I scoffed. "I will be protecting her."
DI Jones said, "Forgive me for pointing this out, sir, but weren't you the one who was in charge of her when she went missing?"
Direct fucking hit. It might have been the truth, but I still narrowed my gaze. "We did have a team on her, yes. But as you might have heard, she was attending a gala. Plenty of event security was on hand, so I gave my men the night off. Obviously, we couldn't have foreseen what might happen."
In truth, I could’ve kicked myself. We should have brought Erik and his team in on it. But there was absolutely no way I could have them participate in grand larceny. That had been my call. Between Roone, Lucas, Bridge, and the Chase brothers, she should have been safe. But thinking that way had almost cost Livy her life.
DI Jones lifted her chin, her gaze not missing a thing, cataloging how I held Olivia, how Olivia tucked into me. Her gaze also flickered down the hall where April Van Linsted now shuffled along the hardwood floor. “Why are there no servants to get me water?”
East cursed then hurried to meet her. “Mrs. Van Linsted, allow me to help you. You really should lie down. A doctor is on his way.”
“I don't need your doctor. I need my own. I demand you take me to my husband.”
When she reached the living room with East in tow, she scowled at the two DIs. “Who the hell are you?”
DI Spencer stepped forward. “We’re the police, ma’am.”
She wrinkled her nose as she eyed his suit up and down. “Well, I haven’t done anything wrong, but I would like to make a statement against her.” She pointed at Livy, as I turned to shield her from the brunt of April’s words. “She endangered my life by forcing me to leave with her and then nearly got me killed in a car.”
DI Jones lifted a brow. “You want to file charges because she rescued you?”
She seemed just as incredulous as the rest of us. “So you didn’t want to leave captivity? Did you know your captors, Mrs. Van Linsted?”
April scowled at the shorter woman. “Of course not. Don't be daft. My husband would have paid whatever ransom they asked for, but she insisted we had to leave. Thereby endangering my life. She dragged me through filth. Then we were rammed by that car. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t been following me at the gala.”
Jones turned back to Livy. “You followed her?”
Olivia’s voice was clear and even. “Yes. It was right after we’d all been robbed. I was trying to organize everyone who was hurt to one area so we could do the basic injury assessment. I saw April leaving down a corridor. I followed and called out to her. I was concerned that she was hurt, but I think she was headed for an exit.”
Jones watched April carefully. “Where were you off to, Mrs. Van Linsted?”
“First of all, I don’t have to explain myself to you,” April huffed. “Secondly, I was trying to get to my car and my security. I would have called the police to give a statement eventually.”
Jones again lifted a brow. “But instead, you were taken?”
“Yes. And then this woman forced me to escape. I could have been killed.”
DI Jones made a note as she muttered. “Seems to me, you were lucky to be kidnapped with someone so resourceful.” She turned to Livy. Now, Miss Ashong, can you run us through what happened?”
With a sigh, Livy ran through their harrowing escape. When she finished and leaned against my side, I was sure Spencer was half in love with her overall badassery. Jones’s expression was all respect. Jones tapped her tablet. “Do you know which way they took you?”
Liv shook her head. “I don’t know. They drugged me before they took me from the gala, and when I woke up, we were in some kind of industrial building.” She swallowed hard. "But I do think we were in a warehouse outside of Harringay. There were some signs as we drove out. I’m sorry I should have paid better attention. I was more concerned with getting away.”
Jones nodded. “You did fine. And Mr. Covington, how did you find Miss Ashong? How handy that you came up on her car just at that moment.”
There was no way around that one. So I told the truth. “Tracking chip. When she didn’t phone after the Gem Gala, I went looking for her. As I’m sure you know, she was attacked in our home several weeks ago. The perpetrator wasn’t caught, so I went to extreme measures."
Jones blinked. “You didn't call the police? Instead you went to go find her by yourself?”
“Well to be fair, the police have been dragging their feet on finding the man who terrorized her. Or do you have something to go on to find Spivey?”
DI Jones sighed. “You realize you could have put her in more danger?”
“But I didn’t.” I had to end the interrogation for Livy’s sake. “Are we done here?”
April Van Linsted spoke up then. "She almost got us killed, taunting them. My husband will hear about this."
Livy sounded bored, as if she'd been listening to April’s complaints for far too long. "I'm pretty sure your husband will be as thrilled as I am when he has you back.“
DI Spencer ignored my attempt to end the meeting. "Do you know who took you?"
Livy shook her head. "No. They were Eastern European though. They did speak English at times, but mostly in terms of talk about ransom for her." She indicated April. "I got the impression I wasn't for ransom. At one point, one of the guys did say that I had another purpose. He didn't elaborate, and obviously, I didn't ask questions."
"Right. So after you liberated the car, you were on the main road when you were rammed from behind?"
She nodded. "Yes. There was a car coming in just as we’d made it out." Her gaze met mine then. “The driver had a burn on his left hand. I could see it under the streetlight.”
My gut knotted. I’d been too late to get him. Too late to stop him.
From her chair, April whined. "I told her to take me to my estate, to have my husband deal with it, but she did not comply."
"Well, your husband would only be concerned about your welfare and safety, not mine. For all I know, he would have given me back to those idiots who took us. And I really wasn't in the mood. So like I said, since I was driving, and I had planned the escape, I wanted to go where I felt safe."
DI Jones looked curious. "Why do you believe that Mr. Van Linsted would have given you back to your captors?"
Livy rolled her eyes. "I don't. Not really. But if it was between keeping me or that one safe, I had no doubt where his loyalty would be. After all, she herself tried to sell me out to the kidnappers."
When I heard that, I glowered at April. "You daft cow. You were always a self-serving bitch, weren't you?"
"You know each other?" DI Jones asked.
It was East that jumped in then. "Yes, professionally. We grew up with her son, Bram."
Another note in their goddamn notebook. Everything was unraveling right in front of our eyes. But somehow, Bridge was keeping it together. "How lucky it was for Mrs. Van Linsted that she was taken with Livy, who obviously kept her cool under pressure. You probably should be thanking her. Thanks to her, you didn't have to wait for your husband to mount some sort of rescue or ransom."