Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
She smiled sadly at me and held my child out to me. “Your wife’s still in surgery. They’re sewing her up now, and as soon as she’s done, they’ll be wheeling her into the room I’m about to take y’all to. This is your daughter, though. She’s a very lucky little girl.”
I took her from the nurse, cradling her minuscule weight to my chest.
“Is she okay?” I asked, not able to take my eyes off my little girl.
“She’s fine. She does have a laceration on her thigh, but we’ve cleaned that up, and bandaged it. She’s perfect,” the nurse said softly.
I looked up and smiled at her brightly. “Thank you.”
She patted me on the arm, then removed a hospital bracelet from her pocket, expertly attaching it to my wrist.
“This is what identifies that this little chunky monkey as yours. When we get there, we’ll compare the bracelet around her ankle to the one on your wrist. Your wife has the same one on her own wrist. This’ll be verified every time the baby leaves you and comes back to you,” the nurse explained.
I nodded, thankful.
Three hours later, as I sat at my wife’s bedside, staring at the tiny bundle of chunkiness wrapped in her hot pink skull blanket, I thanked God I was such a lucky man.
Ashe Adriana Trammel was born a hefty nine and a half pounds, four short hours ago, via a caesarian section.
The only thing wrong was the lone horizontal wound from one side of her thigh to the other.
It could’ve been so much worse.
It was thin, and blissfully shallow. More like a tiny scrape than the knife slice we all knew it was.
My little girl had been lucky. Tru, on the other hand, hadn’t been.
Her C-section had been invasive. Instead of the normal incision in the pelvic region, she had to have the vertical one that went from belly button to hips because they weren’t sure if the baby was pinned by the knife or not.
On top of that, she’d had quite a bit of internal bleeding.
I hadn’t been able to be there for her, either.
She’d been taken by Life Flight, and if it hadn’t have been my brother and Cleo taking care of her, I’d have lost it for a second time.
The entire waiting room was filled with friends and family, but I was waiting for two people to get here. Tru’s parents. Only then would I leave.
Chapter 24
When he’s really mad, there’s no one that’ll risk calming him down. Except for his wife. Bitches be crazy.
-Silas to Sebastian
Torren
“You got him?” I asked as I walked into the empty room.
My boots pounded hard on the dirty concrete floor. Boots scuffled once they realized I was here, but my eyes never left my president.
Silas nodded, mouth set in a hard, thin line. “Yes.”
I only had one word for him. “Good.”
I nodded and shouldered past him into the room, closing the door quietly behind me. The control I showed on the outside was not synonymous with my mood. On the outside I was cool and calm. On the inside, I wanted to peal the man’s skin off like an overripe orange.
As I flipped the light on and saw the man lying on the ground with his hands and feet duck taped together behind his back.
He blinked at me, smiling when he realized who he finally got.
Nearly two hours had passed since I learned all that Tru had gone through.
I’d sat through the explanation with unearthly calm, wanting nothing else but to put Tru at ease.
But the moment I learned he was caught by Silas, I left Tru and my less than a day old daughter, citing the need for a shower and a change of clothes.
Then I came straight here, riding with peace, knowing that this was all about to be over.
Bobby moaned and writhed on the floor, trying his hardest to get free to no avail.
Crossing my arms, I watched him squirm.
“I have an oath that I made when I became a paramedic. However, that oath is superseded by the oath I made to my wife when we got married. Lucky-fucking-you,” I smiled, then dropped down to one knee to look into his eyes.
Hatred shone bright and hot.
Reaching forward, I ripped the tape off viciously, causing him to cry out hoarsely.
What a pussy.
“Why?” I asked.
He smiled. “You killed my brother.”
I smiled. “I killed my brother, too. How about you ask me how I sleep at night?”
He launched himself at me as best he could, but I stood and stepped out of reach of his useless attempts to hurt me.
“Like a fucking baby,” I said before I reared back and kicked him in the belly.
A pained gush of air escaped his mouth, and I wanted to whoop in triumph at the sound. I didn’t, though, not with what came out of his mouth next.
“He was my twin. Colby was my goddamned twin!” He screamed irately.
I froze when the words finally penetrated my incensed mind, but I didn’t calm down.
Going down to one knee again, I made sure I could see his face. Read his emotions.
What he had to say next could very well save his life.
“So tell me,” I said. “What exactly were you planning on doing to my wife? Think very carefully about what you say next, because it could potentially save your life.”
He shook his head, refusing to answer.
I smiled, showing him just how fucking crazy I was.
“You know,” I said softly. “Tru told me what you said already. I know you planned on raping her. I know you had much more planned for my two girls. Did you know that the huge goddamned knife you stabbed through my wife’s belly only grazed my little girl? But even though she’s going to be okay, one single drop of my girl’s blood was too much. And since I’m not in the right frame of mind, my father has gracefully volunteered to take over matters here so I can get back to my wife and newborn. Lucky for you that y’all will get to make friends.”