His Surprise Escort

We Can Share Her

*Damien

I rushed down to the floor my men were at. My heart was pounding in my chest. On the way down, all I could think about was that I never should have let her keep working here. This would have never happened if I had tried harder to get her to work for me. If she was dead, I would never forgive myself. In the few days I have spent with her, I was already addicted to her. No woman had ever come close to making me lose myself like this. I was ready to lock her up in my house and never let her leave. Hell, I would even marry her right now if I didn't think she would freak out at how fast this was moving. This woman has changed me in so many ways. It wasn't about the s*x. There was just something pure in her that drew me back to her every day. But if I lost her now, she would never know how I really feel about her. The stone-cold Damien has been broken by a sweet little woman.

The elevator seemed to be moving at a snail's pace, and I let out a huff of frustration when the doors finally opened. Five of my men stood around a table and turned to see me come in.

"We found this on the floor when the doors opened," Peter, one of my guards, said and handed me Katie's purse.

"We also found her. She is this way, and we have called an ambulance already. We just want to warn you as to what you will see. We are still searching the area, but we haven't found anyone yet. The blood is still fresh, so everything just happened recently. The guys are working on freeing her right now," he told me. He looked uncomfortable, but I was raging. My blood was boiling, and my hands were clenched so hard my hands were shaking. I didn't want to say anything because I knew I would just scream at everyone.

I walked into the makeshift room, and my breath left me. Anna was on a table, chained down by her legs and arms. She was only wearing a bra and panties. Her face was covered in blood, and I could see swelling already forming on her eyes. This bastard hit her!! There were cameras all around the room, and a small tv was running a live feed of one of the cameras. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of whoever did this filming what he did.

"We found her this way, and we are pretty sure this guy used Chloroform to knock her out. We also found this," Peter said and handed me a DVD and a note on it. The message read, "We can share her... for now. But she is mine; she always was. If you trained her better, her face would have looked better. That's on you." I wanted to vomit. Whoever this was clearly knew what was going on between Katie and me. I knew for a fact that there was only a handful of people that knew about Katie besides my men. Katie was not one to share all this information freely, and Anna had no reason to tell anyone about us. Nick, I trusted with my life. He would never do anything like this or know anyone who would. This left Katie's work people.

"Find that piece of s**t boss of hers!!" I yelled before dropping the letter. Two of my men rushed off to the elevator as the rest kept trying to free Katie. I walked up to her, and I felt a fire burn within me. Anger was something I had been working to control my whole life. At this moment, I had never felt more anger coursing through my body before. I would find out who did this and end their life. Whoever this was didn't do their homework well because they clearly didn't know who I really was. Katie was mine, now and forever. I claimed her the moment those elevator doors opened, and her deep blue eyes burned into mine.

I gently pushed her hair away from her face to get a better look at what he did. One of my men had placed his jacket over her to try and cover her some. I turned her head a little and could see a handprint across her cheek. I quickly drew my hand away, clenching my fist. I wanted to punch something. They got her legs free finally and moved to her hands.

"Katie? Please wake up." I called to her over and over, praying to a God I wasn't sure I believed in, but I was willing to try anything for her. She moaned a little as if she was fighting sleep but still didn't wake up. The elevator dinged, and I looked up to see Anna and Nick walk off with several officers. Anna screamed and threw herself into Nicks's arms. I glared at him, but all he could do was shrug and stare at Katie and me.

"Is...is she... is she dead?" Anna asked and then sobbed.

"No. God, no. She has been drugged. The paramedics should be here soon," I told Anna. I kept my hand touching Katie, never wanting to leave her again.

My men finally got her arms free at the exact moment the paramedics came in with even more officers. By now, the room was full of officers and workers from the building. I told my men to stay around Katie to keep her concealed. We didn't know who to trust at the moment.

The paramedics came over and quickly got to work. Peter told them what we knew so far. After assessing her and placing an IV, they determined that she was safe to move. They removed the jacket, and I could hear Anna suck in a shocked breath. They placed a blanket over her and prepared to leave. There was chatter everywhere, people talking about where to take pictures and where to find prints. My men had already cased the place, but we told them we would work with them. There were perks to being me. It also helped to have the Police chief in my pocket.

"Sir, are you her husband?" one of the paramedics asked me.

"Um, yes," I knew that they wouldn't let me stay with her if I told them the truth.

"Okay, we are going to take her down now. You can come with us. She is stable for now," he told me, and they gathered up their stuff to leave.

"We will follow behind you," Nick told me while holding a crying Anna. This was her best friend, and she knew Katie better than I did right now, but I just couldn't let her go.

"She isn't allergic to anything but sometimes needs an inhaler, but she hasn't used it in a year. She doesn't take any medicine and has an IUD. She also never smokes." Anna told me as we waited for the elevator. I nodded my head, knowing that she understood I would not let her take my place.

I secretly was relieved to hear she had an IUD. We had not talked about it yet, and I know that condoms were the last thing on my mind ever! We all piled into the elevator, and I continued to hold her hand. She moaned again, and we all froze, waiting to see what she would do. But she kept her eyes closed and didn't move again. When we finally got to the main floor. There were officers everywhere. You could see a news reporter outside as well as photographers. I pulled the blanket up to cover Katie's face more, and Nick turned Anna into him more to shield her from the cameras. The police had blocked off a lot of space for the ambulance to come up closer to the building, so our walk wasn't far. My men were already waiting in the vehicles to follow us to the hospital. Nick and Anna got in the first car, and I jumped in the back of the ambulance with Katie.

They worked silently to hook her up again and began to fill out their paperwork. We were given a police escort to the hospital, so the ride wasn't as long as it should have been. Even at 11pm at night New York was still a busy place to drive around. While we were on the way, I was getting updates from Peter. The owner of the Law firm that Katie works for will meet us at the hospital. They have gotten most of the footage of the surrounding buildings and will begin going through them now. They are still looking for Katie's office boss Gerry. I swear if he has anything to do with this, I will beat him to death!

We pulled into the hospital drop-off zone, and she was rushed out. They took her to a room to check her over again before sending her to a private room. She was given some pain meds, and after some major arguing, they ran a CAT scan and x-rays to check for anything internal. Once she was cleared of everything, they sent her back to her room. Her face didn’t have any broken bones or fractures, which we were all glad for. They were beginning to be concerned about how much she was sleeping. They were worried that she was given too much Chloroform, so they put her on oxygen to help a little.

It was another 30 minutes before she began to make sounds and move. During that time, I spoke with the Law Firm owner, Mr. Johnson. I had seen some of his work in the papers, and my report on him told me that he was a good man who helped people in need. He was visibly upset about what had happened to Katie. He agreed to let us search her office and talk to everyone she worked with. He also offered to pay for all her medical bills, but I told him I was already doing so. So he said he would pay her for her time off and let her recover for three months or longer if needed. I told him that he could talk to Katie when she woke up and let her know. If she even wanted to stay working for him now, I would be surprised. I, for one, would never let her step foot back in that building again.

When Katie finally opened her eyes; I was resting my head on her bed while holding her hand. Anna was asleep on Nicks's lap, who had his head leaning against the wall. The first thing that alerted me to her being awake was her heart monitor. She started to panic, and her heart rate went wild. I jerked my head up to look at her. Her eyes were wide open, but it didn't look like she was really focusing on anything. I jumped up and placed both my hands on the sides of her face.

"Katie! Katie, look at me! You are safe. I got you," I begged her to calm down. When she finally looked into my eyes, she calmed down some. Her alarms had gone off, and now a few nurses were in the room. I felt the tension leave my body in a rush and the world around us disappeared when she looked at me. Anna was up in a heartbeat and by her side. The nurses pushed us around to make sure everything was okay still.

"The doctor will be in soon to check on her. She has been asleep for a while. I think it's safe to say she will be here for a day or two just to make sure she is okay," the head nurse said before they all left.

We all stayed quiet after they left and we held our breaths waiting for Katie to say something. She stared at the door and zoned out just watching it. I was about to clear my throat to speak when she turned to look at me.

"Did you find him?" Katie asked. Her stare was blank and void of any emotions, but I could tell she wanted to cry and scream.

"No, he got away but I have every man possible looking for him. I will find him, baby," I grabbed her hand and held it to my lips.

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" Anna asked her.

"I have no idea," Katie shook her head in disappointment.

"It's okay. I will figure it out. We will find this bastard." I told her. We all sat there in silence again for a few moments. We all wanted to ask questions, but no one was ready to talk about it. I didn't blame her for wanting to just be silent for now.

"Damien?" Katie asked me.

"Yes, Angel?" I picked up her hand. I could not stop myself from touching her.

"I want to take you up on that job offer. If the offer still stands? I can't go back to that office ever again," she told me.

"Yes!! Of course, it does, and yes, you can and will take the job. You will be coming to Egypt with me next week as well," I told her. My tone of voice told her I was not taking no for an answer at all. She just nodded her head in agreement.

Before I had a chance to ask her more there was a knock on the door. When it opened the Doctor and an officer came into the room.

"Sorry to bother you all, but I hear that the patient is finally awake. I’m Doctor Freedmen, and I will just take a look at everything here, and this officer said he had some questions for you,” the doctor told Katie. He walked up to Katie’s bed and pulled a stool over to the side he was on.

“I just want to check your heart and see how you are breathing. We will run some more tests just to make sure your levels are normal. You were given a very high dose of Chloroform, and we need to make sure that your liver and kidneys are functioning correctly still,” he stopped to listen to her heart for a moment.

“My nose and throat are burning. Is that normal?” Katie asked him.

“Unfortunately, yes. The chemical can cause burns if placed on the skin for long periods of time,” Dr. Freedmen told her. Anger burst through me again. I had gotten it under control before she had woken up, but I was burning with a need to kill someone.

“Well, you sound good, but I will have a nurse come in to take some blood samples for tests. If everything comes back good, we will get you on your way home,” he said, then stood and left the room. We all turned to look at the officer left in the room with us.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Detective Carson. I will be the detective working on your case. Mr. Decarlos, I have been made aware that we will be working closely with your men in this care, and Peter has made contact with me as well. I will work with you however you need me to be. I do need to ask some questions from Ms. Martin,” he turned to Katie and looked directly at her.

“Do you want them to stay in the room, or we can do this privately?” he asked her and didn’t look away from her.

It pained my heart to think she would want to be alone and not tell us everything. To be honest, I would probably lose my s**t if I heard what happened to her.

“They can stay. They will find out everything anyway,” she said quietly.

Just then, a nurse came in with a tray. “I have some food for you. It’s mostly snacks because the kitchen is closed already, but I got you some bottled water and ice chips as well for your throat. I grabbed some things that would be easy to swallow for now. I also need to take some blood. I will be quick, and then you can get back to whatever,” she said in a chipper voice. She was clearly one of the nurses made for the night shift.

After a few minutes of getting blood and asking a few more questions, she was on her way. Detective Carson pulled up a chair closer to Katie and took out a recorder and notepad.

“If you are ready, we will begin,” he paused, waiting for Katie to agree. When she nodded, he turned on the recorder and started asking her questions. Katie started at the beginning of her day by saying that everything was a typical day. She had more work to do than usual, but her boss was a jerk, so she wasn’t surprised. She had been gone for a few weeks and figured he would be a d**k about it. Carson asked questions about her ex and where he was and if she thought he could be a part of this. She talked about everyone she worked with, and no one sounded like this was something they would do. I had my doubts about Gerry, and as of right now, we could not find him, which was giving us major red flags. Her friend Collin had been blowing up her phone every hour; Anna had to finally answer it and explain what was going on. He was clearly upset and begged to come to see her. There was no way I would let him come in now. I didn’t know if I could trust him yet. When she got to the part of the elevator, her last thought before she was taken was that Anna knew she was supposed to call her and would be worried; it made Anna get up and walk over to her.

“I’m so sorry! I should have figured it out sooner! I waited TWO hours! Oh, God, Katie, will you ever forgive me!” Anna sobbed. Katie sprang up faster than I thought she could have and pulled Anna into her arms.

“Don’t you dare! You were the only reason I would have been found. You knew that I would never miss checking in with you and got me help. It doesn’t matter how long it took you. The fact that you knew it is all that matters. You saved my life, Anna,” Katie cried into her arms, then pulled back to look at her. “If you weren’t already my best friend, I would make you my eternal best friend. I love you and will never be able to repay you for what you have done,” Katie half giggled and half cried more.

Just hearing her giggle made the ache in my chest loosen a little. I would help her get past this. We all would. She was a strong woman, and she is mine. There was no going back for me now. It may take years for her to feel the way I do about her, and I would wait however long she wanted, but eventually, she will be mine and mine alone. Whoever this man was who thinks he has a claim on her will die, that I will make sure of.

After Carson redirected the conversation, Katie started to talk about what happened when she woke up. She spoke softer and quieter about this part. She had moved her hand away from me when Anna came over, so I wasn’t touching her anymore, and it was making me crazy. My hands had balled into a fist, and I was dying to punch something the more she talked. When she said that he touched her, my hands started to shake. Her hand came over to mine without taking her eyes away from the wall. She had zoned out while talking as if to block us all out. Her hand on mine shocked me at how much it helped calm me down.

She spoke almost robotic and tried to keep her emotions out of it. I hated to think that whenever she would close her eyes now, she would be worried about waking back up on that table. It made me sick to my stomach thinking about everything she was saying. When she was done, Carson asked her a few more questions and then left us.

Katie stayed quiet for a while and then tried to eat a little. “I’m so tired. Do you think they will let me sleep?” she asked in between bites.

“I’m sure that will be fine,” I told her.

“I think we will head out and let you two rest. We will be back in a few hours to check on you both and bring you whatever you need,” Nick stood, pulling Anna away from Katie on the bed. Anna hugged Katie again and reluctantly left with Nick. I was grateful to him; he could tell I needed some time alone with Katie.

We were silent for a little while until I broke the silence. “You know I will always protect you, right?” I asked her.

“I know,” she said after a long pause.

“I would do anything for you. I know that we have only been together for a few days, but we have something special, and I don’t want to let you go. You have become important to me. Will you let me take care of you? Take a chance on me?” I asked her, begging and pleading with my eyes.

“I do trust you. I can’t make any promises as to how this will go, but I have always felt safe with you. I don’t want to be alone right now,” she said, and my heart went soaring. She slid over to the side of the bed, leaving me an open invitation to lay down with her. I wasted no time climbing on the bed to be next to her. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, careful of her IV. We both fell asleep that way. A nurse came in a few times to check on her IV and give her more pain meds, but they left us alone after that.

My phone rang about two hours later, waking me up. I would have ignored it, but it was Peter, and I hoped he had news for me.

*Phone call

Peter: Hey, boss. I got news for you. But I don’t think you will like it…

Damien: s**t. What is it?

Peter: We found Garry… He is dead. Someone murdered him.

Damien: f**k….