The moment Bella crossed the threshold, her world shattered. "Leo?!" The cry tore from her throat as she saw him prone and injured on the bed. Her heart cracked clean open.
"Who are you?!" a sharp, outraged voice shrieked. "Guards, why did you let some random woman in here?!"
Bella's gaze snapped from Leo to a woman standing by the window. She looked to be in her late thirties, with a cold, elegant sharpness to her features, and she was looking at Bella with pure, undiluted venom.
At her shout, two guards who had been posted inside the room rushed in, looking tense. "Ma'am," one began, his voice low and urgent, trying to explain, "this is—"
But the woman, Arya, cut him off, her voice a whip crack of fury. "How easily you let anyone waltz in here! Don't you have a brain?! Is security just a game to you?!" she continued to berate them, her jaw clenched so tightly the muscle flickered.
The guards exchanged helpless looks.
