His hand flew to his agape mouth. His eyes were bulging from its socket. He scanned the empty living room like someone would attack him at any minute.

He was shaking in fear and barely had time to think rationally when he heard his phone chirped over the thundering of his heart.

With shaking hands, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw a message from Ellise. He dialed her number, mumbling to himself while he waits for the call to go through. And he heaved a loud sigh of relief when she answered the call.

"Ellise, we got a problem," he said, without any greetings. His voice was trembling.

"What is it?" she answered in a steady tone but the sharpness of her voice didn't escape a panicking Luke.

"I asked for a flour, strawberries, and blueberries from the concierge, and I received, a bottle of wine, a basket of fruits with the strawberries and blueberries in there, the flour for I'm making some waffles, a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers with a card -- dripping with blood!"

He said everything within a single breath.

"Where is Jessica?" she asked in a chilly tone that made Luke shiver.

"She is in her bedroom, asleep."

"Did you touch the bouquet?"

"Not the bouquet, only the hotel staff who brought it here touched it. I only touched the card but didn't open it."

"Would you recognize the faces of the hotel employees?"

"I could try but I didn't give them much attention, I stepped out on the balcony to answer your call a while ago."

Ellise went quiet in the other line.

"Ellise, what should I do? I don't know what to do in this situation. Should I inform Noah? Wake up, Jess?"

"Don't do any of the two."

"Well, Noah and his daughter would be coming over for waffles in the next hour or so…"

"I'm talking to Briare now, he will take care of everything."

"The hotel staff said this stuff was from Samara and Briare," his voice trembled again.

"I trust Briare. We will find out later who those employees were, for now, continue with your schedule of cooking waffles, and having the Tiefenbachers over your villa. I will talk to Jess later once I get the result of the investigation."

"So, you are saying that I should just act like everything was peachy?" he asked in a shrill voice.

"Uhm, yes. And also don't touch anything until Briare's men took everything that those hotel employees brought to your villa."

"How would I know that the people who were coming over were not the bad guys?" his voice croaked like a frog on the first rain of summer.

He was having a hard time controlling his voice, scared to make any noise that would wake up Jess.

"A good question," he heard Ellise mumble on the other line.

"Ellise!" he called her in sheer panic. "Should Jess and I fly back home now?"

"Briare said, he will come personally to your villa so you would know that it wasn't the bad guys this time."

"Is this not the first time that this kind of shit happened to you guys?" he asked in a whisper, "How come you are not panicking. I'm going to shit in my pants right now!"

"Please don't. I need you to help me take care of Jess."

"I would love to help you take care of Jess. You don't even have to ask," he said in between his chattering teeth, "But, Ellise, I am so fucking scared."

"You are a big boy Luke. You can do it. I'm counting on you. Give it ten to fifteen minutes, Briare and his men would be there."

"Don't drop the call!" he shrieked in panic, "Stay in the line until Briare comes in. I also need to steady my heart while I try not to shit in my pants."

"Okay."

"I still can't believe how you are not panicking."

"I am not panicking because right now. I am murderous. I don't take things easy when bastards target my friends."

Her voice was cold and steady like she was commenting on the sudden change of weather.

He felt scared and comforted at the same time with what he heard from Ellise. He does breathing exercises, staring at the beautiful flower arrangement in the kitchen island in front of him.

The colorful flowers look lovely, like a promise of a beautiful day. Only if he doesn't know that the damn flowers were some kind of threat. He has no idea why this shit is happening to them when all they did was take a vacation.

"Ellise, tell me. The accident yesterday - was it really an accident? W-with this shit right now, I don't think that was an accident."

"I honestly don't know. Briare did an investigation and so was Noah and his team."

"Noah asked for an investigation?" he asked still in a hushed tone.

"Apparently, having an accident is an occurrence with his daughter."

"What kind of shit individuals would attempt to hurt a child?!" his voice raised up and when he realized, he clamped his hand over his mouth, and whispered, "And Jess became involved with this because of Noah…"

"That is the assumption that we are having now, but we don't want to only focus on that. The worst thing that you can do when finding your enemy is to make a conclusion without testing your hypothesis."

"Yes. We need to have all the specimens under the microscope and look at them without bias."

"Thank you for being with Jess, Luke," her tone abruptly changed into a softer one.

It made Luke laugh despite the gloominess of the situation, "I don't see you as soft woman, Ellise. It gives me the shiver." he chuckled.

Ellise snorted on the other line.

"Wait, I think Briare and his men are here now. I will go and open the door for them. Please stay in the line because I don't want to open the door and get ambushed in broad daylight."