Page 72 of After The Storm
She turned her head to see who had spoken and saw Roman. A jolt of recognition at seeing his face brought everything back to her, and she nearly became overwhelmed by the reality of what had happened.
“Where am I? Did I get shot? What happened, Roman?” she asked as she reached out for the comfort of his hand.
His dark eyes filled with happiness, and he smiled as he took her hand in his. Standing, he hurried to her side and sat down on the edge of the bed with her.
“I’m so happy you’re okay. The doctor said he got the bullet out, so now you just need to take it easy and rest. Whatever you need, just tell me and I’ll get it for you so you don’t have to move out of this bed.”
He sounded so happy and so hopeful that she hated having to bring him down to earth with her questions, but she needed to know the answers. “Where am I, Roman?”
“We’re at the place where I live. We brought you here after you were shot.”
“Where is the place you live?” she asked, sure only that he didn’t mean anywhere in New Orleans.
“Virginia. We’re at the Project Artemis estate. Specifically, we’re in the hospital wing of the estate,” he said with a tender smile.
“Where you live has a hospital wing?” Kate asked in amazement.
He’d told her a little about the group he worked with, but he hadn’t mentioned it had enough money to own an estate and one with a hospital wing. Who had that kind of money? Did he work for some reclusive billionaire or something? Images of masked superheroes floated through her mind, making her smile.
“Yes. Persephone and Nick, the two people who run Project Artemis, found out we needed one after a few of us came back from assignments pretty banged up,” Roman explained casually, as if every workplace needed a hospital on site to fix up their employees.
“What kind of people do you work for, Roman?”
He brought her hand to his lips to kiss and smiled. “The best kind. They rushed you to a hospital and then when you were safe to transport, they brought you here so you can recuperate in somewhere nicer than a hospital ward. As soon as you’re well enough, they told me we could use one of the outer houses on the estate for as long as we want.”
Kate glanced over at her shoulder and saw it bandaged up. Wincing, she remembered the pain she felt right before she passed out. “I remember getting shot but nothing after that until I woke up here.”
“Don’t think about it. You’re safe now.”
Whatever else she felt, she knew he’d keep his word. He always had from the moment he walked into that motel room at the Bayou. Now, as she slowly pieced everything together, she couldn’t believe that out of everything, he’d stayed true to her in all he’d promised.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw the bedroom door open and a gorgeous woman with long brown hair and big brown eyes came into the room. Roman stood, still holding her hand, and introduced the woman.
“Kate, this is Persephone Gilmore, the owner of Project Artemis and the estate. Persephone, this is Kate Sheridan.”
So this was the reclusive billionaire. Kate had imagined her as a man and more imposing. Instead, Persephone Gilmore physically wasn’t much more than a slip of a thing with model looks who carried herself like she’d had money every day of her life.
Not that Kate held that against her. She just knew old money when she saw it standing in front of her.
“How are you doing, Kate? You gave Roman here a good scare back there in that hangar. I’m just glad that we were able to get you the help you needed and here so you can be comfortable as you recuperate. Is there anything you need?” Persephone asked as she walked over to the dresser to pick up the remote control for the TV.
“I don’t think so,” Kate answered as she watched her move around to the side of the bed where Roman sat next to her.
“Well, anything you need, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Persephone turned on the TV, and as the picture came into focus, she said, “I thought you two would like to see this.”
Kate glanced over at Roman for some explanation, but he shook his head, clearly not having any information about what Persephone meant. Holding hands, they watched as Governor Williams was led out of the state capitol at Baton Rouge by federal marshalls. Reporters swarmed as he was escorted down the stairs and into a waiting black sedan that sped away as the newscaster explained he would be indicted on an array of charges, including corruption, fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted murder. In addition, the news reported, other charges may be pending upon completion of the investigation into crimes the governor’s office had been committing for years.
Not exactly shocked, still Kate couldn’t believe that finally the truth had started to come out. She turned to look at Roman and sighed, happy to know they’d helped reveal the governor’s crimes.
“So Jonas was right all along? He just didn’t have all the details,” she said sadly, hating the governor for what he’d done to Jonas and Samuel.
Persephone nodded as she switched off the TV. “He was closer than he even knew. I suspect when Governor Williams realized he figured out enough of the story to endanger the governor’s future, which was rumored might involve a run for president someday, he had him and his client killed.”
Shaking his head, Roman asked, “So all of this revolved around a whistleblower thinking the state police were crooked because of Williams?”
“Oh, no. It’s far more than that.”