Her Sworn Protector

She raised her chin and tried to sound confident. Inside, the jelly had yet to solidify. “Yes.”

He let her go by degrees, holding her a moment longer, then drawing his hands away slowly. All the while, he watched her face for any telltale signs that she would collapse or faint once he took his support away. There wasn’t anything he could do for Milos, or Ari. But there was something he could do for her. He could keep her together.

Quickly, his eyes swept over her torso, checking. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

At least not physically, she thought. But mentally, she knew she was shell-shocked and would be for some time to come. It seemed strange to her that nothing like this had ever happened to her in the clinic where she volunteered. There she would have expected it. Yet here, in an exclusive neighborhood, she’d been a hair’s breadth away from being killed.

Her eyes met his. Her lips felt dry as she spoke. “I don’t think the killer saw me.”

“Was there only one?” he wanted to know.

She couldn’t answer that with certainty. All she could tell Byron was what she knew. “There might have been more, but I only saw one man.”

Kady looked back over her shoulder at the man who’d flirted with her only ten minutes ago. He’d been so vibrant, so full of life then. And now…

This shouldn’t have happened.

She looked back at Byron again. “What kind of security system does this penthouse have?” she demanded angrily. Shouldn’t something have gone off when the killer got in? When he escaped?

“One that was obviously bypassed.” Unlike hers, Byron’s voice was stoic.

Releasing her, he walked over to the intercom located on the wall beside Milos’s bed. There was an intercom in every room of the penthouse. Pressing the button down, Byron said, “This is Byron. I want everyone up here outside Mr. Plageanos’s bedroom. Now.”

Was he planning on interrogating everyone on the staff? That wasn’t how things were done. With a heavy heart, Kady moved back to the bed. To the man she’d come to regard with affection.

I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.

Looking up, she saw Byron watching her. Kady braced her shoulders. “You have to call the police.”

He looked at her for a long moment before answering. Was he annoyed because she’d said that? Did he think she was trying to tell him what to do?

“I know procedure.”

The way he said it made her think he’d been through this before. And made her realize that she really knew nothing about this man she’d shared less than a handful of car rides with.

“You’re a cop?”

“Was,” he corrected.

Like her sisters, she possessed more than her share of curiosity. Even in the face of tragedy, she needed to know things.

“What happened?” she heard herself asking.

Byron didn’t answer. Instead, he shook his head. “Too much to talk about now.”

Kady wasn’t completely certain she could assimilate anything he told her now anyway. So she nodded, letting the matter drop. Digging into her pocket, Kady pulled out her cell phone and then flipped it open.

Byron looked at her sharply. “Who are you calling?”

God, but she felt drained. Drained and useless and angry. She felt as if she was going in all directions at once. His tone irritated her more than it should have.

“My brother-in-law. He is a cop,” she told him. “Homicide. Tony Santini.”

The information came in small, square sound bites, dribbling from her lips. Kady clung to the numbness, knowing that once it was gone, what would come in its wake would be overwhelming and devastating.

Crossing back to her, Byron placed his hand over her cell phone and closed it, leaving it in the palm of her hand. Kady looked at him, confused. “We have to call the police,” she insisted.

“And I will. If your brother-in-law is called in to investigate, there might be questions later on.”

She stared at him. “Questions?”

“Mr. Plageanos was a powerful man. Powerful men have enemies—enemies with money who can get to people.”

Her eyes widened and she drew herself up. “Are you saying—”

He shook his head. “I’m not, but someone else might. You were the last person to see him alive. Having your brother-in-law here isn’t the wisest move.”

“Right.”

She wasn’t thinking straight, Kady acknowledged. She just wanted someone to make it right. She wanted someone to catch the killer and avenge Milos and Ari. She wanted the man she’d seen put in prison. Now, before he could do any more harm.

With a sigh Kady dragged a hand through her hair. “You’re right,” she repeated.

She stiffened as she heard a sound in the hall, then realized it was too loud to be the killer. It was the sound of approaching feet. The people Byron had just summoned were here. Right outside the threshold to Milos’s bedroom. Exclamations of distress, of horror, were heard as the scene was suddenly viewed by them. One of the maids fainted. The chauffeur pushed through the doorway as questions flew right and left.

Byron stopped everyone at the threshold, physically blocking their access into the room. Quickly his eyes swept over the group. Kady had a feeling he was trolling for a killer.

Was it one of the staff? A chill passed over her as she looked from face to face. But he wasn’t there. The man who’d been in the room only a few minutes ago wasn’t here.

“It’s a crime scene,” he told the staff in a voice devoid of emotion. “I called you up here because I wanted you to know that someone just killed Mr. Plageanos.” And because, he added silently, he wanted to see their reactions.

“How?”

“Who?”

Surprise and shock mingled with half sentences; expressions of outrage and curses blended into one another. Byron gave it a few minutes, letting grief and disbelief run their initial course before he held up his hand for silence.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” he promised without fanfare. “Right now I’d say that someone inside let the killer in.” He looked over the sea of faces slowly, seeming to focus on each individually. He was looking for an accomplice. Again, there was no emotion as he said, “Whoever it is will be made to pay so they’d better get their affairs in order.”

Like a second tidal wave, more questions and protests arose, drowning each other out. It was all just dissonance to her.

Kady moved back toward the bathroom, unaware that she was being watched. Once inside, at the sink, she struggled to keep the tears back. The control she was trying to grasp continued to elude her.

She looked down at her hands covered in Milos’s blood. Very slowly, she turned on the faucets and began to wash her hands. Rivulets of pink snaked their way to the drain and beyond. She tried to make her mind a blank until she could deal with it all.

But thoughts insisted on crowding in.