Page 75 of The Forbidden Billionaire
The main doors open, and I turn and see Marcus coming through, followed closely by Caesar and my parents.
They see us and come over, and Marcus immediately wraps me in his arms. “Jesus,” he says, “are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I push him away, but he’s immediately replaced by Caesar. “Guys, I’m fine.” I extricate myself from their embraces, then discover my mother standing in front of me. She’s in tears, pressing her hand across her mouth.
“Baby,” she says, “come here.”
I stand there and let her pull me into her arms. Over her shoulder, I meet Luke’s eyes. I’m trembling again. I love my mother with all my heart, and I’m so glad she has recovered from her illness. But right now, all I can think is that she knew I had a stalker, and she chose to keep it from me.
Eventually, maybe feeling my frostiness, she releases me. I submit to a hug from my father, then fold my arms defensively, conscious of everyone looking at me as Ella introduces the family to the police and vice versa.
“Have you checked the apartment?” my father demands.
“The police officers are up there now,” Ella advises.
“I want to go up.” Marcus holds out his hand to Luke. “Give me your key card.”
Luke shakes his head. “Sorry, Marcus, the police are processing the scene. Nobody goes upstairs until they release it.”
“She’s my sister,” Marcus says, in a voice that tells everyone he’s used to getting his own way.
“I’ll come with you,” Edward says to him. “I want to see what he did.”
“No.” Luke speaks firmly. “Sorry, sir, but you can’t.”
Edward fixes him with a glare that would have turned lesser mortals to dust. “I appreciate that you got my daughter to safety, but this is not your decision to make.”
Luke exchanges a glance with Ella. She comes forward and says firmly, “You can go up there when the police have finished, sir. Not before. You don’t want to contaminate the scene.”
That pacifies them, although they both look annoyed.
“Okay,” my father says to Ella, “so once Aurelia’s given her statement, she can come back with us?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I think it best if she stays with us for a while, don’t you?” he says to Mum.
“Absolutely,” Mum says.
“We’ll need to get the locks changed on the apartment,” Marcus states.
“And find out how he got hold of a key card,” Caesar says.
“Rick is checking the video footage of the corridor at the moment,” Ella says. “It won’t take him long.”
“I think maybe from now on we need a camera in the elevator,” Dad says. “And this lobby.”
“The car park?” Caesar says.
“Yes,” Dad continues, “and maybe the gym, and if—”
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk as if I wasn’t standing in front of you,” I announce icily.
Dad stops talking, and they all turn to look at me.
“Do you know how violated I feel?” I ask.
Dad’s expression softens. “I know. It’s awful that he was inside your apartment, and—”
