Chapter 74 Everett #2
“Eve?” I call out, and her name echoes in the silence. It makes my heart race to think that any of this blood might be hers. “Eve?”
“What do you need us to do?” Ryat and Sin enter with Haidyn and Saint. Hooke follows behind them. He was at Carnage when I got the call and tagged along to do whatever he can to help.
“Check the office,” I order, and they take the side door by the staircase.
I rush down the aisle, checking both sides to see if she’s hiding between the pews, but don’t find anything. Coming up to the altar, I see the blood on it and walk to the opposite side.
There’s a handprint. “Think I found something,” I call out, and Haidyn and Saint come running toward me.
Kneeling, I see the altar has a door that slides shut, and it’s cracked open. I yank it back and a hand falls out onto the floor. It’s covered in blood, but you can’t miss the emerald-cut diamond on the ring finger.
“Eve.” I grab her arm and yank her out of the confined space. Her body falls to the floor, and there’s so much blood, I can’t tell where it’s all coming from.
Haidyn presses his fingers to her neck. “She doesn’t have a pulse.”
I unzip the hoodie to see she’s wearing the bulletproof vest that was hanging in her closet. “Have to get it off. Hang on, Eve.” I yank on the Velcro straps, and Haidyn helps hold her head as I push it up and over her before tossing it aside along with the hoodie. “Start compressions,” I order him.
He positions his hands on her chest and presses down. The sound of her ribs breaking makes me flinch.
“Fuck,” he curses, yanking his hands back.
“What are you doing?” I bark. “Keep going.”
“I’m breaking her ribs.” His large eyes meet mine in horror.
“Fucking break them,” I snap. Bones will heal.
He places his hands back on her chest and presses down. Crack. “Sorry.” Crack. “I’m so sorry…”
I tilt her neck back, opening her airway, pinch her nose, and breathe into her blood-covered mouth.
“She’s not…” Ryat trails off as he and Sin come back.
“Fuck.” Sin places his hands on his head and sighs, looking down at her.
“Go to the basement,” I rush out, trying to think of what’s here that we can use. “The triage…find me adrenaline.” It has to be here. I’ve seen them use it before.
“Kash—”
“Fucking go,” I shout at them, interrupting Saint. “Now.”
Ryat and Sin both take off, and I go back to breathing into her mouth.
“Come on, angel,” I say, feeling her neck again for a pulse while Haidyn counts with each chest compression, apologizing for hurting her. “Come on.”
“See if you can find the source of the bleeding,” Haidyn barks at Saint.
He drops down at her feet and rips open her bloody jeans. “She’s got a bullet wound in her thigh.” Saint undoes his belt and ties it tightly above it. “Another in her arm. Doesn’t look like either one has an exit wound.”
“Take my belt.” I sit up straighter but refuse to remove my finger from her neck.
He does so and ties it off as well.
“Another in her upper chest, underarm area.” He goes on searching. “Looks like it went right between the opening of her vest. It…I…”
“You what?” Haidyn growls. “Spit it out.”
“I need to pack it with something.”
“Then find something,” Haidyn snaps at him.
“Here”—Hooke yanks his shirt off—“use this.”
“Got it,” Sin calls out as they return, and he hands me the syringe. I bite off the cap as Haidyn sits back, and I shove it into her chest, plunging the adrenaline right into her heart.
“Come on, Eve. Come back to me,” I say, looking down at her. But nothing happens. I rub my knuckles roughly into her sternum. If her ribs breaking didn’t do anything, my hands won’t. “Give me another one.” I look up at Sin.
His face falls, and Ryat places a hand over his mouth. “That…that was all there was.”
The sound of the double doors opening echoes in the cathedral, but I ignore them, knowing it’s just Tyson and his guys.
“Start compressions again,” I order Haidyn.
He immediately goes back to CPR, and I breathe into her mouth, willing her to live. To not leave me.
I don’t understand. The adrenaline should have worked. She’s a founder, for fuck’s sake; she has the enhancement. It should have helped.
“Kash.” A hand lands on my shoulder, and I shove it off. “Kash, man…”
“No,” I shout at Saint, knowing exactly what he’s going to say. “She’s not dead.” I look at him, and he knows. I’ve failed her. “Find something to pack her chest.”
His soft eyes take in her bloody body before they find mine once more. “She’s gone, Kash,” he says softly.
“No.” I shove Haidyn off her and pull her limp body into my lap. I hold her, squeezing my lifeless wife to me. “Please…” My throat closes, and I bury my head in her bloody neck. “Don’t leave me. I need you. Please, angel,” I beg her to come back to me, knowing it’s not going to do any good.
She’s gone.
“Goddammit,” Haidyn shouts, walking away from the altar.
I rub my shaking hand down the side of her bloody face. “Come on, angel. Wake up. Open your eyes. I need you. Please don’t do this. I need you.”
“Find who the fuck did this.” Saint jumps up, barking orders. “Scan the building, the cemetery out back for any more bodies. I want all these dead Lords taken to Carnage and whoever else you find. Collect their phones and search their cars. Now. Move it.”
The sound of something breaking echoes through the vaulted ceiling, and I know it’s Haidyn destroying shit.
“I counted three bodies,” Ryat hollers at someone. “No other cars than Kashton’s and all of ours in the parking lot.”
“Pl-ease,” I whisper, running my bloody hand through her now strawberry-blond hair. So much blood. Everywhere. It’s dripping off the tip of her fingertips while we sit in a puddle of it. “Open your eyes, Eve. Look at me. I need you, angel.”
“I’ve got Tyson’s men searching the perimeter.” Sin announces.
“No. No. No,” I mumble to myself, refusing to accept it. “You can’t do this…to me.” How could she leave me like this? She wouldn’t.
I lay her back down, being gentle with her head, and start compressions on my own.
“Kashton.” A hand touches my shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” I shout, pulling away to push my palms into her chest.
“Kashton. Stop.” I’m yanked back and I go to swing at whoever the fuck pulled me from my wife, but I can’t get my heavy arms to work as I’m pushed into the back of the Lords’ altar.
Tyson’s face is suddenly in front of mine, his hands on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Kash…she’s gone.” I can’t breathe.
“We need to get her out of here. We’ve got to leave. Get her to Carnage.”