14 Months 05: New Year

"Open your hand Mimi, let the glass go, you're bleeding," he explained, causing her to look down at the jagged stem of the wineglass embedded in her hand. With a loud shriek, she wrenched her arm free and embedded the stem in Darius's neck before pulling it out and swiping at Aaron before he disarmed her.

"You think I don't know who she is! You send me back to them, and I will tell the world where to find Frankie Calabrese's kid. She'll be as dead as her bitch of a mother within a week!" she threatened as her screaming was muffled by a napkin shoved into her mouth by Byron now that she was restrained, face down on the floor with Zanders knee in her back. He'd taken off his belt to restrain her arms and looked over to where Aaron and Henry barked out orders to call triple zero and get an ambulance there and to collect Andrew and Reed from the ballroom as they worked to staunch the flow of blood from Darius's throat where the stem of glass had ripped a jagged line into his flesh.

Sophie watched it all in a state of shock, unable to move or speak as men flowed into the room from outside. It seemed as if everything was going in slow motion as Mimi was sedated and taken away. The ambulance paramedics arrived through the back entrance and taking one look at Darius's injuries wasted no time before loading him onto a gurney and racing out of the back entrance again. She felt hands grab her, and her face was pressed into a broad chest as giant arms surrounded her. Those gentle arms moved so that a hand stroked her hair and tried to soothe her. The room emptied and when she finally looked up, she found Zander watching her warily.

"Darius," she whispered her voice choked.

"Ash and Jayce have gone with him to the hospital. They will keep us updated. Come with me, and I will get you a drink," Zander spoke softly to her as if afraid she would break at any minute. "The only thing we can do for Darius now is to make sure you win this thing and will be there when he gets home, do you understand?" he said trying to pull her from her fugue even if only to argue with him.

"What? Dance when he is..." her words caught on a half sob as they went to another private room.

"If you don't complete the required dances, you will be disqualified and out of the challenge and Mimi will stay in by default. Darius would kill us both if that happened and you weren't there when he got home. So, we will have a stiff drink and go and win this thing then get our asses to the hospital and make sure he is alright and can fly home with us," Zander said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "You don't have a choice unless you want to go back to a club like the one he found you in." There was no way he or any of his brothers would let that happen to this girl or Darius, but he had to try what he could to get her angry enough to fight for her place in this challenge.

"No, but, Darius..." Sophie said.

"Darius will be good as new tomorrow. He is the strongest guy I know. I bet he is already trying to discharge himself," Zander chuckled. "He always hated being injured, grumpiest arsehole in the world when he was restricted to bed rest after an injury." He tried for levity unsure of how to get her out of the state she was in and listening to him enough to want to fight for what was hers to win.

Sophie accepted the drink he gave her and downed it in one swallow regretting that move immediately as it lit her throat and chest on fire and made her cough.

"Medicinal brandy," Zander grinned and rubbed her back. "Now we have to be the strong ones in Darius's place and go out there and win this thing so he can keep you around for a while longer. No disqualifications because of Mimi, do you understand me? I won't let Darius down like that, and I won't let you disappoint him either. Are you ready?" He asked as a knock sounded on the door.

"You good?" David asked.

"We're just fucking dandy," Zander drawled and pulled Sophie from her chair and guided her from the room determined to make her finish this stupid challenge so they could get out of here and check on Darius who had taken the brunt of what Mimi had intended for Zander himself. They walked from the room back into the ballroom when a man rushed over as soon as he saw them.

"Good grief, Ginger! I thought you went MIA on me. I have this friend who is dying to take you for a spin. He's not as good as me, of course, but he'll make you look good while doing it," Alexi gushed and signalled to another man. "This is James."

"It's okay Zander. I heard you and understand what I have to do. I can do this. You check on Darius for me," she said sadly and took the hand being offered to her and walked out onto the dance floor with another stranger. Letting the cadence and beat of the music fill her she followed her new partner around the dancefloor without much thought beyond following the instructions he whispered in her ear and allowing him to pass her off to yet another friend as she moved from the waltz into the quickstep and again into the final Viennese waltz.

"When the dancing was finally done, she made her way back to her table and found Zander waiting for her his phone in his hand.

"He is stable and going into surgery. He couldn't talk, but he texted one word before they took him," Zander swiped his phone, bringing the screen alive and showing it to her. "Win" was printed on the screen next to Darius's name, then he drew up another text from Asher. "All essentials intact but the rest is a mess, he's going to be okay, but surgery will tell how long it will take him to recover. Tell Sophie he said she has to dance and win."

"I should be there," Sophie whispered, not trusting her voice.

"No, you are exactly where you need to be as am I. This is what he wants and what will put his mind at rest while he deals with his injuries," Zander said gently pulling her into a tight embrace letting her rest her head against his chest again. He understood what Darius had seen in the girl right from the beginning, she was sweet and beautiful, but holding her in his arms like this. Nothing could have prepared him for how she would feel, and smell and sound as she sought comfort in his arms.

"I have an idea, you probably won't like it, but I guarantee Darius will and it will help him recover a lot faster," Zander said, leaning his head down close to hers.

She tilted her face up to his curiosity in her eyes, and their faces were so close it would have taken hardly any movement at all to close the distance and kiss her. He groaned straightening up determined not to cross that line while Darius was undergoing surgery to save his life. He'd shown Sophie only the texts meant for her. The truth of Darius's condition was far more precarious than what they had told her. Leaving the hotel, however, would put her in danger of being recognised again and there was no way he was allowing that. Darius would kill him if anything happened to her now.

"Come with me, we are going to make him a video he won't forget and win me a bet that will motivate him to recover fast so he can kick my ass," Zander chuckled and led her to the bandstand.

*****

NB: Thank you once again to LocoHerb who continues to support me with editing and his friendship. You're tops!