The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 213

Chapter 213 Blood On Our Rings

She must have come back with Frost. She stood in the grand foyer, still in her clothes from the van, her eyes huge. She was holding two steaming paper cups. She thrust one toward Elera as she passed.

“It’s tea,” Clara said, her voice trembling only a little. “From the thermos in the command van. It’s probably terrible and cold by now, but it has, like, eight sugars in it. For the shock.” She looked at the gurney, at Drakonius’s pale face, and her brave facade crumpled for a second. “Is he…?”

“He’s going to be okay,” Elera said, and for the first time, she almost believed it. She took the tea. It was lukewarm and sickeningly sweet. It was the best thing she had ever tasted.

Clara fell into step beside her as they followed the stretcher out into the cool, pre–dawn air. The sky was just beginning to lighten from black to deep, bruised purple. The cliff house was swarming with police vehicles, their lights painting the scene in silent, swirling blues and reds.

“Aunt Margaret?” Elera asked suddenly, panic slicing through her fatigue.

“Safe. At a safe house with two of Frost’s guys who have faces like dropped meatloaves and the gentlest voices you’ve ever heard. She’s already demanded a proper tea set and is probably giving them a lecture on the proper way to steep Earl Grey.” Clara managed a wobbly smile. “She’s tougher than she looks.”

They reached the waiting ambulance. The paramedics were loading Drakonius inside. Elera made to climb in after him.

“Ma’am, you can ride up front with me,” one of them said gently.

“I’m riding in the back,” Elera said in a tone that brooked no argument. It was the tone of Dr. Mystral. “I’m his physician. And his wife.”

The paramedic, a young man who looked like he’d seen it all, just nodded and helped her

1. up.

As the doors were about to close, Frost appeared. He put a hand on the door, his face serious. “The mountain house is ready. Secure. We’ll divert there after the hospital. No one will find you.”

Elera nodded, too tired for words.

Clara shoved something else into her hands. It was a phone. “It’s a new one. Clean. My number, Frost’s number, and the direct line to the safe house are the only ones in it. Also, I downloaded three audiobooks. Two are murder mysteries. One is a very silly romance about a woman who falls in love with a yeti. For… levity.”

Elera clutched the phone and the terrible tea. “Thank you, Clara.”

“Go,” Clara said, her eyes shining. “Go be brilliant. And tell Grumpy in there that if he dies, I’m dedicating my next publishing conference speech to how stubborn he is.”

Inside, Elera sat on the little jump seat, holding Drakonius’s uninjured hand. His eyes were closed, but his grip was firm. The paramedic worked around her, monitoring vitals, starting an IV.

Elera watched from the back of the ambulance as two uniformed police officers led her father across the driveway. They weren’t the local cops who played golf with him. These were stone–faced men with “FBI”

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Chapter 213 Blood On Our Rings

Finished

in bold yellow letters on their windbreakers. Someone, likely Frost, had made calls that reached far above Kieran’s donated influence.

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