CHAPTER 44
Unknown Number
Gabriela
I shakily reached for the gun inside my purse, but it was too late.
The attacker had already run off, disappearing into the darkness of the night.
I righted myself on wobbly legs and pushed towards Hunter’s swaying frame.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” On the verge of tears, I grabbed fistfuls of his dress shirt and turned him to face me. My hands searched him vehemently. “Hunter? Where are you hurt? Show me!”
Under the flickering light of the streetlamp, his complexion was pale, his jaw was clenched, and his breathing was laboured as he brought trembling fingers to touch his bicep.
The white dress shirt was stained crimson with his blood.
Seeing Hunter bleeding undid me.
A sensation of faintness spread through my limbs. My heart pounded and the ground beneath me felt malleable.
He gritted his teeth, wincing. “I-I’m fine, Gabby. It’s okay.”
“Like hell you are!” I wailed. “W-we need to get you to a hospital!”
The car was still blaring behind us. I realized belatedly it was Layla’s. The jarring noise, coupled with the fear lodged in my throat, turned my vision hazy. Four homes down, the door to Josh and Layla’s opened.
Josh came down the stairs with car keys in hand, pausing for a split second when he saw us standing there, shocked and distressed. He ran in our direction. “What’s going on?”
“Someone knifed Hunter!” While I panicked, Hunter was doing a better job at keeping it together. “They ran away in that direction!” I pointed down the dark street. “Josh, we need to get him to a hospital right now.”
Josh cursed when he took in his bleeding best friend.
“I’m fine,” Hunter said again, but it was a weak rasp. “No hospitals. Remember what you said before?” He aimed the question at Josh. “You don’t involve the authorities with families like yours.”
“Hunter, this is different,” I begged. A brash mixture of fury and fright pumped through my veins.
I couldn’t believe it. Someone had hurt my Hunter.
Someone made him bleed. “Please. We’re taking you.
” I shook my head. “Josh, the attacker came out of the alleyway between these two homes and he was wearing all black, a hood and a mask covering his face.”
“Gabriela.” Hunter’s hand rose to cup my cheek softly, his voice strained. “He…He was heading for you. That knife wasn’t meant for me, baby.”
I closed my eyes, fighting back tears.
Fucking bitch.
Without a doubt, those two words were aimed at me.
But why?
Who was it?
What did I do?
If Hunter hadn’t pushed me out of the way, it would have been me bearing that knife wound.
Or worse.
Based on Josh’s expression, it was clear this was deemed mob business. We wouldn’t be taking Hunter to a hospital. It was too risky. Nor would Hunter allow us to drag him there.
Josh’s mouth pinched into a grim line. He put pressure on Hunter’s wound. “Let’s go back to mine. We’ll patch you up. I’ll look through the cameras in this area and have my men sweep the neighbourhood as well. But we can’t stay here in case the attacker returns. It’s not safe.”
It went without saying that the party was over.
Josh and Layla told everyone except for our immediate group of friends that there was a sudden family emergency that needed tending to.
It incited everyone to leave, much to their chagrin.
I couldn’t care less about the damper on their moods.
We were downtown with a million bars in short proximity.
They could continue their festivities elsewhere.
With an armed member of Josh’s personal security team, Hunter and I waited outside in the shadows, along the side of the house where we wouldn’t be seen by the exiting people. And once they were gone, we went back inside.
Now Josh and Cade were giving instructions to a handful of the Remington guards in the living room, and the girls were helping Layla tidy up.
I paced in the hallway right next to the ajar bathroom door.
Sam and Shaun were cleaning Hunter’s wound and stitching him up.
Earlier, I had insisted on mending him. It was my fault. He wouldn’t have gotten hurt if it weren’t for me. But my clammy hands kept trembling with the thread and needle, and all three men grew uneasy with my heightened emotions.
Sam had offered to do it instead, imploring me with a gentle tone, “Let me take care of it, Gabby. I’ve done this before.”
I licked my dry lips. “I-I can do it.”
“He’s right, Gabby.” Shaun was in the midst of helping Hunter out of his blood-stained shirt, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t have to see this.”
I was about to fight my stance, when Hunter inched me a levelled look that left no room for argument. “It’s okay. I’ll be fixed up in no time. Go wait outside for me. Please.”
Ultimately, Sam and Shaun taking care of him was the right move. I wasn’t in any shape to stitch him myself and would probably do a botched job with the shakiness in my hands. Plus, it wasn’t Sam’s first rodeo and Shaun’s energy was probably more calming than my anxious self.
I adhered to Hunter’s wish, but before they closed the door the slightest bit to award a semblance of privacy…I caught the damage.
A long, thin, angry slash down Hunter’s bicep, the once flawless skin marred by the ugly imperfection. Blood poured out of the cut.
I closed my eyes, willing the sight away. My stomach churned and my throat tightened, an acidic taste extending on my tongue.
In a vain attempt to gather myself, I now rested against the hallway wall, my head lolling back and my eyes screwed shut. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. I concentrated on each breath, as if that would evade the bad thoughts creeping in my mind.
God, that should have been me. Not Hunter.
He didn’t deserve to get hurt on my account.
I love him and I could have lost him tonight.
The realization weighed heavily on my chest, like a suffocating, taunting pressure.
I choked back a sob but was unable to hold back my tears. They steamed down my face like a river. I kept wiping them away. I didn’t want Hunter to see me like this. I wanted to remain strong for him.
Fucking bitch.
Those two words looped in my mind like a broken record.
Now that the adrenaline slowly wore off, I replayed the moment in my head.
It was dark, the attacker appeared in a flash, and all their features were masked.
There was no way Hunter and I could have identified them.
Furthermore, I didn’t know who it could be…
but whoever it was, they had a vendetta against me.
Saying I was the wrong person at the wrong time would be a fluke.
Nothing in our world was a coincidence. It was also clear that I’d been watched for a long time, if the timely attack was anything to go by.
How else would they have known where I would be this very night?
Chills rushed over my skin.
The Remington men stated that it might be one of my papà’s enemies, someone he pissed off and they in return wanted revenge. Getting said revenge by hurting me—his daughter—wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.
There was a smaller voice in my head that said perhaps it wasn’t someone who had beef with him. Perhaps it was someone from my past…like Franco.
I wasn’t fooled by that sham of an apology the night of the gala. Given Franco’s abusive past, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume that he could be the so-called attacker.
And if it was him, then God have mercy. Papà would tear him limb from limb.
I told my theory to Josh and Cade. They said they’d have their men locate Franco just to be certain. They also insisted that I stay at one of the Remington safe houses tonight until they figured out who was behind this ordeal.
But Hunter offered his home instead—the same one on the city’s outskirts where we had our first unofficial date—and I agreed. It was private, far away, and would keep me out of the limelight.
Despite the threat looming, it wasn’t my well-being I was concerned for.
It was Hunter’s.
I hated that he got hurt because of me—hated that he could have been fatally wounded if the attacker’s slash had landed elsewhere.
What if it was his jugular, his head, or that heart I loved so fucking much?
I was spiralling, unravelling at the seams like a worn-out piece of fabric. It wasn’t healthy to harbour these thoughts, but I couldn’t stop the train wreck thinking once it began.
Hunter was still being stitched up in the bathroom and I was waiting outside for him, feeling helpless, worried, and bone-deep exhausted.
Right as I made the decision to knock on the door and see the verdict, my phone pinged with a series of incoming texts.
I pulled it out of my clutch, unlocked it, and my heart thudded.
The texts came from a number I didn’t recognize.
And when I read them…
Everything inside of me wheeled to a temporary halt.
Did you like the quote I left on your wall? —Unknown Number
Here’s another one for you. —Unknown Number
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none…but you did me wrong, you stupid cunt —Unknown Number
Bitches like you are only good for one thing. —Unknown Number
I’ll remind you of your place. —Unknown Number