Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
The ride to the hospital was fast because I made it fast.
I’d passed quite a few law enforcement officers on my ride, but none of them were able to keep up with me, even though every single one of them tried to and failed.
I also didn’t feel bad about running that old lady off the road because she was going so goddamn slow.
By the time I got to the hospital, I was so fucking scared that I was trembling.
I got to the cubicle in the emergency room that was housing Aella in five minutes, and I knew it was Aella’s room because there was a crowd around the cubicle of all the people she knew in the hospital.
On hesitant, but still rushing feet, I made my way into the space that housed my girl and stopped dead the moment I saw her.
There were so many possibilities that could’ve run through my mind when it came to Aella being shot, but her being shot in the face wasn’t one of them.
Doctors—Val and Felix, the best of the best—were working on her. She had a breathing tube down her throat, and she was lying flat on the gurney as they worked tirelessly to get her stable.
“What happened?” I croaked.
It was Dru of all people that answered.
She caught my hand and pulled me farther out of the way of the chaos surrounding Aella.
“Silver’s in the waiting room. She was really freaking out, so we sent her there with the night charge nurse,” Dru explained. “Let’s go find her.”
I couldn’t make my feet move from the spot.
“I got this,” a deep male voice said.
I didn’t take my eyes off of Aella—they’d shot her underneath her right eye—but I knew it was a police officer that stood next to me.
I didn’t know who he was, but he introduced himself in the next moment.
“My name is Officer Assman,” he said quietly.
I’d heard of him.
Who wouldn’t with that name?
“Okay,” I croaked.
“Police responded to the bank just after six p.m. when the victim’s sister called in to tell us that there’d been a shooting,” he explained. “Police and medics arrived on the scene, and Ms. Donahue let us know that the shooter had taken off toward a black SUV with a missing front and back license plate. Ms. Donahue also couldn’t give much of a description because the shooter had been wearing a mask to cover all of his features. We do know he was male though, and white because on the surveillance cameras you can see a sliver of white skin at his back. We have a BOLO—be on the lookout—for the vehicle. There were a few identifying features on the vehicle that we were able to be specific.”
I didn’t tell him about the hit on Aella.
I also didn’t tell him about the hit on the rest of the significant others.
I kept my mouth shut, because there was no fucking way that I wanted the police to be out looking for this guy. If they found him, they’d bring him into custody, and I wouldn’t be able to exact my revenge.
I was numb inside.
There was something significantly wrong inside of me that was telling me that I should be freaking out.
The woman that I loved—something that I’d known deep down but hadn’t admitted to myself yet—was fighting for her life in that room right now.
Yet…I wasn’t afraid.
It was like instinctively I knew that she would live. That we would get through this.
“Thank you,” I said stiffly.
Assman nodded. “If we get any more updates on the situation, we’ll let you know. She told us that you were her fiancé, and you could get any and all updates on the case as well as medical information.”
Something inside of me cracked, yet I sealed that feeling up behind an impenetrable wall.
“Thank you,” I replied again.
Assman left, and Val and Felix stepped back almost at the same time.
Both the best hospital ER docs in the area were working on my woman.
Obviously they’d gotten her stabilized enough that they felt like they could get her into surgery.
Because, despite the carnage of blood on her face, I didn’t see an exit wound.
Surgery would be necessary.
Stiffly I stood back when they came out of the room with her gurney.
Val hung back while Felix wheeled her past me, not bothering to stop despite them knowing that she was mine.
I watched her get rolled past me, so limp and broken, and tried and failed not to look at the wound on her face.
It would scar.
Quite badly.
She’d need reconstructive surgery, but she’d always carry that scar.
Val caught my hand in hers and said, “Walk with me. Let me tell you what’s going on.”
Dru, who’d been a silent sentinel at my side, stepped back and let Val take her place.
Val caught my arm and guided me to the side of the ER, nearest the lounge, and started to speak.