turns her face into my shoulder, but she doesn’t cry out. One hand curls into my shirt. The other stays trapped between us, close to her abdomen.

We move toward the kitchen door. She keeps her eyes open even when we pass Tomaso’s body. I turn slightly to block her view, but she sees enough.

“Is he dead?” she asks in a small voice.

“Yes.”

“You killed him,” she whispers.

“Yes.”

She’s quiet for a few steps. I brace for fear, for horror. This would be the moment for her to tell me I’d be a horrible father, that she never wants to see me again after this. Instead, she says, “Good.”

A shout comes from the office hallway.

“Found her!”

Elena jerks in my arms and I can tell from her grimace that she immediately regrets it. “Maya?”

“Careful,” I tell her.

“I need to see her.”

“We’re going.”

I carry her through the swinging kitchen door into the back hallway. One of my men is coming out of a storage room with Maya on her feet beside him. Her wrists are raw, her hair is half out of its ponytail, and there’s a bruise spreading along one cheek, but she’s walking.

“Elena?” Maya’s voice breaks. “Oh, my God.”

Elena reaches for her, and I shift my grip to keep from hurting her.

“I’m okay,” Elena says.

“You are absolutely not okay,” Maya snaps, already crying.

Elena lets out a shaky sound that’s almost a laugh. “Neither are you.”

Maya tries to come closer, but Luca appears behind her and catches her gently around the waist before she sends them both to the floor.

“I have her,” Luca says.

Maya glares at him through tears. “I don’t know you well enough for this level of groping.”

“Elena,” Luca says, his voice lower. “I’m taking Maya out first. She’s safe with me.”