Chapter 18 - The Last Order
Elias doubled security immediately.
He tried to move my mother, the twins, and me outside the city.
I refused.
“The assassin is after you.”
“That is exactly why you should leave.”
“And what happens when you send everyone away and decide to handle it alone?”
He did not answer.
I crossed my arms.
“That’s what I thought.”
Elias sighed.
“You are exhausting.”
“You rescued me.”
“That may have been my first mistake.”
I smiled.
He almost did.
The investigation into Marco’s accounts identified the contractor.
Nathan Cross.
Former military.
Former private security.
No fixed address.
No digital footprint for six months.
Elias’s men could not find him.
Then Arthur discovered something strange.
Cross had been paid only half the contract.
The second payment depended on proof of Elias’s death.
“That means he’ll come close enough to confirm it,” Elias said.
I hated how calmly he spoke.
The attempt came two nights later.
Catherine House was scheduled to open the next morning.
Elias attended the private preview.
So did my mother.
The twins remained upstairs with nurses.
I stood in the main lobby watching volunteers prepare welcome packages.
For once, everything felt hopeful.
Then the fire alarm activated.
People began moving toward the exits.
Elias froze.
“No smoke.”
He looked up.
The lights failed.
My heart jumped.
Not again.
Security rushed toward the stairwell.
A man wearing a firefighter jacket entered through the side door.
Everyone else saw a rescuer.
Elias saw the weapon beneath his coat.
“Down!”
He pushed me behind the reception desk.
The man fired.
Glass shattered.
Security responded.
Cross ran toward the stairs.
Toward the twins.
I did not think.
I ran after him.
“Ava!”
Elias shouted behind me.
Cross reached the second floor.
I knew the building better.
I had spent weeks reviewing every room.
I cut through a staff corridor and reached the nursery first.
I locked the door.
Cross slammed against it seconds later.
The babies woke crying.
I pulled their bassinets behind a reinforced interior wall.
The door cracked.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Silence.
My hands shook.
“Elias?”
No answer.
I grabbed a metal lamp.
The door slowly opened.
I raised it.
Elias stood outside.
Cross was on the floor behind him.
Alive.
Disarmed.
Elias stared at the lamp.
“You were going to attack him with that?”
“I had limited options.”
He walked inside.
I expected anger.
Instead, he wrapped both arms around me.
For several seconds, the most feared man in New York simply held me.
“You cannot do that again.”
His voice was rough.
“I was protecting my daughters.”
“I know.”
He pulled back.
“That is why I cannot even yell at you properly.”
Cross was arrested.
But before authorities took him away, he gave Elias a message.
“Mercer told me you’d eventually care about something.”
Elias’s face turned cold.
Cross smiled.
“He said that would be the day you became weak.”
Elias looked through the nursery window at me and the twins.
“No.”
May you like
His voice was quiet.
“That’s the day I finally had something worth being strong for.”
