Chapter 34 #2
The bullet hits him squarely in the chest. Not the head—and that’s on purpose. Because I want him to feel the pain as he dies. I want him to realize he’s dying and that nobody is coming to help him. That he’s completely alone at the end.
Fabian’s body jerks back in his chair, and he gasps, eyes wide in disbelief, clutching at his chest as blood soaks through his expensive shirt.
Bracing one shaking hand against the edge of the table, he slides from the chair to his knees on the marble floor, coughing and choking as life drains from him inch by inch.
I watch him die, feeling nothing. “See you in hell, uncle,” I spit at his corpse.
He makes one last pathetic, gurgling sound, then his body goes limp, collapsing sideways. Only then do I look away from him.
Gjon steps forward, glancing briefly at the body before shifting his attention to Janick and the rest of Fabian’s men, each wearing varying degrees of worry. “It’s done,” he says quietly.
I nod once and turn away, trusting that my men have my back as I pull out my phone.
Now that Fabian’s been dealt with, I need to check in with Dhimiter immediately.
My hands are steady as I dial, but my heart is a drum in my chest. He should have called me himself by now.
The fact that he didn’t means something must have gone horribly wrong.
Dhimiter answers on the second ring, and at first I can’t make out anything over the noise in the background—shouting, gunfire. My blood turns to ice. “What the fuck is going on over there, Dhimiter?”
A tense silence stretches. Then, the squeal of tires. I stay on the line, frozen still as I wait for my second-in-command to answer. “We have Kayla,” Dhimiter finally says, sounding breathless and like he’s in pain. “But Katie—she’s been shot.”
My ear pops, and for one surreal beat, everything goes quiet around me. Katie’s been shot. The words echo endlessly in my head, but it takes several seconds to actually process the senseless statement. My Katina has been shot?
“What?” My voice comes out low, deadly, daring him to repeat what he just said.
Dhimiter inhales sharply and hesitates for a moment before continuing. “She’s alive, but it’s bad. She got Kayla out and took a bullet to the side while shielding her.”
My lungs burn like I’ve been the one shot, and I spin around, jogging out of Fabian’s dining room. “Where are you right now?”
“On the road. Heading south. We’re going home.”
Home. Almost an hour’s drive away. Too far. Way too fucking far.
“No. If she was shot in the side, she’s probably bleeding out as we speak. Look up the nearest hospital and take her there. I’ll meet you through the tracker I have on her.”
“No, that’s too risky. I’ll be asked questions I can’t answer and the cops will probably be called and—”
“Just fucking do it, Dhimiter!” I roar into the phone as I shove my way through the front door.
“She doesn’t die or it’s your life on the line.
She dies, you die—do you hear me?” I hang up before he can respond and turn back to face the men who followed me outside.
I should wait and help sort out this situation with Gjon and the others, but fuck that.
Gjon can handle it alone. “Wrap this up with them. I’m leaving. ”
As my men nod their understanding, Gjon steps out of the mansion and meets my gaze. “That sounded urgent. Go. Go with your men. I’ll handle everything here. You have nothing to worry about on this end.”
I trust Gjon as much as I can trust anyone right now. But I still signal to four of my men to stay behind and ensure things are properly sorted with him. Just in case. Then I give him a quick nod of appreciation and jog down the front steps, the rest of my men close behind me.
I move faster than I mean to. Faster than makes sense. Like my body instinctively knows what I’ve already admitted to myself—Katie isn’t just anyone to me.
And I’m terrified of losing her.
I can’t lose anyone else. I can’t lose her.
She snuck her way into my life, my head, my fucking heart until I couldn’t stop thinking about her even when I tried.
And now the only image burning in my mind is the way she looked at me after overhearing how I spoke about her to Dhimiter—like I’d broken something precious we hadn’t even had time to name.
Worse, I might not get another chance to make her see the truth. To tell her what she actually means to me.
I get into the driver’s seat and slam the door, fingers locking around the wheel. I barely wait for my men to get in before I’m turning the ignition and peeling out of the driveway with a screaming protest of tires.
I toss my phone at Phineas in the passenger seat. “Open the locator app. I need their position. Now.”
I should have fucking insisted she stay back home where I knew she’d be safe. I shouldn’t have let her go to that abbey at all.
But even as that thought simmers, I know it wouldn’t have worked. Katie isn’t a damsel in distress who needs anyone to save her. She’s a fighter. A survivor.
All her life, she’s done everything for her sister, and I have no doubt she gladly, willingly took that bullet for Kayla. That’s who she is.
And who am I? A man who spent years telling himself he didn’t need anyone. A man who let her believe he doesn’t care about her.
But I do. God help me, I care so much it physically hurts. She’s the fucking air I breathe.
And if she dies without knowing that, I’ll never forgive myself.
If she dies at all, I’ll never forgive myself—or anyone else involved.
I press the gas harder, and the car surges forward, devouring the road.
Hold on, baby. Just hold on. I’m coming.