"How long will she be out?"

“Eight to twelve hours," the doctor said.

Elias nodded. "Go to the SUV. My men have done what they could, but apparently the injuries are severe. Try to save them both, but if you have to choose, choose Erik."

I said nothing, and the doctor nodded, then left.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?" Elias responded.

"Choose Erik?"

“I’m sure your nanny is a very nice lady, but of the two of them, Erik is more likely to have information. And he owes us an explanation. He can’t die before he gives it and gives an accounting of his failure tonight,” Elias said.

"Yes," I said, feeling like an idiot.

"Should I have had the doctor give you a shot too?" he asked.

I could hear the derision in his voice, knew that I deserved it. I also knew what he was doing, but I still bristled.

"Not now," I said.

Elias looked at me with no emotion in his eyes. But that didn’t matter. I knew he was worried. “Then get your fucking head on straight. Where is Crystal?"

"Do you think I'd be standing here if I knew?” I said through gritted teeth, the anger giving me clarity, just as Elias had intended.

"Tell me what happened today. Everything," he said.

"Amethyst and I left Crystal at the house with Erik, the nanny, and the other security. We walked some, had an early dinner, and then spent some time alone at the hotel. Came back to find that," I said.

I looked at him, waiting for the judgment. To think that I had encouraged, damn near forced Amethyst to leave the house.

Now my daughter was gone, and it was my fault.

"Who knew you were going to be leaving?"

"No one but the guards, Erik, and the nanny Paulette," I said.

“Then we’ll start there. Or at least I hope we will,” he said, his face turning in a frown.

“I hope so too, but Erik and Paulette were in bad shape," I said.

"The doctor is the best. If they can be saved, he'll do it."

“The men are dead. What about other security measures?” Elias asked.

I shook my head. “All neutralized, and the recordings were destroyed.”

“What about backups of the recordings?” he asked.

“I’ll check, but anyone good enough to get past my security would have considered backups. So they likely disabled recording before they went in and only took the server as a best practice,” I said, revealing how I would have approached my own security measures.

"So not random," Elias said.

I nodded. “Definitely not.”

"And good," he said.

“Very,” I responded. “They took out five of our guys, maybe six if Erik doesn’t make. Knew about the security and took all of the countermeasures I would have. Definitely professional. Some of the best in the world.”

“But why…” I trailed off, not wanting to give voice to what I was thinking.

Knowing I had no choice.

My daughter needed me, and right now, that meant thinking things, saying things, that I didn’t even want to consider.

“Why did they take Crystal?”

I asked the question, thought that my heart might shatter into a thousand pieces as I said it.

I looked at Elias, and I could see that he wasn’t unaffected.

"There's only one reason," he finally said.

I nodded, knowing the answer before I’d even asked the question.

“Leverage,” we both said at the same time.