Chapter 70: If the Sky Falls, I’ll Hold It Up

Louis kicked the suite door open and slammed it shut behind him with his other hand.

The four bodyguards were left outside.

Only a warm amber floor lamp remained lit in the room. Louis strode to the bed and placed Elisa on the soft mattress.

He turned and walked to the living room, returning two minutes later with the hotel's medical kit.

"Take off the coat." Louis knelt on one knee by the bed, his voice flat.

Elisa had twisted her ankle, then been carried the entire way back — her heartbeat had not had time to settle. She obediently unbuttoned his oversized trench coat, revealing the thin silk pajamas underneath.

Louis's gaze fixed on her right ankle.

What was normally a slender ankle had now swollen into a visible lump, already deepening into an ugly purple-blue.

His brows drew together. He took the ice pack from the kit, wrapped it in a towel, and pressed it against her ankle — firm but careful.

Elisa couldn't help but gasp.

"Does it hurt?" Louis looked up at her and let out a sharp breath. "Running around in your pajamas in the middle of the night to listen to some other guy play piano—why weren't you thinking about consequences when you missed that step?"

His words were loaded with anger.

Elisa leaned against the headboard, looking at the bloodshot veins in his eyes.

He had come straight back to deal with everything — no sleep, no pause between one crisis and the next.

She could see how far past empty he was running. She let it go.

"I had a nightmare." Elisa softened her voice. "It felt so real, I couldn't breathe. When I woke up and heard the piano, I just walked out without thinking. I wasn't trying to see anyone."

Louis's hand holding the ice pack paused.

The darkness in his eyes instantly faded, replaced by deep concern.

"I'm sorry."Something moved in Louis's throat,the anger gone entirely, something closer to guilt in its place. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

He refocused his attention on her ankle. After ten minutes of ice, he switched to ointment.

His palm covered it, massaging slowly with just the right amount of pressure.

"Pack your bags tomorrow. Come back home with me."Louis said it without looking up, still working the ointment in.

Elisa instinctively tried to pull her foot back, but he held it in place.

"No." She refused flatly.

"The royal foundation project is still going through final legal procedures, and Victor can't handle things there. Plus, Professor Leandro just took me as his final and most important disciple. I need to stay here to finish the document handover."

Louis stopped what he was doing.

"Elisa, do you even understand the danger?" He looked up, his eyes holding hers without releasing them.

"Half a month ago, someone broke into your room with a knife! Today you twisted your ankle! What about tomorrow?"

"Is work more important than your life?"

Elisa didn't back down, meeting his gaze.

"The accident wasn't my work's fault."

"I can't give up my career because of one attack. Give me some time—three days. As soon as the project's done, I'll come back immediately."

Neither spoke. The silence between them had weight.

Louis looked at the stubbornness in her eyes. She wasn't built for containment. She had a life that was entirely her own, and it mattered.

After a long moment.

He sighed, the pressure of his hands easing.

"Five days at most." Louis compromised, his tone showing helplessness. "I looked into Leandro before I came to Emberfall City. Clean background, odd personality but doesn't leverage access for personal favors—he's a good teacher. Otherwise, do you think I'd let him get within ten feet of you?"

Something shifted in Elisa's chest — quiet, but distinct.

While managing everything back home, he had still found time to run checks on everyone she had been around here.

"Louis, thank you." She said softly.

Louis didn't respond, just smoothed the ointment on her ankle and took some gauze to wrap it gently twice.

Just then, the phone on the nightstand started vibrating.

Louis picked it up, glanced at the caller ID, and answered.

"Talk."

"Mr. York, something happened! The guy who broke into Mrs. York's room with a knife half a month ago—he died in the police station holding cell half an hour ago."

Something shifted in Louis's eyes immediately — not anger exactly, just a very particular coldness.

"Cause of death?"

"Acute myocardial infarction. But the coroner's initial assessment is that he might have been injected witha controlled substance known to induce cardiac arrest. The surveillance just happened to be down for three minutes during that time for electrical maintenance. Very clean job—all leads are dead ends."

Louis hung up.

Elisa saw his expression change drastically and sensed something was wrong. "What happened?"

Louis tossed the phone on the table.

"The guy who attacked you before—he's dead."

The words settled over Elisa with a cold that had nothing to do with the room's temperature.

Dead in an Emberfall City police holding cell?

Half a month in a cell, close to talking — and now gone. Whoever had reached in to silence him this cleanly was not anyone ordinary .

"Don't be scared.' He pulled the blanket up and pressed his lips briefly to her forehead. 'Sleep. If the sky comes down, I'll be the one holding it."

He stood and walked to the suite's balcony door, sliding the glass open and stepping out.

The night air found its way into his shirt immediately. Louis took out his phone and dialed a number.

The ringtone only sounded twice before someone answered.

"Louis?" Jason's sleepy voice came through, with noisy background sounds.

"Keep the Roberts family's hands under control." Louis got straight to the point, his voice ice-cold. "If they reach into Emberfall City one more inch, I'll chop them off."

Jason was silent for two seconds on the other end.

"What are you talking about? Who reached into Emberfall City?"

"'Playing dumb?' The laugh that followed had no warmth in it. "Half a month ago, someone broke into Elisa's room with a knife, and today he's silenced in a holding cell. Are you saying this isn't the Roberts family's handiwork?"

Jason's breathing caught sharply.

"Elisa was attacked?" Jason's voice tightened. "Louis, whether you believe me or not, I absolutely knew nothing about this."

"You wouldn't, but that idiot Mandy might." Louis looked out at the city — all that light spread below him, indifferent, his voice absolutely without room for misinterpretation. "Go back and tell her—I don't care what channels she used or what people she hired. This is the last warning. While she is in this city, nothing happens to her. Not a thing. If it does — the Roberts Group answers for all of it"

He ended the call before Jason could respond — the way a man does when the warning has been delivered and there is nothing left to discuss.