Blood. There was so much blood.
My cell phone kept slipping out of my hand as I tried to dial 911. Holding Sera up off the ground with one arm, I wiped my other hand on my pants and tried again. This time I got through.
“911. What’s your emergency?”
I gave him my location, but not my name. “I have a gunshot victim on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. She was hit twice in the back and she’s bleeding profusely and she’s unconscious. Please hurry.” I ended the call before they could start asking more questions.
The valet pulled up with the SUV, her mouth falling open when she got out, leaving it running for me. I couldn’t be here when the ambulance showed up because the police would be hot on their tail. I’d be taken in for questioning, stuck in a goddamn holding room while Sera fought for her life.
That wasn’t fucking happening.
“You.” I pointed at the girl who still stood next to the SUV with her hands covering her mouth. “Come here.”
She shook her head, her eyes about to pop out of her head.
I pulled out my gun and pointed it at her. “I don’t have time for this shit. Get the fuck over here. And give me your jacket.”
This time, she did as I told her.
“Come around over here and hold her head on your lap up off the ground.” I was trying to move Sera as little as possible. “Wad up your coat and hold it over the wounds to try to stop the bleeding.”
She looked at the blood. Looked at me. And then back at the blood.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
“Cynthia.”
“Cynthia, this is Sera. She’s been shot by someone who was aiming for me. I can’t stay here with her. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“You know who I am?”
This time, she made the effort to pull herself together. “Yes.”
“Then you know I can’t be here when the cops show up. So I need you to stay with Sera. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” Ignoring the blood, she pulled off her jacket, kneeled on the pavement, and sat back on her heels as I transferred Sera carefully to her lap. Carefully, I pressed the girl’s jacket against the wounds, replacing my hands with hers. Off in the distance, I heard the first sirens.
“What do you tell them when they get here?”
“We were just standing at our station when this lady walked out of the hotel. A car slowed down and shot her. We don’t know who she is or who she was with. She’s not a registered guest.”
“Excellent. Find out what hospital they’re taking her to and leave the name at the front desk.” I stood up and tucked my gun back into its holster. “You got that?” I asked the guy working with her.
“Yes, sir.”
The ambulance was turning the corner as I got into the SUV and pulled away from the hotel. I watched in my rearview mirror as the valet waved his arms and flagged them down, pointing to where Sera lay on the ground.
Turning on the Bluetooth, I called Luca. He answered on the second ring. “What’s happened?”
My voice was shaking as I told him what had just gone down.
“Did you get a good look at the shooter?”
“Yes, but most of his face was covered.”
“You can’t stay in that hotel anymore.”
“I know.”
“As soon as Sera is stable, we’ll have her brought here. I’ll call in my doctors.”
“Thank you.”
“Get back to the house, Enz. And be careful. I’ll tell the guards at the house to be on alert, just in case.”
He ended the call, and I concentrated on the road. I couldn’t get pulled over. I was covered in Sera’s blood, and I was on the verge of a panic attack to end all panic attacks. My heart was racing and sweat trickled down my back. I could barely hang onto the steering wheel.
What if she was dead?
I gave my head a good shake. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be dead.
I slammed my fist down on the wheel over and over. If she was gone, it was my own fault. I’d let my guard down. Just for one fucking minute.
It was my fault.
No. No. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be dead. As soon as I got to Luca’s, I’d call the hotel and get the name of the hospital she’d been taken to. She would live. If I had to kill every other patient in that fucking place to make sure she got the help she needed, I would.
I drove carefully all the way to the lake house, mostly on autopilot. When I arrived, the guards at the gate were watching for me, guns at the ready. I couldn’t even tell them if I’d been followed or not. As soon as I got inside the gates, I let go of the tight control I’d been hanging onto for the last forty minutes. Punching my foot down on the gas pedal, I flew the rest of the way to the house and skidded to a stop right outside the front door.
Luca, Tristan, and even Veda were there when I fell out of the SUV. Luca caught me in his arms before I could fall to my knees, and Veda quickly ducked under my other arm and helped him take me into the house while Tristan took the SUV to the garage. It would need to be thoroughly cleaned to remove all of the blood.
“She’s dead,” I told them.
“She’s not dead,” Veda insisted. “What hospital did they take her to?”
“I don’t know. I have to call the hotel.”
They got me to the couch in the sitting area by the patio doors that led to the pool. I gazed out at the rippling water, seeing Sera as I stared out at the sunset.
“Enzo.”
Luca’s voice penetrated through the ringing in my ears.
“Call the hotel.”
Yes. I needed to find out what hospital Sera was in. I fumbled with my phone again as I pulled it out of my pocket and dialed the hotel’s phone number I knew by heart. The desk clerk picked up right away. “The girl who was shot,” I told her. “Where did they take her?”
She gave me the name of the hospital where the EMTs said they were taking Sera.
“I’ll be sending someone to get my things from my room there. Once it’s empty, I’ll notify you. I’ll also leave a very large tip for your trouble. Thank you.” As soon as I ended the call, I told Luca and Veda where Sera was taken.
“I’ll call and see what I can find out,” Veda told me. With a reassuring smile, she ran up to their bedroom to get her phone.
Luca and I waited in silence to see what she could find out. It didn’t take her long.
“She’s alive,” she called from the landing at the top of the stairs. “She’s in surgery.”
“See, my friend? She’s going to be all right.” Luca put his hand on my knee.
“I need to be there.”
“You can’t Enzo. Whoever took a shot at you will be waiting. They’ll be expecting you to show up at the hospital eventually. It’s safer for you, and for Sera, if you stay here. We’ll go get her as soon as we’re able.”
I knew he was right. But I couldn’t just sit here. Restless, I got up from the couch and began to pace back and forth.
Luca stayed with me until Sera was out of surgery and stable. And then he sent his doctors to go get her. She was being transferred.
Sera was kept sedated for the first few days after she arrived at Luca’s. She’d suffered a collapsed lung during the trip, but otherwise had relatively minor injuries, all things considered. The first bullet had gone straight through her shoulder. The second they had to remove at the hospital. It had also torn through her small intestine, but the doctors were able to patch her up. She’d lost a lot of blood, but somehow, she’d made it through.
I had her put upstairs in our bed, and during that time, I never left her side except to shower and use the bathroom. Lisa or Veda brought food up for me. And on occasion, Luca or Tristan would stop in and give me updates on what they’d found out about the shooters. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. No one had gotten a plate number from the vehicle, and since the shooter had most of his face covered, I wasn’t able to recognize him. But I wasn’t concerned. The truth would come out sooner or later. It always did.
I’d pulled one of the chairs from over by the window to the bed, and that was where I spent most of my time when I wasn’t sleeping beside her. So that’s where I was when I heard her voice, raspy from disuse, for the first time in way too long.
“Hey.”
I lifted my head and my eyes clashed with Sera’s. The light inside of them was a bit dull, but it was there. “Hey,” I told her softly. Relief washed over me in such a strong wave, I felt a little lightheaded. “You’re back.”
She looked past me and then around that room. “I’m in our room.”
“We had you transferred from the hospital. Luca has a team of doctors who come by every few hours to check you. One of them stays here at the house at all times in case of an emergency. You’re in good hands.”
Her eyes came back to my face. “You look like hell.”
I smiled. “You look beautiful.”
“Am I going to be okay?”
“Do you think I would let a couple of gunshots take you away from me after I’ve fought so hard to keep you here?”
She smiled. “I guess not.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “However, we’re going to have a talk about this shit you pulled. What the fuck were you thinking, Sera?”
She reached across the bed and took my hand. “I was thinking that I couldn’t just stand there and watch you die right in front of me.”
“So you decided to throw yourself in front of a bullet?”
“No. I was just trying to push you out of the way.”
I took her hand in both of mine and leaned closer, sticking my face in hers. “You could’ve been fucking killed,” I snarled.
She squeezed my fingers. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” I told her. “Do you understand? Don’t you ever, EVER, pull that kind of shit again.”
A small smile broke out on her perfect face as I yelled at her.
“Jesus Christ, Sera.” I pulled her hand to my mouth and kissed her fingers. “Promise me you’ll never do anything so stupid again. You can’t put yourself in danger like that. My heart can’t take it.”
“I promise I’ll try.”
“Marry me,” I begged. “Marry me and let me keep you safe.”
She didn’t refuse me right away this time. “Why do you always insist on proposing to me when I look like shit?”
“You’re beautiful,” I told her again, and I meant it. “I’ve never met anyone as beautiful as you.”
She laughed, touching her hair self-consciously. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.” I wracked my brain, trying to think of something I could say that would convince her to bind herself to me. Forever. “Please, marry me.” I shook my head before she could say anything else. “Don’t,” I told her. “Don’t refuse me again.”
“Is that an order?”
“No. It’s a plea. Sera…” I took a deep breath. I wasn’t good with words. They made me feel exposed. Vulnerable. But I knew they needed to be said. And maybe, over time, it would get easier to say them. “I love you. And I really wish you would just…fucking let me.”
She stared up at me, her blue-gray eyes too big for her face. “Okay,” she said softly.
It took me a moment to comprehend her answer. “Okay?”
She nodded her head, and a gorgeous fucking smile broke out across her face. “Yes. Okay.” She suddenly got serious. “When I saw that gun aimed at you…” Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat. “I just…I couldn’t…” She looked away, but I didn’t miss the tears filling her eyes.
“Hey, hey. None of that, baby girl. I’m right here, thanks to you. And I’m not going anywhere.”
She wiped at her face with her free hand and then turned back to look at me. “But you can’t lock me up in the bedroom.”
“I can’t promise you that,” I told her honestly.
She smiled, and I leaned over and took her mouth with mine in a possessive kiss.
My wife.
