43. Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Lili
My stomach churns as the smell of gunpowder, pavement, and blood mixes in my nostrils. My palms burn from scraping along the concrete, and I can’t find Victor in the chaos. The guard on top of me isn’t giving me room to move my head to look for him.
“Let’s move! Let’s move! Get Trinity in the SUV. We can’t wait for paramedics.”
Hunter sounds panicked. In all the times I’ve met him, he’s only ever sounded in control. His panic fuels my own and rips at my heart. I won’t be able to forgive myself if she dies because of me.
Suddenly Victor is on me, and he’s scooping me up and we’re piling into another SUV. I watch as Trinity is carried to one behind me, and it barrels toward the nearest emergency room. A trail of blood is on the pavement from where she was shot to the door of the car.
“We should go check on her,” I say, racked with guilt.
“It had to be Finn. But how would he have gotten into place so fast?”
“I don’t know,” Victor growls. He’s typing frantically on his phone, clearly not paying full attention to me.
“Is Grace safe?” I whisper.
That gets his attention, and he puts the phone down. “She’s fine. I just confirmed. Give me your hands.”
I do as he asks, and he reaches under the seat in front of him and withdraws a first aid kit. For the rest of the ride back to his house, he doctors the scrapes on my hands and face.
“Is Trinity OK? Please find out. I’m going insane with worry. I will never be able to live with myself if she dies because of me.”
“Shhh. Liliana, I need you to be calm right now. We’ll get updates on Mrs. Novak as soon as they’re available. I promise.”
Victor’s phone rings. “I have to take this.”
“Matteo, slow the fuck down. I’m aware Trinity got shot. I was there.”
Victor’s face becomes a mask of rage, and I wish I could hear what Matteo is saying on the other end. “No. God damn it. None of this is our fault. He’s the one who came up with this crazy scheme. I’m sorry about his wife. That shouldn’t have happened. But we didn’t cause this.”
He blows out a breath as Matteo shouts something I can’t quite make out.
“Keep us updated. I’m taking her to be with Grace.”
My body relaxes as I hear that I’ll get to hold Grace soon.
“What’s wrong? Other than the obvious.” I ask when he puts his phone on the seat beside him.
“Hunter is on the warpath. His wife needs surgery but things are dicey and right now she’s too unstable to go under the knife. She might not make it. He’s already canceled Skylar’s residency for the next week and he’s threatening to fire all three of us plus cut contracts with Luke’s company if the worst happens.”
I let out a long, slow whistle as Victor relays the litany of demands.
“The shooter was aiming for me. You know that, right? He saw Trinity with you and assumed it was me even though the hair color was wrong.”
Victor’s expression is grim as he picks up my hand and kisses my fingers. “I’m trying not to focus on that right now.”
“Is it safe to go back to your place? Hunter said something about not wanting to lead anyone there.”
Victor nods. “It will be fine, Spitfire. We are taking evasive measures, and if the sniper thinks he shot you, they are focused on that SUV.”
It takes more than an hour to get to Victor’s house, and when we do, Grace is pacing on the front porch.
“Do you want to kill her or should I?” I ask Victor as he jumps out of the car.
“We can do it together,” he snaps as he stalks toward her.
“Gracelynn Marsh, get your ass back in the house right now.”
She jumps at his command and immediately jerks the door open.
“I was fine. There are guards everywhere.”
“And a woman who was surrounded by guards is currently in surgery and hanging on by a thread,” I snap as I step into the living room. “Don’t put yourself at risk. Especially not for me. Understood?”
Her eyes water as I pull her into a hug. “I’m so glad you weren’t shot. My heart is broken for the other woman, but I’m so glad you’re home.”
“We’re going upstairs,” Victor says gruffly. “Lili is scraped up and needs to rest.”
“Yes, yes. Let’s go.”
Victor holds up his phone. “Take her, butterfly. I’ll be up with dinner in a few minutes. I need to check in with everyone.”
Grace takes my hand and together we walk up the stairs towards Victor’s bedroom. Inside, Grace pulls me close again and kisses me, first on the lips and then on the scrapes on my cheek and chin.
“You could have died,” Grace whispers, her voice wobbly with emotion.
“But I didn’t. That’s the important part.”
“Was it Phineas?”
“I don’t see how it could have been anyone else. There had to have been someone in that attorney’s office who recognized me and called him. I didn’t expect him to try and kill me so openly.”
“Victor wants you to lie down. You should get comfortable,” Grace murmurs.
Exhaustion sets in at the mention of laying down, and I walk to the king size bed and lay on one side. Grace settles behind me and puts her arm around my waist.
“I’m sorry we scared you, lover,” I murmur as sleep threatens to take over.
“And I’m sorry for everything that has happened. At least this all could mean we are doing the right things if Finn is trying to kill you.”
I can’t help but chuckle at her attempt to put a positive spin on this. “You’re sweet Grace. We are doing the right thing, but hopefully it won’t take Finn killing me to resolve everything. I wouldn’t mind a shot at killing him, though.”
My eyes are droopy, and I want to fall asleep, but I want to make sure Grace is OK at the same time, so I force myself to stay awake.
At least until she kisses the back of my neck and rolls away. “You should sleep. I’m crowding you. I’m so sorry.”
“Stop. You’re not crowding me. I like you being close to me. Especially after the day I’ve had.”
She is silent for a moment before she rolls toward me and one slender arm settles across my waist. I sigh and let my eyes drift closed. As I’m giving in to sleep, I hear Victor enter and the mattress shifts as he slides into the bed behind Grace.
Even with the tragic way the day ended, I’m at home with the two of them. I want to be here. I just hope I can stay.
A firm hand on my shoulder wakes me sometime later.
“It’s Victor, sweetheart. I’ve been called out, and I didn’t want to leave the two of you without alerting you, so you don’t wake up panicked.”
Grace stirs and sits up next to me. “What’s wrong?”
Victor clears his throat and looks away. “It’s nothing. At least not yet. I’ll give you more information when I have it to share. Take care of Lili, Grace. I’ll be back as soon as physically possible.”
Grace is tense beside me, and I wonder what she sees in Victor’s body language. To me it definitely seems like he’s holding something back. But I don’t know him as well as she does.
I sit up for a kiss and lean back so he can kiss Grace next.
“You promise you’re not going somewhere dangerous?” she asks, her voice shaking.
“I’m going to the club, Mariposa.” He picks up her phone off the nightstand and taps a few buttons, then hands it to her. “See? You can follow my location.”
Grace’s eyebrows shoot up. “You hate location services being on your phone.”
“I hate you being worried about me even more. If you see me somewhere that causes questions, all you have to do is text. I’ll do my best to answer.”
That relaxes Grace, and I fall a little more in love with Victor by the second. The way he’s willing to make himself slightly uncomfortable to keep from worrying her… to keep from worrying us. It’s heartwarming. And so different from what I’m used to in a partner.
And Grace would do the same for Victor and me. Just like I would do the same for them.
I don’t know how we ended up together—how we got so lucky—but I plan to make it last for as long as possible.
When Victor leaves, I convince Grace to lie back down with me so we can nap for a while longer.
“What do you think he’s doing at the club?” I ask later when we’re eating at the bar.
Grace shakes her head. “It’s hard to say. According to the phone, it looks like they’re actually in the cigar bar.”
“Do they own the entire shopping center?”
Grace nods. “They’ve slowly started renting space to people to run businesses. Zara runs a boudoir studio, a club member they trust started the cigar bar, Bellamy wants to open an accounting firm, and I kind of want to start a bookstore but going back to school will make that a long way off.”
I put my hand over hers. “Do you want to be a nurse, or are you just trying to do more than work in a sandwich shop?”
Grace shrugs. “I’ve always thought I would be good at being a labor and delivery nurse. But the math and science classes required are scary to me. The bookstore is more my speed. But I don’t want anything to dampen the joy I get from writing.”
I shake my head. “Nothing will. You love it too much. Especially if you do it your way and only publish what you’re comfortable with. If you’re serious about the bookstore, I can help you when all of this is done.”
Grace beams. “I would like that. But I won’t drop out of school just yet. There’s a part of me that wants to prove I can do it. Even if I never work in a hospital.”
I nod. “That is something I know all too well. You’ll have what you want, Grace. I promise. Even if Finn succeeds in killing me, I’ll make sure you have your bookstore.”
Grace frowns. “Don’t say that, please. I don’t want to think about you dying.”
“Sorry, lover. After what happened at the courthouse, I just can’t be too optimistic. It’s clear Finn is ready to be done with me.”
“Is it Finn or is it Mayor Brandt?”
Her question makes me think for a moment. “It’s likely Mayor Brandt pulling the strings. She absolutely controls him. But he’s got evil in his veins too, so I don’t feel bad for him.”
“I wouldn’t feel bad for him either. My question was mostly just a curiosity.”
“It’s a good question. One I’m sure Victor and the others are looking into.”
We clean up our food in silence and head for the den where we curl up together with a movie. Grace falls asleep with her head on my shoulder, and Victor arrives as the credits are rolling. His gaze is tender as he sees Grace, and I wonder what he’s thinking as his eyes move to me.
“How are you feeling, Liliana? Do your hands need more attention?”
I hold up my bandaged palms with a smile. “Grace insisted on cleaning them and putting fresh gauze on them.”
“Good. Leave her and come with me, please.”
That doesn’t sound good. I ease away from Grace, trying not to disturb her, and slip into the hallway with Victor.
“What’s wrong?”
“Have you turned on the news at all today?”
I shake my head. “Grace and I took a nap, and then we ate and put a movie on. I’m just trying to keep things calm for her.”
He takes my hand and leads me to his office where he puts me in front of his computer screen and pulls up a local news site.
My face heats and my heart begins to race as I read the absurd headline.
“She’s trying to sabotage my character.”
“It looks like she has your former best friend on board as well. Saying you drove your husband to cheat. I’m sorry, Spitfire.”
“It’s just a news cycle. It will die down if we stop Finn and Miranda.”
“We’re doing our best. But we don’t know where Phineas is. And the mayor isn’t taking Hunter’s calls. Trinity is being prepped for surgery. I don’t know if it’s because they stabilized her enough to handle it or decided they didn’t have another option.”
I turn away from the vile story on the screen that paints me as an emotionally abusive housewife with nothing better to do than make her husband’s life miserable.
What must my family think? And why do I care? My family is how I ended up in this mess to begin with.
Then again, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met Grace and Victor. And even though it’s only been a short time, it’s hard to imagine life without them. At the same time, if I hadn’t gone through with the marriage, Trinity Novak might not be on death’s door right now.
“It’s like Grace’s butterfly effect.”
“Excuse me?”
My face gets hot, and I blink rapidly. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
I tell Victor what I was thinking about, and he smiles when I recount how Grace told me the story of the two of them meeting in high school.
“She’s right. You do have a killer smile. I wish we saw it more.”
His expression goes stern again and I can’t help but laugh. “You don’t have to be tough around us, Vic.”
“Vic?” He raises an eyebrow at the nickname, and I frown.
“Sorry. I guess I should have asked before just shortening your name.”
He shakes his head and cups my cheek in his palm. “It’s OK. I like it. But not in front of other people, please. Aside from Grace.”
“Agreed. Thank you.”
“For what, Spitfire?”
“Letting me in.”
His thumb grazes my cheekbone, and he leans down for a kiss. “You didn’t really give me a choice.”