Chapter 98

JACE POV

I’m staring right at her as she smiles back at me, thinking of how she is so going to get it later when we

get home. All of a sudden, someone in a hoodie with a baseball cap and sun glasses comes up behind

her. It scares the shit out of me, and she must see it because she swings around and then goes still. I

can’t quite see what’s going on, but then I watch as a glint of metal shines in the sunlight as they hit her

across the face and take off.

I squeeze Elise’s arm as I call out Ella’s name, and then I’m running to her. I notice her starting to go

down and I catch her as I go to my knees. That’s when I notice all the blood. Elise must see it too

because she’s on the phone instantly, calling

for help.

“Ella! Oh, my God, no!” I’m frantic, “Talk to me baby!”

“W–What h-happened?” she stutters as she looks around at her surroundings.

I’m trying to hold myself together as I explain to her what just happened. My eyes sting with unshed

tears as I look at her beautiful face now marred by a nasty gash. The fucker will pay for this. The thing

is, I don’t think it was the guy, himself. The

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attacker was shorter and smaller in stature, so I’m thinking it may have been the woman that he’s

working with.

“H-how bad i-is it?” She continues to stutter but there isn’t one tear in her eye. She’s being strong even

though it must hurt like hell.

“You will be okay as long as we can get you to the hospital and get you stitched up.” I pull my shirt off

and hold it against her side, trying to stave off the flow of blood, “Malik and Owen went after the person,

but I don’t know if they were close enough to gain ground on them.”

Elise informs us that the emergency team is nearby and that they will be here momentarily as she

holds tissues to her sister’s cheek. They banter back and forth while I sit here, praying to the big guy

upstairs that Ella will be okay. I can’t lose her, not now, not after everything we have been through.

The crowd begins to part as a commotion takes place and I see the EMTs making their way to us,

“Here they come!”

I remain where I’m at until they are ready to take over. I go over everything that took place, and they

get to work immedi ately. Lifting Ella onto a stretcher, they buckle her down and then begin bandaging

her up as they move her towards the ambulance. They refuse to let both me and Elise go with Ella, so I

tell Elise to go since she can’t drive yet.

Thaul ass through the crowd and then run to my jeep. My hands are shaking as I try to start it, and I

have to take a mo

ment to get a hold of myself. I close my eyes and take a few good deep breaths, telling myself over and

over that she is go ing to be okay. I have to call her parents and let them know in case they want to fly

out. Fumbling for my phone that is sit ting in the center console, I swipe the screen and press Ethan’s

name. I start my car but wait until the ambulance passes me before pulling out.

“What’s going on Jace?” Ethan’s deep voice comes over my speakers and I can hear Elaine saying

hello in the back ground.

I’m not sure how you are supposed to tell parents that their daughter has been stabbed, so I just blurt it

out, “Ella’s been hurt. She was stabbed.”

“What?!” Her father yells, “Is she okay? Talk to me, how bad is my daughter?”

“She’s on the way to the hospital now by ambulance. We were at the carnival, and she needed to use

the porta potty, which was maybe fifteen feet away, so I was watching her, and the two guards were

there also. It happened so fast, Ethan! One moment Ella was fine and smiling at me, the next, some

one came up behind her and stabbed her in the side and cut her cheek before taking off. Malik and

Owen are still searching for them.” I can’t hold back my tears any longer, but I don’t let them flow for

long; I can’t afford to wreck my jeep right now.

Ethan must have put the speaker phone on because Elaine is.. now talking, “Was she awake when the

ambulance got

BOOK 7 – I WILL FIND YOU

there?”

“Yes. In fact, her and Elise were arguing back and forth playfully just before they got there. I was with

her up until they put her in the ambulance, but they only allowed one of us to go with her, so I told Elise

to go.”

“Oh, thank God!” Elaine sighs with relief.

“We will be on the next flight out, Jace. Make sure to tell the Pl about this right away.” Ethan commands

and I nod, for getting that he can’t see me.

“I will. I’ll call him as soon as I’m off the phone with you.”

“Good, we will see you soon. Please try and keep us updat ed, even if we are on the plane, that way

we will know as soon as we land.”

“I will, Ethan.” I hang up and call the number that I saved in my phone for Mr. Kingsly. I explain

everything that happened and tell him that the guards are still out looking for the person who did it. He

informs me that he will head over and see if he can try and get any information from carnival workers.

I fly into the parking lot at the hospital and run through the emergency room doors. There isn’t a whole

lot taking place, so I don’t have to wait, thank God. Moving towards the

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front desk, I ask the nurse for directions on where to go, but she refuses to give me anything because

I’m not family. I’m about to go ballistic when Elise comes out of a set of doors. I run over to her and tell

her what the nurse had said to me.

She takes my arm and goes to the nurse’s station and tells them that they are allowed to tell me

everything, but she won’t have it since Elise is underage, so she calls her parents on speaker phone

and gets permission that way. Thank God Ella is already with the doctor or else she might have bled

out waiting for this fucking nurse to get her shit together.

“Do you know anything yet?” I question Elise who is shak en up quite a bit.

“No, but the nurse said that she will update me as soon as she knows more, so we should probably go

back to the wait ing room.” She turns and heads back to the doors that she just came through and I

follow.

A nurse from the front follows us and then hands me a scrub top to put on. I don’t even realize that I’m

still shirtless with everything going on. I can still see dried blood on my stomach from where I was

holding Ella in my arms, so the nurse directs me to the closest bathroom and I go and clean myself up

quick, not wanting to miss any updates.

We are waiting for about forty-five minutes until the doc tor herself comes out. We are the only ones in

the waiting room, so she walks right over to us, “Miss Baxter’s family, I presume?” We both nod, “Ella is

one lucky girl. The stab

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wound was more of a flesh wound, meaning it didn’t hit any thing vital; it was close, but it stayed clear. I

did some ultra sounds to make sure she had no internal bleeding and then stitched her up. I would like

to keep her here overnight, just to be on the safe side, but if all is well then, she can be dis charged in

the morning.”

“Oh, thank God!” I turn and hug her sister tightly.

The doctor goes on, “Ella also needed a few stiches on her cheek. I tried to make it as clean as

possible, but I’m afraid she will still have a scar.”

I look at the doctor as though she was crazy for thinking what I know she is thinking, “Ella is beautiful

no matter what! No scar is going to take away from that beauty.”

The doctor smiles warmly, “I’m glad to hear that you feel that way. You are more than welcome to go

see her. She’s been moved to a private room with instructions from her par ents. She’s still under, and

will be for another thirty minutes or so, but you can still sit with her.”

“Thank you, Dr…”

“Ferguson.” She informs us.

“Thank you, Dr. Ferguson.” I shake her hand.

“No need to thank me, just doing my job.” She smiles and

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then shows us where Ella’s room is at.

Elise and I sit in the dim room as we wait for Ella to wake up. I’ve been texting Ethan back and forth

about Ella’s condi tion, but they are now on a private jet, on their way here. His firm was gracious

enough to let him use it for this emergency since they weren’t able to get a flight out until tonight.

A few minutes later I get another text. Thinking it’s from Kingsly or one of the guards I open it up, and

my blood turns to ice.

UNKNOWN: This was only a warning! Next time, she will be going straight to the morgue.

ME: Who the fuck is this? Stop being a pussy and show yourself!

UNKNOWN: She can’t have him…he’s mine!

Now I’m totally confused as to what this psycho is all about!

ME: Who is yours?

UNKNOWN: Don’t worry about it.

ME: I WILL FIND YOU…AND I WILL END YOU!!

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UNKNOWN: You pissed off the wrong people and she is paying for it!

ME: Fuck you! Come after me and leave her out of it!

UNKNOWN: I wish he would, but he wants her. Maybe once he sees what she looks like now, he won’t

want her any more.

ME: Like I said, I will find you and you will both pay for what you have done to MY girl!

They never respond back to me, but I forget all about it as soon as I hear the sweetest voice on earth.

“Jace…”