34. Colby
Chapter 34
Colby
“Alex, get in there and help her.” The officer ordered as I gripped onto his tactical vest tightly, ready to drive my fist through his jaw a second time. “You need to calm the fuck down, your wife will be fine.”
The man he called Alex skirted around us as he approached Nick and my wife with what appeared to be an oversized and fully stocked medical bag tucked under his arm.
“Fine? Does she look fucking fine to you?” I seethed, my eyes zeroed in on his. “You shot her in the fucking chest.” My voice cracked at the admission, understanding the gravity of her condition.
“And we were prepared for this—she was prepared for this.” He gripped onto my shoulders, and I loosened my hold on him.
“No… She wouldn’t—” I stammered, unable to comprehend his words—what he was claiming. My wife would never work with the LVSF. No fucking way.
“Ask her yourself once Alex brings her back. She’ll tell you everything.” He laughed as if this was all some sort of big joke and I had missed the punchline.
I was fuming inside, ready to burst into flames and burn this entire casino to the fucking ground with me.
I released the man, now numb from the bomb he just dropped on me. He stepped aside before moving to join the rest of his team across the casino floor; Jameson, Sienna’s target, was already handcuffed and being hauled out of the building, confused and shocked guests giving them their full attention.
My chest tightened as I turned to see Alex examining my wife—a blood pressure cuff on her arm, his stethoscope at her chest to measure her breathing.
Nick looked up at me with her head in his lap, a grim expression on his face as he shook his head slowly.
I was falling apart by the second, seeing her body lying there, motionless and pale.
How the fuck did this happen? Who the fuck set my wife up?
I ran my hands through my hair in an effort to calm the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Pacing from side to side like a madman, I tried to keep a grip on my reality.
“Colby,” Nick spoke as he gently slid out from under my wife’s head to stand by me, his hand squeezing my shoulder, grounding me as my mind drifted away. “Colby, stay here with me. She’s going to be fine.”
“Why the fuck does everyone keep saying that?” I choked out the words, feeling strangled by their weight. Why was everyone insisting that she was fine? She wasn’t fine, she was bleeding out from a fucking bullet to the goddamn chest. FUCK!
“Look, mate.” Nick shook my shoulder and pointed down to my wife, whose chest I could see rising and falling with every deep breath she took. Her eyes were still closed, but her breathing had stabilized to a more regular rhythm, which was better than nothing. “The medic said she had injected herself with a drug cocktail designed to slow her heart rate and prevent her from bleeding out.”
“He what?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was the LVSF Officer telling the truth?
“Exactly what I just said. It seems as though she knew this was going to happen to her and had planned for it.” Nick inferred, crossing his arms over his chest.
Why would she have been working with the LVSF? And why the fuck would she have taken a bullet for those sorry-ass motherfuckers?
I didn’t know who or what I was more pissed off with anymore: The current situation, my wife’s involvement with the LVSF, not knowing what the fuck was going on this entire time?
“What does this mean for her test, Nick?” I glared at him, well aware of what happens to those who fail to complete their tests.
I didn’t want it to come to this. I’ve already lost her once; I couldn’t lose her again, regardless of how much I wanted to strangle her for what she had just done to me. The pain she had put me through as I stood there watching her lay on the casino floor, bleeding to death from a planned gunshot wound to the fucking chest.
“We’ll discuss this with Dustin later; that isn’t a priority right now.” He sighed, rubbing his brow with the back of his thumb. “Your wife needs you, mate… Go on.”
I stepped back towards Sienna and Alex, falling to my knees beside her and gripping her hand tightly. Her body was no longer cold like I dreaded it would still be; she was warm.
“She’s all patched up, nothing serious, but she will be sore for the next week.” Alex, the medic, spoke as he pulled a syringe from his bag and filled it with a clear liquid from a small vial. “I’m going to wake her up now; this will shock her system and bring it back into action.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath before he inserted the needle into her arm and plunged whatever that liquid was into her.
Within a second, Sienna’s eyes flared open as she inhaled her first conscious breath in minutes, her hand reaching for my shirt, shoulder, or whatever she could grab onto.
“Colby.” She gasped, a hand fisting in my shirt as she pulled me down to her level. “I’m s—I’m so—sorry.” Her breathing was erratic, unable to control her words.
I gripped her cheek with my hand, locking my eyes with hers, all the anger and rage I had building up inside of me slowly melting away with every breath she took.
“You’re okay, love. I’ve got you.”
I wasn’t going to forget what had happened and what I had learned from Nick and the LVSF Officer, but there was always a time and a place to get the answers I needed from her, and right now was neither. I may feel betrayed by her, but I still loved her nonetheless and would figure this out.
My wife’s eyes filled with tears as they ran down the sides of her face. Her sobbing was the only sound I could hear as she leaned forward to bury her face in my shirt, which was soaked in her blood from moments ago.
I wrapped my arms tightly around her, pulling her into my embrace, never wanting to let her go again. I had just experienced the most terrifying event of my life, losing my entire world in under a second.
We sat in silence for what seemed like mere minutes before Nick approached us, clearing his throat and crouching down.
“Mate, You two have been sitting here for far too long, I think we need to get the fuck out of here before we attract even more unwanted attention.” He mumbled, nudging my shoulder.
I looked up from Sienna and glanced around the room. The vast majority of the crowd was still fixated on the lingering LVSF officers, giving us time to leave before any of the guests realized we were still there.
Sliding my arm under her knees, I quickly picked her up and followed Nick out the rear of the casino floor and towards the back exit.
“I need to get her home, Nick.” I urged as we cleared the doors and made a beeline into the parking garage, not wanting to waste any more time.
She was in no condition to handle the repercussions of failing to complete her test, and neither was I.
“I’ll take care of Dustin—explain everything to him.” He assured me. “You just take care of your wife.” His eyes softened as he blew out a sigh.
“I can’t follow through if he doesn’t reconsider.” I could feel the lack of strength in my voice.
“I know, mate… I know.”
Nick pulled out his phone as he headed towards his car, and I carried my wife in the opposite direction towards ours.
She passed out in the passenger seat before we even made it out of the garage, her adrenaline high finally wearing off.