 by Penelope Sky.jpg)
Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I’ve made a horrible mistake…and I can’t take it back.
I assumed Bartholomew was the dangerous one, when in fact, he’s the only one that actually cares about me.
Apologies are useless. I can’t beg or plead.
Nothing will change his mind. Not after what I did.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
BARTHOLOMEW
I sat in the waiting room, my arm wrapped in a tight gauze. My jacket was bloodied and ruined, so I’d shoved it in a garbage can after I got Laura into the hands of the doctors. Now I sat there, the TV in the corner showing the twenty-four-hour news cycle, an older couple in the opposite corner, eyeing me warily from time to time—like they knew I was bad news.
I was bad news.
Bleu entered the room then slowly approached me.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk, but I couldn’t ignore my responsibilities. “How many men did we lose?”
“Two.”
“Who?”
Bleu sat beside me. “Hector and John.”
It could have been worse, but it was still a stinging blow. “And how many did they lose?”
“A lot.”
“Leonardo?”
“He survived. I think a bullet grazed his leg.”
Bastard.
Bleu glanced at my arm but didn’t ask if I was okay. “What are your orders?”
For the first time in my life, I didn’t have any.
“We have to retaliate.”
I couldn’t. We made a deal—and I was a man of my word. “There will be no retaliation.”
Bleu turned his head to look at me. “They opened fire when we left.”
“He never guaranteed our safety.”
Bleu always followed orders and kept his head down. Did as he was told. But not today. “We can’t let him get away with this—”
“Bleu.” My head rested against the back wall, and I turned my head slightly to look at him. “You think I give a shit about anything right now? Until she gets out of surgery, I’m mentally incapacitated.”
Bleu had a flash in his eyes, an urge to argue, but he made the wise decision of keeping his mouth shut. “I’ll wait for your call.” He left the waiting room.
The couple left too. Must have overheard our conversation.
Now I sat there alone.
Minutes later, someone else joined me.
“Where is she?” He surveyed the sea of chairs, as if she’d be sitting there. He came over to me, frantic gaze, his body clean like he’d scrubbed all the blood and dirt away before he came here. “The lady at the desk said she was in surgery—”
“That’s where she is. In surgery.”
Victor gave a heavy sigh before he dragged his fingers down his face. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s tough. She’ll be fine.”
“The doctor told you that?” he asked hopefully.
“I’m telling you that.”
He stood near my chair, still upset because that reassurance wasn’t enough. “Is there internal bleeding? Did the bullet hit an artery or an organ?”
“The surgery is to remove the bullet.”
He gave a sigh of relief. “Okay…that’s pretty routine.”
“Why are you here?”
“For Laura—”
“If you really give a shit about her, you’d kill Leonardo with your bare hands.”
His face turned as pale as fresh milk. “I had no idea—”
“I’m sure nobody did.” Leonardo had fattened her up like a pig for slaughter. Told nobody that he intended to turn her into bacon. Couldn’t risk it getting back to her. Because if it did, she’d take Victor’s gun and shoot him in the back of the head. “You want to keep working for a man like that? I’ve been called a madman, but that man is truly psychotic. There are lines you don’t cross—and that’s one of them.”
“I-I don’t know.”
My eyes narrowed. “You don’t know? Your wife was raped, and you did nothing about it. Here we are seven years later, and now she’s been shot in the arm by your boss, and again, you do nothing.”
“It’s complicated—”
“It’s not complicated at all.” I was on my feet, my voice louder than the TV in the corner, ready to tear through my stitches as I beat him so bloody he would be the one in need of surgery. I moved forward and he moved back, his eyes locked on mine. “You have no right to be here. Leave.”
“I need to make sure she’s okay—”
“Leave.” I stepped closer to him, got right in his face, just seconds away from grabbing him by the neck and slamming his face into the wooden arm of a chair.
Like the pussy he was, he fled.
2
LAURA
My consciousness stirred slowly. It started off as a faded dream. Then my thoughts formed. They were incoherent at first, but then they started to solidify, and I started to remember things.
Like being shot in the arm…by my father.
My eyes opened, and I gasped in terror.
He was there, his hand on mine, sitting right at my bedside like he’d been there the entire time. Dark hair. Dark eyes. His calm command soothed my terror as his thumb stroked my hand. “You’re in the hospital. You had surgery to remove the bullet from your arm. The doctor said you’ll be fine.”
I looked down at my arm, seeing that it was wrapped up in a sling. I moved my fingers then tried to lift my arm, but it hurt like a bitch, so I stopped.