26. Bear
26
BEAR
T he steady beep-beep-beep of Julia’s heart rate monitor was the only thing keeping me sane. Watching her go down had pierced through my soul, and for one heart-clenching moment, I thought I’d lost her. I almost did. She bled out in front of me while chaos erupted around us, and I did my best to shield her from the fray.
The bodice of her wedding dress had been reinforced with body armor, but she’d managed to twist in just the right way for Gabriella’s bullet to go through a seam and into Julia’s chest. It was a one-in-a-million shot, but like Julia feared, fate had it out for her after all.
After Gabriella died, what little remained of those loyal to her either fled or were killed by my brothers. And the fucker that put his hands on Julia, Lenny or whatever the fuck his name was, fell lifeless to my feet when I put a bullet between his eyes.
Then Selene held my wife together until we could get her here. All in all, we’d lost over two dozen men, either killed so Gabriella could sneak onto our property or caught in the fray between the MCs after she went down. We couldn’t afford to lose any more, not after Stallion’s treachery and the raid earlier this year.
I should have been doing damage control at the clubhouse with KC and Hollywood. But instead, I sat by my wife’s side, my hands still stained with her blood.
It had been two days of touch and go, and after surgery removed most of the bullet fragments from her stomach, the doctors told me the rest would be up to Julia. She’d lost so much blood, she’d been sheet-pale by the time they got her on a gurney, and then they’d had to wait until she could even sustain surgery to get the pieces out.
“Have you slept?” came the deep voice from the doorway.
I glanced up to see Leo walking toward me with his hands in his dress pants. Verona had brought me a change of clothes earlier today, but I hadn’t been home since before the wedding, choosing instead to sleep on the tiny sofa just in case Julia woke up. I wanted to be the first person she saw. I wanted her to know we’d both made it, that she truly belonged to me now in a way she never could let herself before. We belonged to each other.
“Some,” I said, shifting in my seat as he sat in the chair on the other side of the hospital bed. He swept his red-rimmed eyes over his sister before letting out a long, drawn-out sigh. “What about you?”
“Some.” He attempted a smile, but it wasn’t genuine, not when Julia had paid the price for our high-stakes chess game. “Any change?”
I shook my head. She’d been hooked up to machines since she came out of her operation, and the doctors couldn’t say for sure if she would ever come off them. Selene was hopeful, and I’d never known her to mince words. If she thought Julia wouldn’t make it, she’d tell me.
“She is strong,” Leo said. “Stronger than both of us. She’ll come out of this.”
I didn’t know what I would do if she didn’t, and my lungs seized at the notion. It hadn’t started as love. Hell, it had barely started as friendship, but we’d built a solid foundation of trust and admiration. Now I loved her more than I’d ever loved anyone who dared stand in her place before.
“How’s your rise to the Caputi throne?” I asked, deciding to change the subject before my worries escalated into an anxiety attack.
“Going very well,” Leo said. “My uncles have ceded the top seat to me, and the underbosses have already fallen in line.”
“Do you expect dissent?” I thought of my brothers who had betrayed me and how hard it was to deal with them. Now, I couldn’t be sure if the rest of the club was scared of me or truly supportive of the plan. I guessed it didn’t matter either way, as long as they did what they were told and didn’t start shit. We would probably be hunting down their allies in the Hell’s Knights for years to come.
“Probably,” Leo said, picking lint off his shirt. “Some will think it easier to get rid of me than Gabriella. They may have gone along with it if only to topple me once I had the reins.”
“Keep me in the loop,” I said. “You had our back, we’ll have yours.”
He nodded. “I asked around about the leak in the PD.”
That got my attention. I still owed some pig a visit. Whoever had been responsible for arresting Crow and Aris had done it in conjunction with when the Caputis attacked us. It had been coordinated, entirely too perfect. Months ago, I’d promised Detective Jordan when I found out who it was, I’d be sure to return the favor. I meant it.
“No one knows who Gabriella was working with,” he said. “If they do, they’re keeping it hidden, maybe in attempts to save their own skin.”
I sighed, trying not to let the disappointment overtake the rest of my energy.
“I’ll keep my ears open,” he concluded.
“Thank you. Truly.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and ran my fingers over my burning eyes.
“You should go home for a bit,” Leo said. “Take a shower. Get some food. I’ll stay with her.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
Leo stared at me, raking his gaze over my tired form, like he could see inside my head, perhaps read every thought I’d ever had.
“What?” I raised my eyebrows at his assessment.
“You really love her, don’t you?” His tone hinted at amusement, though not too much considering the unconscious person between us.
“More than my life,” I said. “If I could, I would trade places with her in a heartbeat.”
“I’m pleased to hear it.” Leo reached out to grab her hand, tucking his fingers between her thumb and forefinger. “Julia always was a stubborn girl, even as a child. She’d dig her teeth into something and wouldn’t let go, no matter what logic or reason you threw at her. Once, she found an injured bird in our backyard and brought it inside to nurse it back to health. ‘It’s a wild animal,’ our mother told her. ‘It’s going to die, no matter what.’” Leo pulled one side of his mouth into a smile, as if he could see the miniature version of her in front of him. “But Julia wouldn’t let the thing go. She tended to its wing and fed it worms until it had the strength to fly on its own again.”
She had a big heart. I’d already known that about her.
“Eventually, my father found it and cracked its neck in front of her.”
I hated Giuseppe Caputi even more.
“It was the first thing she ever loved, and he took it away from her.” Leo clenched his eyes shut, like the memory haunted him. “It wouldn’t be the last time he did that. If you ever wondered where her rebellion started, it was with a tiny bird in his big, violent hands.”
“That’s horrifying,” I said.
“She loves you, too,” Leo said. “More than I believe she’s ever loved anything, including that bird.”
Tears burned the corners of my eyes, and I blinked them back and cleared my throat.
“Have you been by the clubhouse?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I haven’t left her side.”
“KC is taking good care of it,” Leo said. “The other Rose chapters are grieving their dead, but everyone who came to help knew the cost.”
“He told me we lost three prospects and five brothers of our own,” I said. What remained of the Kings of Carnage and the Hell’s Knights had tucked tail and ran. We would need to retaliate, but we’d face that day when it came. One step at a time.
Leo nodded. “The funeral is in a few days. You should go.”
I knew I should. As the president, it would only be right. But if my old lady was still in this bed, then this was exactly where I would be. I wouldn’t leave her to wake up alone and scared.
“Thank you, Leo,” I said. “Not just for the information, but for all of it…for agreeing to go along with our plan in the first place.”
“Thank you, Roman,” he said as he stood and put his hands back in his pockets. “It’s a new day for our family. Let’s make it a good one, yes?”
I couldn’t disagree.
“She’ll be okay, brother,” Leo said. “I know it.”
I watched him walk out of the room as the weight of his words settled in my chest.
Brother.
Two years ago, I would have died rather than consider Leo Caputi my brother, and now he truly was—not just in relationship but by law. The Roses and the Caputis were connected irrevocably by love and marriage, and soon by blood.
The doctor had confirmed Julia had been pregnant and miscarried due to the trauma of being shot. I didn’t plan to tell anyone that, not until Julia knew herself. I grieved the young life we’d lost, even if I didn’t know about it until two days ago. I wanted children with her. I wanted the family I’d always envisioned.
I stared at the woman on the bed and wiped the water from my cheeks, praying to whatever fate…karma…deities were listening that they heal her and bring her back to me. Hadn’t I given enough for this fucking war? My parents, my blood, my fellow Roses, almost my brothers and sister. Hadn’t I done enough to end it, to make it right? And now my whole future lay unconscious on a bed, nearly bled to death, and what did I get in return? Nothing but my anger and frustration that I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
To distract myself, I answered a few emails from my phone and replied to the sibling group chat including Pollux, Castor, and V.
Verona: Bear, do you need anything? I’m on my way over. I’ll bring you something to eat.
Pollux: Get me a chicken sandwich—the one with the cheddar jack cheese.
Verona: I didn’t ask you, bonehead. You’re not at the hospital with your wife.
Castor: I want extra fries.
Pollux: Get me extra fries, too. We’ll meet you there.
Verona: Idiots. BEAR—Do YOU need anything?
Pollux: Yeah, brother. Want me to bring you some clean clothes?
I laughed and tried not to let my emotions overwhelm me. If it was one thing about my siblings and me, we were trauma-bonded down to the marrow. Losing our mother so young, living this life together, it made the foundation of our relationship so fucking solid, nothing would shake it. I could tell them not to come. I could tell them not to waste their time since she probably wouldn’t wake up for a while, but they wouldn’t listen. When Pollux had been in the hospital, we’d all gone to see him every day, even if there was nothing new to see. They wouldn’t let me face this on my own.
A groan from the hospital bed drew my attention before I could reply to my siblings, and when I glanced up, my heart nearly stopped to see her beautiful brown eyes open.
“Julia?” I said.
She moved her lips to try to talk, but there’d be no point with the ventilator down her throat.
“Shh,” I said. “Don’t move. Don’t try to speak.” I called over my shoulder for a nurse or a doctor, fucking someone to help her, but when she grabbed my hand and squeezed, I knew she’d be okay. Leo had been right. She was strong, much stronger than me, and she’d pull through.
“You’re okay,” I told her. “You’re in the hospital, but you’re okay.”
The sound of rushing feet came up behind me and warm hands pulled me away from my wife.
“Let me see her,” the nurse said, grabbing the stethoscope from around her neck. A few other people filled in around her, and I reluctantly dropped Julia’s hand to let the doctors do their work. But regaining consciousness was a good sign, and I bowed my head to silently give thanks to whatever had heard me and granted my prayers.