Page 1 of Healed

Chapter 1

Gabriella

He was there.

The thought kept replaying in my mind as the chaos broke out around me.

He was there, and he had left thinking I was dead.

He didn’t just linger outside my house like he usually did. He came to rescue me. And he hadn’t just thought I was dead—he saw it with his own eyes.

But where had he gone?

What had he done?

Why had I taken that stupid fucking drug and gone along with this stupid plan?

My mind swam as I tried to make sense of all of this. Why had Vienna broken our routine? What had he seen that had spooked him enough that he’d entered the clubhouse in search of me?

Dante barked orders, his face furious as he roared at his club members. Rachel was surrounded by her ladies, trying to calm them down whilst also looking like she was hardly holding it together herself. And the rest of the club seemed to exist at a volume that made the entire room almost unbearable.

Conversations blurred into one. It was just noise. Just white, loud, empty noise that I barely heard.

I could barely hear anything over the rushing of blood in my ears. Of my own heartbeat pounding viciously—so viciously I felt as though it would burst from my chest at any moment.

He was there…

He thought I was dead.

And if he thought I was dead, there was no doubt in my mind that he was going to make Nico pay for it.

Alone.

And we were probably too late to stop it.

He was playing with fire being on enemy territory to begin with. But to confront their leader—a leader who was as unstable as Nico—was certainly signing his own death warrant.

A million thoughts raced through me—how long had I been asleep, how long had it taken to get here, how long had it been since Vienna had left to seek revenge?

How much fucking time did we have?

I had no idea of the answers. But in my heart, I already knew we were running out of time.

A mere second in Nico’s company was too long. And that was when he was in a good mood. But Nico out for revenge? Nico wanting to cause hurt?

That Nico was best avoided at all costs.

Because Vienna wouldn’t hold back. He would tell Nico what he believed—that he had seen me dead on top of that bed.

Nico had already made it clear that he would never let me leave. That he would follow me to the ends of the earth to bring me back under lock and key.

He would have no reason not to believe Vienna about my suicide. There would be no other reason for Vienna to approach him.

But he would blame Vienna. Of that, I was certain.

And the consequences of that didn’t bear thinking about. He would make Vienna pay for this, and Vienna was all alone.

Why the fuck had he gone without his brothers? Why the fuck hadn’t he asked for help?