Chapter 267: When the Sirens Reached Us
Miller
My eyes instinctively shifted toward Leo again before I could stop myself, and judging from the way Leo suddenly looked away afterward, he noticed it too.
The emergency line finally connected against my ear.
"Hello, what is your emergency?" the dispatcher asked calmly.
Before I could answer, Jace suddenly grabbed my wrist again with surprising strength despite how weak he looked.
"No," he said quickly, panic flooding his face again. "Do not call them."
I frowned immediately.
"Jace—"
"You do not understand," he whispered desperately while tightening his grip around my wrist. "If the police get involved, they will go after him and you know Enigmas are not supposed to exist."
Leo’s expression darkened instantly behind his glasses before he slowly turned toward me.
"He is right," he said quietly. "If law enforcement realizes an Enigma is involved, it immediately becomes a governmental matter instead of a domestic violence case. Enigmas are not supposed to exist."
That alone made my stomach tighten.
I slowly lowered the phone away from my ear, trying to think properly through the chaos building around us, but before I could even speak again, another violent bang suddenly echoed from somewhere downstairs.
This time, nobody was screaming.
It was worse.
The sound tore violently through the building like metal slamming against metal, followed by another loud crash that sounded disturbingly close to the lobby entrance.
Like someone was forcing something open.
Jace flinched so hard on the couch that Leo had to press him back down again before he reopened the wound completely.
"Will he be able to get in?" Jace asked shakily, his voice barely above a whisper now.
I immediately shook my head.
"He cannot get upstairs without access clearance," I answered quickly. "This elevator requires a private keycard which is why I need to know where the hell my security guards disappeared to."
Jace groaned softly before squeezing his eyes shut.
"I... I may have distracted them earlier," he admitted weakly.
Leo slowly looked up from the wound before removing one bloody glove and face-palming himself directly across the forehead.
"This entire disaster is because of you," he muttered sharply while trying very hard not to completely lose his temper. "What exactly was your long-term survival strategy here? Bleed dramatically in front of Miller’s penthouse until somebody adopted you?"
"I said I was sorry," Jace whispered.
Before Leo could answer again, raised voices suddenly echoed loudly from downstairs.
An argument.
Then another crash followed immediately afterward.
I moved instinctively toward the massive floor-to-ceiling windows before looking down toward the building entrance below.
And finally—
My security guards.
Three of them had rushed back toward the lobby entrance while several police vehicles suddenly pulled up aggressively outside the tower one after another.
Red and blue sirens immediately flooded the streets below, the violent flashing lights reflecting sharply against the glass buildings surrounding the penthouse district. Even from this high up, I could hear the chaotic noise growing louder as officers poured out onto the pavement below.
"Oh," I muttered quietly while staring downward. "It looks like the security guards already called the police."
Jace immediately went pale again.
"Your Enigma boyfriend does not really have anywhere left to run now," I added quietly while turning back toward him.
For a second, nobody inside the apartment spoke.
Then suddenly, the private elevator alarm beeped, and all three of us immediately looked toward the elevator doors at the same time.
Leo stood up first.
The elevator doors slowly slid open seconds later, revealing four armed officers standing inside alongside one of my security guards whose face looked bruised and exhausted.
"Mr Reid?" one of the officers asked quickly while stepping out first. "Are all of you alright?"
"Yes," I answered immediately before pointing toward the couch. "But he is injured."
The moment the officers saw Jace lying there covered in blood, their entire posture changed instantly.
"Jesus Christ," another officer muttered.
Leo immediately stepped aside enough for them to approach while removing his gloves.
"Deep lateral abdominal laceration," he explained professionally before anyone could ask questions. "Significant blood loss, possible muscle involvement, unstable vitals, and probable infection risk from delayed treatment."
One officer immediately spoke into his radio.
"We need medical upstairs now."
Everything after that happened unbelievably fast.
Within minutes, paramedics rushed through the elevator carrying emergency equipment while more officers flooded the building downstairs. The entire lobby had already become chaos beneath the screaming sirens outside.
And somehow, things only got worse.
Because the second police activity increased outside the building, reporters started arriving too.
News vans.
Camera crews.
Photographers.
I stared through the window in disbelief as flashing cameras suddenly exploded across the street below.
"The headlines tomorrow are going to be insane," Leo muttered dryly beside me while watching the scene below. "Of course the media arrived this quickly."
Then suddenly shouting erupted outside the building entrance again.
Several officers dragged a man violently across the pavement while he fought aggressively against them.
Even from this far above, I could still hear him screaming Jace’s name.
"I am sorry, Jace! I just could not control myself! Please!"
Jace saw it too, and immediately panic flooded his face again.
"No," he whispered weakly. "No... no..."
The paramedics tried calming him down while securing oxygen around his face, but suddenly his body jerked violently against the couch.
Then another spasm followed immediately afterward.
"Leo—" I started in panic.
"Move back," Leo ordered sharply before grabbing Jace’s shoulders.
Jace’s entire body suddenly convulsed violently beneath his hands.
One of the paramedics cursed loudly.
"Possible hypovolemic seizure activity," Leo snapped immediately while checking his pupils. "His blood pressure is crashing faster now."
The apartment exploded into movement afterward.
Paramedics rushed to stabilize him while attaching monitors across his chest.
Another officer started forcing the reporters farther away from the building entrance downstairs.
Meanwhile, Jace’s boyfriend was finally shoved into the back of a police car while still screaming violently through the crowd outside.
The sirens became deafening while the flashing lights reflected across my penthouse walls like something out of a nightmare.
And while standing there watching everyone move around frantically, all I could think about was the Enigma downstairs.
The fear in Jace’s eyes.
The way he reacted to him.
And then my thoughts slowly shifted toward Leo.
Would he lose control one day too?
Would he eventually become just like him?