49. Rhett
At the hospital I’m filled with adrenaline and more aware, so I’m able to lift Ana out of the car and carry her. I need every single second before I’ll have to let her go.
“Still with me?” I ask.
“We shouldn’t ... you shouldn’t have brought me here. You need to leave,” she says.
I can’t take the chance she’ll need equipment we don’t have at the Den if the gunshot hit anything major.
“It’s going to be okay, baby.”
The others are dealing with the staff, and I do nothing but hold her, watching her beautiful tired face.
“You need to leave,” she insists.
“I’m not going anywhere. They’re going to take you from me, but I’ll be right fucking here, so you stay wake for me.”
Ana whimpers when I have no choice but to lay her on the gurney they bring. I’m working on autopilot, following in hot pursuit as they roll her away. The frantic crowding of doctors and nurses around her is a slam of reality at the gravity of it all.
Ana was shot.
Sarah was shot.
No. I can’t keep thinking that way. Ana has to make it, and fuck, I’m never taking a day, a minute, a fucking second for granted with her. She’ll find me insufferable eventually for it, but she’ll be alive and with me, always.
“You can’t come in here, sir,” a nurse says, holding a hand up to stop me from following them into the room where they start attaching things to her and cut open her shirt. There’s so much blood I nearly collapse to my knees.
“What are they doing?” I ask, hollow.
“Assessing the wound and prepping for surgery. The bullet is still inside.”
The nurse leaves me, and Ana isn’t in that room for long before they’re wheeling her out again. I follow, untethered to gravity as I watch my worst nightmare unfolding. Until I reach another barrier they’ll stop me from going past.
Then silence.
Cold, terrible, haunting silence as I’m left staring through the double doors they took Ana through, not knowing if she’ll come out.
My back meets the wall and I sink down it. My hands thread into my hair, elbows propped on my knees.
“Sir, there’s a waiting room just along the hall,” a male nurse says behind a desk.
I’m not fucking moving.
I don’t know how much time passes. It feels endless, mocking. Like I’ll be in this unknowing circle of nothingness forever.
Footsteps pad up to me. Several of them.
“Oh, Rhett.” Allie’s hands are on me. I think she”s sitting beside me, but I can’t feel her warmth. “She’ll pull through.”
“You can’t say that,” I say. I’m harsh and icy, but I don’t care. “None of you can fucking promise that.”
I know she’s not the only one here, but I don’t look up to check.
“The police are about to arrive, man. You should get the hell out of here,” Rix says.
“No.”
“You’re no use to her locked up.” Adam’s is the harshest voice addressing me.
I take a deep breath and tip my head back against the wall.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I promised her that, and I’ll be damned if I break my promise.
Allie slips her arm through mine and leans her head on my shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Allie,” I say.
“Nothing is your fault. So don’t waste your time.”
Everything is my fault. I don’t know what I did to deserve people who will try to cover up that fact just so I can sleep easier.
“You were in trouble. I let them take you ...” I trail off.
“You were eight hours away. It can’t be your fault, because I found out who bought me like some slab of meat,” she says irritably.
Allie is so fucking incredible, and I hope Liam damn well knows it if there’s something going on between them.
“I hear they’re grieving his murder, but I’m ready to make it an annual celebration. Birthdays are old-school. It’s cheers to the death of sick, twisted assholes from now on.”
I want to chuckle, but grimness weighs it down.
Alistair is dead.
The last shot I fired into his skull repeats over and over, as if I’m convinced there’s still a chance he could resurrect like he has done all throughout my fucking life.
“Where’s Silas?” I ask darkly, glancing up at Rix. “He has Kenna.”
“I think he’s on our side. Honestly, I’m fucking confused. The guy just shows up and we’re all like, shit, another motherfucker, ready to warn you, but he’s like a ninja. Had he been on Alistair’s side, we wouldn’t have stood a chance. His guys took out all of Alistair’s in minutes—guys we’d had pinned for hours. Then he told us about his brothers setting up explosives in the basement. The plan was to get you guys out and then blow the place to shit as Silas’s first message that he’s in charge now, basically. Then the fire happened, and, well ...”
I take a moment to gather, repeat, and make sense of it all.
“He sold us out,” I say.
“A ruse to buy time. He said he needed the help of his brothers, who were in Miami, to establish his claim on two very high-profile and intricate networks before they scrambled to chaos without a leader.”
“So he did it. Silas owns everything of Lanshall and Forthson’s?”
“He has control of it all for now, it seems. Which is better than a loose bunch of criminals with a whole load of illegal shit they can run wild with. No one will try to challenge Balenheizer.”
“And Kenna?”
“Haven’t heard anything. I’m sorry, man. But for what it’s worth, he looked really fucking concerned for her and left immediately to get her medical care like we did.”
“He’s not here?” This is the closest hospital.
“Nope. I doubt he’d risk it, and he probably has private medical connections.”
I have to see Kenna. Talk to her for real. I don’t know how I’ll ever apologize enough for getting it so wrong that she suffered by Alistair’s side for more than a decade.
I failed Sarah.
I failed Kenna.
I failed Allie.
And what cuts the deepest is that I keep failing Ana.
I stand, wanting to punish myself so badly, but I don’t know where to start.
“Maybe you’re right,” I say to no one in particular. “I shouldn’t be here.”
“Rhett Kaiser,” Allie snaps at my back. “Get some coffee, go for a walk, do whatever you goddamn need to, but don’t you dare leave her now because you think it’s better for her.”
My teeth grind. I don’t want to lash out at her, but she’s prodding a dangerous nerve. “She’s in there because of me.”
“No. She’s in there because of Alistair. We’re all here because of him. And he’s dead. Ana needs you, she wants you, and you’re a coward if you turn your back on that out of some selfish guilty conscience.”
Liam gravitates closer to her when I turn with a heated stare. It flares me more that he would think for a second I would hurt her—verbally or otherwise. Allie is precious to me, and he’d better fucking get that soon.
“You know how much I hate it when you’re right about me,” I grumble.
Allie’s posture relaxes, and with all the shit right now, I’m so glad to see her real smile showing off her playfulness. “Which is why you need me,” she chirps. “Best hacker and motivator.”
“Best what?” Rix challenges.
“You know it’s true.”
“We drew.”
“That’s just what you say to help you sleep at night.” Allie pats Rix on the shoulder. “You’re a lot taller than what I imagined, by the way.”
“What did you imagine?”
“Some short kid who sees sunlight about twice a year and is too skinny from a sugar diet.”
Rix squares his shoulders like he’s wondering if that’s a description he lives up to. He doesn’t. While lean, he packs good muscle and has deeply tanned skin.
“First of all, I’m older than you by two years. And I thought you’d be a short, too hot for her own good, arrogant— Yeah, you’re exactly what I pictured.”
She slaps his arm with a blooming smile.
Rix flicks a look at Liam, who’s pinning him with a glare. “Best work hard, Forbes. You might have competition,” Rix says, giving Allie a wink.
It’s only to rile him. Rix has never been interested in women, sexually or romantically. Allie knows that about him, but her deviance sparkles in her eyes as she doesn’t relax the tension in Liam by letting him know.
Behind me there’s a new burst of commotion and thundering footfall. I knew this moment would come, but it strikes me to come face-to-face with Archibald Kinsley. His expression turns haunted to see me, then absolutely furious. He’s flanked by a scary amount of security, but I don’t move. I don’t see the President of the United States; I see Ana’s dad and how I can’t possibly be hers, while he sees me as nothing more than a criminal.
“What are you all waiting for? Detain him!” Archibald roars.
Security skip ahead toward me, but to my surprise, Liam and Adam rush forward as a barrier between us.
The president does a double-take at Liam, then they start talking in quick, hushed speech, but two security guards grab my arms. One snaps a cuff around one wrist behind my back.
“Wait,” Archibald says before the second can be secured. “Take him to a conference room for now. Nothing about this gets out yet, and keep a close eye on him.”
At least I’ll still be in the hospital. I’ll fight them if I have to, if they try to take me out of here.
“Liam Forbes, we have a warrant out for your arrest,” a police officer interrupts.
Allie pushes past me. “On what grounds?” she demands, slipping into her lawyer persona, which I’ve never seen before. It makes her stern and authoritative in seconds.
“Suspicions about his involvement in the conspiracy against the president with Gregory and Matthew Forbes.”
“Suspicions don’t mean shit. Show me.” She holds out a hand, but the officers clearly don’t expect to be challenged. They fumble to find the warrant, which is a scrunched-up piece of paper with lunch stains on it.
Allie only takes a few seconds to read what she needs. “I can’t stop them from taking you in, but that’s all they have the right to do. Don’t say a word until I get there. This is bullshit, and they know they have nothing, okay?”
Liam nods. He’s put in handcuffs, and Allie looks at them, distraught. They’re both resisting a touch, and ultimately, neither cave as Liam is led away.
“You’ll get him cleared,” I say.
“Of course I will. I’m the best damned lawyer in the city.”
Pride blooms in my chest. She’s always doubted herself thanks to her asshole father. But she has to believe in herself for this.
Allie squeezes my arm. “You’re getting out of this shit too. I promise.”
I force a smile before I’m led away. The searing look the president holds on me wavers that confidence though. I’m certain he could orchestrate my assassination right here.
All that matters is Ana, and every doubt, worry, and fear that isn’t about her leaves me as there’s nothing I can do now but wait and fucking pray.