The elevator doors on the VIP floor of the private hospital slammed open. Javier stepped out, his dark suit radiating a freezing, lethal energy.

Cale walked a half-step behind him. His face was grim. He held a thick stack of freshly printed medical reports in his hand.

Javier's leather shoes hit the polished marble floor with heavy, aggressive thuds. The sound echoed down the empty corridor like a countdown.

Brenda sat on a plastic chair outside the room. When she heard the footsteps, she jumped to her feet, her entire body trembling.

Javier stopped directly in front of her. He didn't say a single word. He snatched the stack of papers from Cale's hand and slammed them hard against Brenda's chest.

The papers exploded out of the folder, fluttering to the floor like snow.

"What did you do?" Javier asked. His voice was a low, terrifying whisper that promised absolute destruction.

Brenda stuttered, taking a step back. "She-she's a picky eater! It was just a sudden allergy, I swear I didn't-"

Javier let out a short, dark laugh. He rattled off the exact dates and amounts of three designer handbags Brenda had purchased using the black card.

Brenda's knees gave out. She collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down her face as she began to beg loudly.

Javier didn't look down at her. "Call the lawyers," he ordered Cale. "Make sure she rots in a cell."

Cale grabbed the collar of Brenda's uniform. He dragged her down the hallway, her shoes scraping against the marble until her crying faded away.

Javier stood alone outside the door. He took a deep breath, forcing the violent rage out of his muscles. He pushed the door open.

The room was dim. The only sound was the steady, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.

Javier walked to the edge of the bed. He looked down at Ella. A clear oxygen mask covered her face. She looked incredibly small, her skin a translucent, sickly pale. An IV needle was taped to the back of her bruised hand.

The muscle in Javier's jaw locked. His hands dropped to his sides, his fingers curling into tight fists until his knuckles turned white.

Ella's eyelashes fluttered. She slowly opened her eyes.

She saw the tall, dark figure standing over her. Her pupils dilated, and tears instantly flooded her eyes.

She reached up with her free hand. She grabbed the edge of the oxygen mask and yanked it down. The sudden movement pulled the IV line tight, causing a streak of dark blood to back up into the clear tube.

Javier leaned over instantly. His large hand clamped down on her shoulder, pinning her flat against the mattress with undeniable force.

"Do not move," Javier ordered. His voice was harsh, but a faint tremor hid beneath the command.

Ella didn't fight him. Instead, her fingers shot out and grabbed the bottom edge of his suit jacket. She gripped the wool fabric so hard her joints ached.

She tilted her head back, looking up at him. Tears spilled over her bottom lashes, running down her pale cheeks and soaking into the pillow.

"Please," she rasped, her voice weak and broken. "Don't give me to anyone else."

She twisted the fabric in her fist. It was the only thing anchoring her to the earth.

"Let me live with you," she begged. "I'll sleep in the basement. Just don't leave me with strangers."

Javier stared down at her white-knuckled grip on his coat. His throat worked as he swallowed hard, a sudden, inexplicable tightness seizing his chest as if the oxygen had been completely sucked out of the room. He forced his face to freeze into a mask of total indifference. He reached down and grabbed her wrist.

One by one, he pried her cold, stiff fingers off his jacket.

He stood up straight, putting three feet of physical distance between them. He looked down at her with eyes as cold as ice.

Javier put his hands behind his back. He could still feel the freezing temperature of her skin burning against his fingertips. He forced himself to turn around.

He faced the window, putting his back to the bed. "Your request is absurd," he stated, his voice a flat, bureaucratic drone.

"You are a young, single female. I am an adult male with no blood relation to you. Cohabitation is entirely inappropriate."

The word "inappropriate" hit Ella like a physical slap. The desperate light in her eyes died instantly. She turned her face away, staring blankly at the blank wall.

Javier didn't turn around to see the damage he had done. He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a heavy silver pen.

He walked over to the small table in the corner. He grabbed a piece of hospital stationery and quickly wrote down a string of numbers.

He walked back to the bed and slid the paper under her plastic water cup. "This is a secure, encrypted line. It is active twenty-four hours a day."

He didn't wait for her to respond. He turned and walked out of the room. The heavy door clicked shut behind him.

The room fell dead silent. Ella stared at the ceiling. Hot tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, sliding down her temples and soaking into her hair.

The next afternoon, the door swung open. A young man with messy blond hair and a bright baseball jacket walked in.

"Hey! I'm Caleb Shepherd. Javier's cousin," he announced, dropping a massive, obnoxious bouquet of sunflowers onto the chair.

Caleb pulled up a stool. He pulled an apple and a pocket knife from his jacket and started peeling. "Javier is a robot. Don't let his cold act get to you."

Ella's tense muscles relaxed slightly at his easy, loud energy.

Caleb pointed the knife at the door. "The security on this floor is insane. He's guarding you like you're the President."

Ella's heart skipped a beat. She gripped the edge of her blanket. "Why is he doing this for me?"

Caleb stopped peeling. He let out a long breath. "Because of your mom. Elara."

He looked at Ella's confused face. "Elara was the Shepherd family's adopted daughter. Javier and her... they were close. He never got over her leaving."

The air punched out of Ella's lungs. Her chest tightened painfully. She wasn't special. She was just a replacement. A tool for his guilt.

A sick feeling of humiliation washed over her. She squeezed her eyes shut, her fingernails digging into her palms.

After Caleb left, Ella sat alone in the quiet room. Her eyes locked onto the piece of paper trapped under the water cup.

Her hand trembled as she reached out and pulled the paper free. She stared at the numbers. The numbers that represented absolute power.

A sudden, reckless urge to test him flared in her chest. She picked up the plastic receiver of the hospital phone.

She punched in the numbers one by one. The line rang exactly once before it connected.

"Report," Javier's voice snapped through the speaker. It was sharp, cold, and ready for a national emergency.

Ella took a deep breath. She forced her voice to sound soft, yet completely entitled.

"Is anyone feeding Whisper?" she asked. "My cat. At the apartment."

Five seconds of absolute, dead silence stretched over the line. Ella could hear the faint sound of his breathing stop.

She braced herself for him to yell at her and hang up.

Instead, a very low, very tired sigh came through the speaker.

"Asset secure," Javier answered. His voice remained entirely flat, a cold, bureaucratic drone devoid of any human emotion. "Food supply meets standard requirements. It is alive."

At nine o'clock that night, a cold, steady rain began to fall over Washington D. C. The hospital room was painfully quiet.

Ella sat propped up against the pillows. She stared at the blurry streetlights through the wet glass. Her heart beat a little faster every time she heard a noise in the hallway.

Heavy, measured footsteps echoed outside. They stopped right outside her door.

The handle turned. Javier pushed the door open and stepped inside. A rush of cold, damp air followed him into the warm room. Cale stepped in right behind him, holding a matte black insulated thermos. Ella shot up straight. Her eyes immediately dropped to Javier's hands. He held his leather briefcase in his right hand, and three expensive paper shopping bags in his left.

Javier dropped the shopping bags onto the small sofa. Inside were sets of brand-new, perfectly sized clothes. Cale walked over to the bedside table, set down the thermos, and immediately exited the room, closing the heavy door behind him.

Javier walked over to the table. "Consume this," he ordered flatly. He twisted the lid off. The rich, heavy smell of hot chicken soup instantly overpowered the sharp, chemical smell of the hospital.

He poured the steaming liquid into the small bowl attached to the lid. He held it out to her. His face was completely blank.

Ella reached out with both hands. As she took the bowl, the side of her index finger brushed against his warm knuckles.

Both of them froze. It felt like a static shock snapped between their skin. Javier yanked his hand back instantly and shoved it deep into his trouser pocket.

Ella lowered her head. She took small, slow sips of the hot soup. Her eyes darted up through her eyelashes, tracking his every move.

Javier walked over to the leather sofa in the corner. He pulled off his suit jacket and threw it over the back of the chair.

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a thick, black laptop with a military-grade encryption seal on the lid. He set it on the glass coffee table.

He sat down, crossing one long leg over the other. He pulled a pair of rimless, blue-light blocking glasses from his shirt pocket and slid them onto his face.

He flipped the laptop open. The harsh blue light illuminated the sharp, unforgiving angles of his face. His fingers hit the keys.

The rapid, rhythmic clicking of the keyboard filled the silent room.

Ella finished the soup. She set the empty bowl on the table. Javier didn't look up from his screen.

"Is the temperature adequate?" he asked, his voice flat.

"Yes," Ella whispered. She slid down the mattress, pulling the thick white blanket up to her chin.

She rolled onto her side, facing the sofa. She stared openly at him.

Javier frowned at the screen. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing his eyes beneath the glasses.

The simple, exhausted gesture made Ella's stomach do a strange flip.

The rain hit the window harder. The steady sound of the storm, mixed with the sharp clicking of his keyboard, created a heavy blanket of safety.

The severe anxiety that had kept her awake for weeks began to melt out of her muscles.

Her eyelids grew heavy. She pulled the blanket up higher, leaving only her eyes exposed, refusing to look away from him.

As long as he was sitting there, nothing could hurt her.

Ten minutes later, her breathing deepened into a slow, steady rhythm. She was completely asleep.

The clicking sound stopped instantly. Javier's hands hovered in the air above the keys.

He slowly turned his head. He looked through his glasses at the girl sleeping soundly on the bed. The cold, impenetrable wall in his eyes shattered.

He pulled the glasses off his face. He let out a long, heavy breath that sounded like defeat, and quietly pushed the laptop shut.