Chapter 15 A Cage with a View
Elena woke to the sound of voices outside her window.
Not unusual though, she lived in Chicago, people talked on the street all the time. But something about these voices was different.
She dragged herself out of bed, every muscle aching from yesterday's mess. Her eyes felt gritty from crying, her head pounding from lack of sleep. She had maybe two hours of sleep in total, and even those had been filled with nightmares.
Elena stumbled to the window and pulled back the curtain. Then froze.
There were men outside her building. Three of them, standing in a loose formation near the entrance.
One of them looked up at her window, make brief eye contact and didn't look away. Elena's stomach dropped.
She let the curtain fall and turned, storming into the living room.
Pierce was already awake, sitting on her couch like he owned it. He'd changed somehow, found a clean shirt, his hair damp from her shower.
"What is this?" Elena demanded, pointing toward the window.
Pierce looked up from his phone, his expression maddeningly calm. "Good morning to you too."
"There are men outside my building." Her voice was shaking with barely controlled anger. "Men in suits with earpieces. What the hell is this?"
"Protection."
The single word landed like a slap. Elena felt her chest tighten, her hands tightening into fists at her sides.
"I didn't ask for protection!" Her voice rose.
"You didn't need to." Pierce set down his phone, leaning back like this conversation didn't concern him at all. "Rodrigo's crew knows where you live. You're not going anywhere alone."
Elena stared at him, her mind refusing to process what she was hearing. "You can't be serious."
"Completely serious."
"I have to go to work, Pierce." She said trying to keep her voice steady. "I have patients who need me."
"Then my men will drive you." He said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world, and that made it worse somehow. "Derek will be your primary escort. Leo will cover nights."
"My escort?" The word tasted bitter. "You assigned me a babysitter?"
"They're bodyguard." He corrected
"I don't want a bodyguard!" Her voice rose, echoing off the walls of her small apartment.
Pierce's jaw tightened, the first crack in his calm facade. "What you want stopped mattering the second Rodrigo put a target on your back."
"How dare you..."
"You go to work, you come home. That's it." His voice was flat. "No detours, no spontaneous trips, no late-night drives."
Elena felt something cold and heavy settle in her chest. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.
"You're insane," she whispered.
"I'm keeping you alive." Pierce stood slowly, favoring his injured side, and the movement made him wince. "There's a difference."
"Not from where I'm standing." Elena grabbed her phone, her movements jerky with barely contained rage. "I'm going to work. Alone. Like a normal person."
"Elena..."
"No." She headed for the door, her heart pounding. "I'm done with this conversation."
She made it three steps before Pierce moved.
He was fast, too fast for someone who'd been stabbed less than twelve hours ago. One moment he was across the room, the next he was in front of her, blocking the door.
"Move," Elena said through gritted teeth.
"No."
"Pierce, I swear to God..."
"You're not leaving this building without security." His voice was cold. "End of discussion."
"You don't get to decide that!"
"I just did."
Elena felt rage bubble up her throat, hot and choking. She shoved past him, reaching for the door handle.
Pierce caught her wrist. His hand was warm, his grip firm but not painful, and suddenly they were too close. Close enough that she could see the exact shade of blue in his eyes, close enough to smell whatever soap he'd used in her shower.
Elena's breath caught. For a split second, neither of them moved.
Then she jerked back like she'd been burned, cradling her wrist against her chest.
"Don't touch me," she hissed, her voice shaking.
"I'm trying to protect you," he said quietly.
"I don't want your protection." Her voice rose slightly. "I want you gone."
"That's not an option right now."
Elena felt tears prick at her eyes and hated herself for it. "Then I'll make it an option."
She yanked open the door.
Two men stood in the hallway. Both tall, both built like walls, both wearing those same dark suits.
The one on the left stepped forward. "Miss Elena, I'm Derek. This is Leo. We'll be providing security detail."
Elena's hands trembled as she stared at them. These weren't suggestions. These were her new reality.
"I don't need security," she said, but her voice came out weak.
"Respectfully, ma'am, you do." Derek's tone was polite but unyielding, like he'd had this conversation before. "Mr. Diego's orders."
The mention of Pierce's name made her stomach turn. She looked back at him, standing in her doorway like he belonged there.
"I don't care about his orders." But even as she said it, she knew it didn't matter. These men didn't work for her. They worked for Pierce.
"With respect, we do." Leo spoke for the first time, his voice deep and calm. "We're here to keep you safe. That's all."
Elena felt trapped. Literally trapped between armed guards and a man she didn't trust, in a hallway that suddenly felt too small, too airless.
"Call them off," she said to Pierce, her voice breaking.
"No."
"Pierce, please..." Her voice was shaky.
"This isn't negotiable, Elena." His jaw was set, his eyes hard as ice. "You want to hate me? Fine. You want to never speak to me again? I can live with that. But I'm not letting you walk around unprotected."
"You're making me a prisoner!" The words came out as a sob.
"I'm making you safe."
Elena tried to push past Derek. He sidestepped smoothly, blocking her path without actually touching her. The move was practiced, effortless.
"Please don't make this difficult, Miss Elena," he said quietly, and there was something almost apologetic in his tone.
"Difficult?" Elena's voice rose, hysteria creeping in. "You're standing in my way!"
"We're doing our job, ma'am."
She spun to face Pierce, stepping into his space, ignoring the way his whole body went tense.
"You don't own me," she said, her voice low and shaking with rage. "You don't get to dictate my life."
"I'm not trying to own you." Pierce's voice matched hers, quiet but intense. "I'm trying to keep you breathing."
"Maybe I don't want to breathe if it means being your prisoner!"
"Don't say that." Something sharp flashed in his eyes, anger, fear, she couldn't tell. His hand twitched like he wanted to reach for her but stopped himself. "Don't ever say that."
Elena turned away before she did something stupid. Like cry. Or worse, let him see how terrified she actually was.
She walked back into her apartment and slammed the door so hard a picture frame rattled on the wall.
Through the wood, she heard Pierce giving instructions to Derek and Leo. Low, clipped sentences she couldn't make out.
Elena moved to the window, pulling back the curtain.
The men outside were still there. Still watching. Still waiting.
Her prison guards.
She pressed her forehead against the glass, watching normal people walk by on the street below. People going to work, getting coffee, living their lives without armed escorts.
People who weren't trapped.
Elena closed her eyes, her breath fogging the glass.
This was her life now. Guards outside her door. Someone dictating her movements. A man she hated sleeping on her couch because leaving meant death.
She'd saved his life twice. And this was her reward. A cage with a view.
"Miss Elena?" Derek's voice came through the door, professional and patient. "If you still want to go to work, we can leave in ten minutes."
Elena didn't answer. Just stood there at the window, watching people live lives she couldn't have anymore.
Outside, the city moved on without her.
Inside, she was trapped with a monster who claimed he was protecting her.