Accidental Surrogate

Chapter 414 – Biding Time

Ella

Sinclair blinks at me in surprised confusion and then sighs as he speaks honestly. “We’ve prepped an interrogation cell -”

“No,” I snap, pointing a finger up into his face that he immediately swats away. “No,” I continue to insist, taking a step closer and frowning furiously up at him. Rafe, in my arms, starts to cry harder. “Those two have been through hell, and they saved Rafe’s life -”

“We have no idea who they are, Ella,” Sinclair growls down at me, “they could be anyone – ”

“They are not.” I snap, interrupting him and making him groan and tilt his head back in frustration. “They are refugees – two people who lost everything, if they ever had anything to begin with. I understand that we need to hear their story, Dominic, but we owe them everything. We owe our child’s life to that woman over there,” I continue, pointing behind me to where I know Sarah still stands.

“So, what would you have me do,” Sinclair says, forcing himself to be patient as he lifts his head again and looks at me.

“Treat them as our honored guests,” I reply. “Put them in a guest room – guard it if you have to! Bug it so you can listen to every word they say, if you’re that worried! I don’t care! But until we know more, we treat them as the honored guests I know them to be. Feed them, allow them to get clean and warm, let them sleep, and then tomorrow we ask questions. All right?”

Sinclair takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and rubbing them slowly with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. Then, after a moment, he drops his hand and looks at me again. “A guest suite, fully guarded. On a lower level – nowhere near where we sleep. And no one sees them until morning-not even you. All right?”

I nod sharply and he turns away, letting his staff know and coming up with a new plan.

As Sinclair does that, I move back to Sarah and Jessica, who are standing anxiously with Cora. I hurriedly tell them the plan – that we’ll let them take the night to relax and refresh, and then we’ll see them again in the morning. Sarah lets me know that she understands, and that this is fine, and I take her hand again, giving her a squeeze.

“Thank you, I say, smiling at her. ” For everything. And also for your patience – I know that this is…well, that it’s weird,” I say with a shrug.

“We grew up in the home of a Duke, after all. We know what

jaw drops open

the one who has the answers to all of the questions

open my mouth to ask more when suddenly Theo is at

he says formally, nodding to me and then at the rest of

sigh, nodding again to Sarah to let her know that I’m on her side. She nods back, and then, as

we passed him in the hall. Cora blew him a kiss and I

as we walk towards mine and Sinclair’s personal chambers – as Theo let us know Sinclair asked us to do – and she gives me a

of my rooms. Cora and I don’t say much, clearly both lost in our own thoughts a little bit as she hops into the shower and

in a comfortable pair of pajamas, and see Cora likewise cozy in borrowed leggings and a zip-up hoodie, I can’t help

as she turns

floor. “I fell immediately into the panic that I felt when we first found out that Rafe was being threatened. And now…well, now that we’re in pajamas, waiting for our mates

baby, who is just barely starting to fall asleep,

what delicate people they were working with. Those two needed you to be hard on their side. Like you are for

nice to me,” I say quietly. “Too

says, wrinkling her nose and squeezing my shoulders. “So, I’m just trying to balance it

our dinner, and Cora and I carry our trays to the bed where we can keep an eye on Rafe once she leaves. We tuck into our food quietly for a second before I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and forcing myself

to have a big conversation about what we’re going to do next, and relive

I remember how

I say, smirking as I open my eyes and peer