Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Vita
“What the fuck are you doing? Who are you?”
Even though I feel surprisingly rested, I’m an extremely light sleeper.
Hazards of the job. I just woke to a strange woman entering the hospital room with a syringe in her hand.
I don’t recognize her from my introduction to the staff, and as I glance briefly at the wall clock, I know the shifts haven’t changed yet.
“I said, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I remember Alejandro telling his parents that they aren’t giving him more pain medication intravenously.
Yet this woman’s trying to inject something into Alejandro’s IV.
I push up from where I reclined to see her badge more clearly.
It definitely doesn’t match the other ones I’ve seen so far today, and there have been several. It’s ringing every alarm in my head.
Get her away from Alejandro.
I spring from the bed, nearly tripping over the IV lines. I’m careful not to tug them straight out of Alejandro’s arm. It surprises me that he’s not awake too. I know the medication they gave him must have worn off already.
Did she already put something into his IV, and I slept through it the first time?
Anger pulses within me as I wrap my hands around her throat and wrist. I squeeze with all my might.
I stare at her as she turns rose, then fuchsia, then scarlet.
I memorize her features: the mole near her left ear, the scar beside her right nostril, the birthmark on her right temple.
Her hair’s a mousy shade of blonde, and her eyes are a bland shade of brown.
She’s shorter than me and probably weighs twenty pounds less. I’m using the latter to my advantage.
She fights against my hold, trying to pry my hand free from her throat. I could squeeze a fuck ton harder and choke her out. She can still breathe, even if it’s a struggle. I force the haze of fury aside and formulate a rational thought. I need to know what the fuck she’s doing.
“Ma’am, ma’am.”
She chokes out the words as she tries to thwart me. She had her chance to explain. I loosen my hold only ever so slightly just in case she had a legitimate reason, and I startled or intimidated her too much at first.
“What are you giving him?”
“A pain medication.”
“What’s it called?”
“Are you his wife?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t see your name on any of his charts. You’re not cleared to know personal things about this patient’s medical treatment.”
“I’m here. I came in with him. I’ve been by his side. You found us in bed together. I say that tells you I’m his wife.”
“Are you though?”
The way she asked that question chills my blood.
She knows more about us than she’ll say outright.
That’s my warning. I tighten my grip again, fully prepared to kill this woman right here, right now.
I wrestle the syringe away from Alejandro’s IV.
It doesn’t have the pointy tip since it was to be added to his IV.
But when she shoves it against my arm, I know she’s trying to pierce the skin.
With no needle, it won’t, but it’ll bruise.
Like I don’t already have enough of those.
I headbutt her, sending her and the syringe flying. She had no opportunity to depress the plunger into the IV, and without breaking the skin on my arm, whatever she intended to give Alejandro hasn’t entered either of our systems.
She lands hard on her back. I follow her, straddling her torso and punching her.
She fights back, giving me a few well-placed jabs to my ribs.
She’s stronger than I expected. The gleam in her eyes as she defends herself makes my heart race more than the exertion.
She’s a mercenary too. After she did whatever she intended to Alejandro, I would’ve been next.
“Vita?”
Alejandro’s raspy voice permeates the murderous fog clouding my mind. I don’t dare take my eyes off this killer.
“Jandro, are you okay?”
“I am, and you are, but she won’t be. What’s going on?”
His tone’s so casual—almost amused—as I beat the woman to a near pulp. I think the arrogant man’s getting off on me protecting him.
“I didn’t meet her at the nurse’s station. The shift hasn’t changed, and her badge isn’t right. She was trying to inject something.”
I punctuate my last word with my fist to her cheekbone. Immediately, she goes limp. I frisk her, finding a pocketknife in her scrubs. It’s not a large blade, but it’s certainly sharp. I’ll use it on her in a heartbeat if I must.
“Jandro, we need your family. Didn’t they leave guards here for you?”
“They did, but they must be outside the ward, rather than outside my door. That’s something to be sorted out at another time.”
All I do is nod. I keep a close eye on my newest nemesis, waiting for her to wake. But when there’s no sign she will, I turn my full attention to Alejandro.
“You look better than I expected, but you still look like shit. It’s clear you’re in significant pain, Jandro. You need a real nurse in here to administer the medicine.”
“We can’t do that with her lying there. And she’s a mercenary, isn’t she?”
“Yes. You know she won’t give anything away.”
Attempting to interrogate her will be futile.
“We’ll call my cousins, and they’ll dispose of her.”
“Can you get cleaners in here, or do I need to leave no trace?”
“The latter would be better.”
I can clean up the blood that’s trickling from her nose and mouth, but if I have to cut up a bitch, that’ll get messy fast. We’d need a team to sweep through here to remove all biohazards. It’s not impossible, but it’s hard to keep that inconspicuous.
I straddle the woman again, wrapping my hands around her throat, my fingers feeling around for the most sensitive parts of her neck. When I’m in position, I quickly snap it. I glance at Alejandro, concerned about what he might think of my unrelenting brutality.
All I see is pride. What a fucked-up pair we make if murdering somebody without reservation makes him proud of me. But I suppose it shows we’re well-suited to each other.
I shift positions, rising to my feet so I can heft this bitch over my shoulder and carry her into the bathroom.
When I come back into the main part of the room, I find Alejandro on the phone with Pablo, explaining that we need his help as fast as he can get here.
I can’t hear the other end of the call, but I don’t doubt Pablo’s reassuring him the cavalry’s on the way.
It reminds me of how his family appeared when they arrived in the emergency room.
They definitely weren’t trying for inconspicuous that time.
It feels like forever before Alejandro’s cousins arrive.
In reality, it’s about an hour. I had a nurse come in and give him some painkillers, praying she had no reason to check the bathroom.
Finding the dead assassin would’ve been most inconvenient.
Alejandro’s resting now. Not what I would call comfortably, but it’s bearable. At least, that’s what he’s telling me.
I do my best to move out of the way when the men enter.
The five of them suck the oxygen from the room.
There’s barely space for me. However, Alejandro shoots me the same look he did when I attempted to move out of the way for his father.
I change course and stand close to his head where I can hold his hand.
“What the hell happened?”
It’s Javier who demands an answer. The man isn’t what anyone would call chatty.
Alejandro looks to me.
“I woke to a strange woman walking toward Alejandro’s IV stand.
I didn’t recognize her as any of the nurses I met when we came up here.
I knew the current rotation wasn’t over.
When I asked her who she was and what she was doing, she was evasive.
She knew I’m not Alejandro’s wife, despite what I said when we arrived.
Her strength surprised me as she defended herself.
She was a mercenary as well. Whoever this is won’t stop until they’re dead. ”
I refuse to put out in the universe that Alejandro could die instead. I won’t even consider that possibility anymore. It’s startling to know that in less than a week, the man I’d committed to kill is the one whose life I put ahead of anyone and everyone else’s.
It seems illogical, but I don’t believe there’s a specific time frame for knowing if someone will be a major part of your life. Not only do I know Alejandro will be, but it’s in a romantic capacity, not platonic.
“Where is she now?”
Joaquin’s question interrupts my rumination. I point toward the bathroom. He walks over and opens the door just enough to peer inside.
“Vittoria, did you recognize her at all?”
“No. Do you?”
“No, she’s not anyone we’ve faced before or hired.”
In the world of mercenaries, loyalty lasts only as long as the job. Your ally can become your enemy from one day to another. So, it wouldn’t have shocked me if Joaquin said they knew her.
“We need to get you out of here, Alejo.”
Jorge opens the backpack he carried inside and pulls out a fresh set of clothes. Alejandro curls his lip and nostril in disgust when he sees what Jorge brought him. His cousin’s flippant as he drops the clothes on the bed beside Alejandro.
“Yeah, well, the last time I lent you one of my suits, it came back in three pieces, and not the three you got it in.”
My brow furrows, not understanding why the clothing matters right now. It’s a pair of track pants, a t-shirt, and Jorge just dropped a pair of tennis shoes on the floor next to the bed.
“I don’t know, maybe because I prefer not to look like I’m six and on the way to a playdate.”
My gaze shifts from Alejandro to Jorge. In no realm of reality could anyone confuse Jorge for a child, not even a teenager.
“It’s better if you just smile and nod.”
I glance at Pablo, who’s grinning.
“Where can you take him that’s safe? Can you even get him out of the hospital right now?”