Page 69 of Be My Vengeance

An SUV pulled up a minute later, and Gideon was ordering his men to carefully lift Danny into the back seat. I didn’t think, I slid in and as soon as they got him halfway in, I scooped him up, which wasn’t easy since he wasn’t a small man. His head rested on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arms around him.

“I got you, Danny. You hear me? You’re going to be okay. You fucking fight,” I whispered into his ear. “You have everything to live for, and I won’t lose you. You hearing what I’m saying?” I pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I want you, and I want us, Danny. Please don’t you leave me, too.”

Slight but little wisps of his breath fanned across my neck, and I saw it as a victory.

“Yes, that’s it. Keep breathing, baby.”

We pulled up to the hospital and it was chaos. I didn’t want to let Danny go, but rationally I understood that in order to save him I needed to hand him over to the doctors.

Gideon, Penn, and I followed Danny as far as the doctors and nurses would let us. Once the double doors closed, the three of us stood there in silence.

“He was breathing.” I just had to say it out loud.

“He’s strong.” Penn squeezed my arm. “Let’s go to the waiting room. Rita and Dean went to the house to watch the twins. I can call and see if they can bring you a change of clothes.”

I didn’t realize he was talking to me until I peered at my outfit. It was drenched in blood. Danny’s blood.

“I’m…it’s fine.” I closed my eyes and as if I were transported into a nightmare, I remembered the last time I’d been covered in the blood of someone I cared about. It had been my wedding day as I’d held Mila’s lifeless body on the dance floor.

“He’s having a panic attack,” I heard someone yell. Then I was being guided somewhere and forced to sit.

“Breathe with me.” I didn’t recognize the voice speaking, but they placed my hand on their chest. “Feel the rise and fall, that’s right, you’re doing it.”

Slowly my vision became less foggy and my chest not as tight. I blinked and saw a young lady in front of me with a smile. “Hey, there. I’m a nurse here. You were having a panic attack, which is completely normal in the hospital. Would you like some water?”

My throat was extremely dry, so I accepted the offered drink and chugged it. “Thanks.” I cleared my clogged throat.

After she left, Gideon and Penn sat on either side of me. None of us spoke, we just waited for some news and hoped it would be good.

An hour later—at least I believed it was an hour—Dean arrived with a duffel bag.

“Any news?” he asked.

“No. Are those clothes?” Gideon took the bag from his brother.

“Yeah, for all of you. Rita didn’t know who would need clean ones.”

Gideon unzipped it and began pulling things out. “Alex needs to go first.” He handed me clothes. “Get cleaned up. Maybe you’ll feel a little better afterward.”

I doubted it, but I took them and shuffled off to the bathroom to wash up.

The bathroom was blessedly empty, but I went to the furthest stall anyway. I put the clean clothes on the hook and started divesting myself of the bloody ones.

I was so tired of seeing the blood of people I cared about…loved. I closed my eyes and quickly got the dirty clothes off and the clean ones on. My hands had some dried blood on them, so I went to the sink and scrubbed until they were raw.

As I dried them, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. How did I get here? Am I being punished for something? Is that why I lost Mila and Danny is in there fighting for his life?

The bathroom door opened and I stood straighter only to see it was Penn, and I relaxed.

“Is there news?”

“No.” He approached the sink. “Gideon was worried about you, so I told him I’d go and check that you were all right.”

“You weren’t worried about me.” I tried a little humor.

Penn shrugged. “This is a bad situation; I’d worry if you were okay.”

That made an odd kind of sense. “This was Vladimir.” Penn nodded. “Does Gideon have any info on where he is?”