𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

Glass crunched under the loafers Lloyd wore as he took in the damage.

An entire floor to ceiling arch window completely shattered, two clear knee marks where they dropped his sunshine to the tile, and Lloyd was seeing red. He's supposed to have the best security team in the business, no one is supposed to get through his defenses. He put five teams on Addison, and when he pulled up every member had been down, either unconscious or on the brink of death.

Whoever targeted her, knew his weakness.

His shoulders straightened when realization hit, not only was Addison here, he had several team members with her, where was everyone? "Suzanne?" Lloyd called, trying to keep his voice even as he strolled towards the ajar bedroom door. Lloyd was meticulous about his home, doors were never ajar, if there was no one in the room, the door was to remain closed. It made security sweeping easy, if there was no one in the room, there was no hesitation to check. Addison used to chastise him, because it would make him genuinely angry if she left the doors open, especially in the home in Croatia because of the sheer size, but she abided every time. With the door ajar he knew there was danger.

He wasted no time wrapping his fingers around the handle of his gun in the waistband of his slacks.

Flattening his palm against the wood door, he pushed it open slightly, seeing the rumpled sheets, pushed down in a hurry, the curtains swayed with the wind coming from the cracked window, but everything looked painstakingly normal. Addisons clothes were dropped over the back of a chair, a wine bottle sat on the small table between the two chairs on his balcony. A thump against the wall in the closet made the hair on Lloyd's neck stand, his gun drawn in an instant, the team with him falling into formation behind him, following his calculated footsteps towards the closet door, kicking it open.

Suzanne squealed, her arms hiding her face, "Please don't kill me!"

Lloyd stumbled forward at the shake in her voice, Suzanne was one of the strongest people he knew, she was fully capable of taking on any sort of combat that was delivered to her. She was not on Addison's level fully, but she wasn't far behind. Lloyd pushed the safety on, slipping the gun back into it's spot in his waistband, before crouching down so he was eye level with the trembling woman. "Suzanne," Lloyd's stern voice was exchanged with a voice of calm, steadfast in the way that he could be the calming force when everyone was on edge, "Suzanne look at me." Two bloodshot hazel eyes met his, tear tracks running down her cheeks, and dripping onto the sweatpants she had worn. Lloyd ran his eyes down her body, taking in her appearance before sticking his hand out for her to take, "you're safe, I'm here now."

Telling by the way that Suzanne was dressed, this happened in the middle of the night, her clothes were rumpled, eyes bloodshot, dark circles rested on her skin under her eyes. Suzanne trembled as she rose to her feet, her hand tightly in Lloyd's to use as her grounding force, following him slowly out of the closet, taking the blanket he graciously offered before sinking into the couch at the foot of the bed once more, blankly staring at the wall. Lloyd scanned the room, before his eyes landed on the girl once more, Nicole coming in to join, going to ask a question before his hand rose, silencing anything the woman could say. "Do you want coffee Suzanne?" A nod being her answer before Lloyd smiled, turning back to Nicole, if he was going to get answers out of Suzanne, the woman she saw as her replacement couldn't be in the room. "Nicole, Suzanne's coffee recipe is in the kitchen, third drawer to the left," her drawer, he assigned it to her for late nights, "please see that it gets up here in a timely manner."

With Nicole scurrying out of the bedroom, Lloyd took a seat next to Suzanne.

"How are you?" His voice was soft, the same octave he used to talk to Addison, smiling to add his natural charm, he knew Suzanne would talk, eventually. But he needed answers soon, the longer he had no lead, the faster Addison was disappearing. "Shaken up, it happened so fast Lloyd," Suzanne let out a stuttered breath, pushing the heel of her palms into her eyes, a desperate attempt to slow the tears, "she was out in the hallway, talking to Donald, I was half awake when she ran back into the room, pulling me off the couch and into the closet, before she ran down to get River and Fredrick, I think they went to the basement," Suzanne blinked as she spoke trying to regain her focus.