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“Tired,” she whimpers as she snuggles against me. “I’m so tired.”

Grigori circles around me and lifts Ashleigh’s hair. His soft touch makes her jump in my arms and cling even tighter. “Shhh, sweetie. It’s just Grigori. You’re safe now. Nothing will happen to you.”

“There’s blood back here,” he murmurs. “Ashleigh, can you tell me what happened to your head?”

“I- I don’t know. Something hit me.”

“Did you pass out?”

“I think so. Everything went black for a bit. But I don’t know how long.”

“You there,” he calls out to Caldwell. “Did you see how long she was out for?”

When he doesn’t answer, we all walk over to him and shake the cage. The poor boy lies in the corner with his arms around his head, just rocking back and forth.

“You there,” Sergei grinds out. “Piss boy. Boss ask question. Answer now.”

“I- I’m not piss boy,” he cries out. His voice trembles with a false bravado, earning a chuckle from the three of us.

“You smell like piss. You look like piss. You fail to protect lady like little boy. You’re piss boy. Stay to the side there, piss boy.”

He pulls out his gun and shoots the lock, allowing the cage to open back up. Once Caldwell crawls out, he looks over at Ashleigh, his eyes wide with concern.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Answer the question,” Grigori snarls. “How long was she out for?”

“I didn’t have my phone. I don’t know. It was a while. The sun went from the top of that ride to that one over there.”

Grigori and Sergei follow his motion. “About three to four hours,” he murmurs. “That’s a long time. I’d be worried about a concussion. You need to keep her awake, John.”

“I know that,” I snap, jostling my precious girl in my arms. “Sorry. That wasn’t fair to you. I’ll need one of you to drive her car home. I’m not letting her leave my side. Not anytime soon.”

“Da,” Sergei nods. “I drive car. Make like that one time in Grand Prix.” When we all glare at him, he shrugs and smiles. “I make good joke. Not my fault you have no humor.”

Caldwell gives a nervous laugh as he rubs his hand up and down his arm, bringing my attention back to him.

“You listen to me, Caldwell, and you listen to me well. Ashleigh is mine. She will never be yours. If I so much as catch you sniffing around her again, you will not be leaving the same. I have friends in very high, very powerful places. I can pin all of this on you with no hope of a defense. I know it was your text that brought her out here. It won’t look good for you at all.”

His face pales as he steps back. “You have to understand I didn’t plan this.”

“Convince me. Why text her?”

“I- it was Thatcher. He said he ran into Ashleigh. He said... Well, he made it sound like I should try one more time.” He shoves his hand down into his pants pocket and pulls out a ring.

“Oh god,” Ashleigh groans, burying her head in my shoulder. “I knew you were going to propose.”

“And you came out here anyway?” I growl.

“You said to deal with him, or you would. I was just following orders, Sir.”

Grigori and Sergei chuckle, earning a glare from me. “Be that as it may, we have a lot of talking to do. But not until I get you checked out. This is my last time seeing you, isn’t it, Caldwell?”

“Y- yes sir. I wasn’t here. I don’t know anything. I didn’t see anything.”

“Good man. Contact me when you apply next semester. You keep silent about this whole thing, and I’ll make sure you get where you want to go in life.”

Without waiting for an answer, I take my precious cargo from this horrible place. Even though she’s safely in my arms, I won’t be able to rest. Not until I know she’s truly okay.