“This won’t end here, you piece of shit. You messed with the wrong girl.”
“You’re crazy, man! I didn’t do anything! She wouldn’t even dance with me!”
“Time to back off, bro,” the med student warns. “Just get out of here.”
“Mr. Rodrick,” Josephine calls, snapping my attention back. “Andrew said she seems okay, but we should go. I’ll only relax after a doctor checks her.”
I crouch down and scoop the princess into my arms.
“Rodrick, you came . . .”
“You’re going to be fine, Jazmina. I’ve got you.”
She rests her head against my chest, and I hold her tight.
My rage hasn’t subsided. I’ve always carried too much anger inside me, but now I have to focus on Jazmina to keep myself from going back inside and putting that bastard in a coma.
“Can you sit with her in the back? I’ll ask my driver to take you home afterward,” I tell Josephine.
“Of course. I live on campus anyway. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with her until the doctor says she’s okay.”
Once they’re settled in the back seat, I get behind the wheel. In the rearview mirror, I see Josephine’s face. She looks terrified as she whispers softly to the princess.
On the way to my apartment, I call a doctor friend of mine on speakerphone, and he says he’ll meet us there in thirty minutes.
When we arrive, my head of security is waiting in the garage.
I lift Jazmina into my arms again, and as we enter the private elevator to the penthouse, Josephine and Lamar follow close behind.
Jazmina groans now and then, and something foreign and deeply unsettling twists inside me.
I’ve always been protective of my friends and of Athol, but I’ve never had bonds strong enough to feel something like this. Yet seeing Jazmina in such a vulnerable state sends me into a spiral of fury and a desperate need to keep her safe.
My bodyguard enters the door code, and while I carry Jazmina to the bedroom, I ask Josephine, “I’m getting a robe. Can you change her?”
If it were any other woman, I’d do it myself, but knowing how Jazmina was raised, the last thing I want is for her to wake up feeling violated in any way.
“Of course,” she replies as I lay her friend on the bed.
“Call me if you need anything,” I say, handing her the robe. “I’ll be in the hallway.”
I leave and close the door.
“What happened, boss?”
“She was drugged. I’m giving you an address. I want every student who lives there identified. Photos and full records. And I want a complete investigation on past drugging or assault cases linked to that fraternity.”
My phone lights up with a message from the doctor saying he just arrived.
“One last thing, Lamar. Find out why Jazmina wasn’t being escorted. Her security team should’ve warned me she’d left.”
“I can answer that right now,” he says, pulling out his phone and showing me a recording. “Her Highness slipped out through the back door of her building.”
Chapter 13
“We’ll only know for sure once the tests come back. I drew a blood sample, but given her condition and the fact that nothing else happened, I’d advise against taking her in to file a statement. I’m not a lawyer, but the chances of those boys being punished are slim. The press will turn it into a circus, and in the end, they’ll walk free.”
“I never forget an offense, but I’ll handle this my own way,” I reply, shutting the subject down. There’s not a chance in hell I’m letting this go. “Are you sure she doesn’t need to be taken to a hospital?”