Chapter Seventy
AJ
The double doors swing shut, and she’s on the wrong side. Or maybe I am.
My chest feels like it’s about to cave in. I don’t move. I can’t. My knuckles crack with how hard I’m clenching my fists. Hell, my entire body is shaking. I shouldn’t have let her go. But this is the only chance she has of remaining…whole. At least as whole as she is now.
Every one of my instincts screams at me.
“Protect her!”
But this is the one battle she has to fight on her own.
Jasper squeezes my shoulder. Emi, Connor, Isabel, and Parker are only steps behind me, an immovable wall against anything that might come for her here. Hardison mutters something about coffee and distractions.
I close my eyes and pray like I’ve never prayed before.
“Please Grace. Please come back to me.”
Each tick of the clock above the nurses’ station might as well be a nail driving deep into my skull.
Four hours and seven minutes. The doctor said it could take up to six hours—assuming no complications.
Jasper paces, his muscles coiled like he’s some caged animal ready to strike. Connor sits in the chair across from me, his gaze fixed on a stain in the middle of the scuffed linoleum. Emi and Isabel take shifts visiting the cafeteria, bringing back coffee and snacks no one eats.
Parker and Hardison are bent over their phones, pretending to focus on some stupid game, but every few minutes, one of them has to remind the other to take a turn.
They’re not fooling anyone.
Connor runs a hand through his dark hair and blows out a breath. “AJ, this is shitty timing, but—”
“Whatever you’re gonna say…save it. I ain’t interested.” I slump back in the hard plastic chair, wondering if every hospital in the world shops at the same supply store.
“The oleanders on Jasper’s truck.” Connor leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Either the cult or the cartel is watching us. Watching her. Hell, could be both of them for all we know. She’s never gonna be safe until we take the bastards down.”
“The doctors are drillin’ a hole in her skull,” I grit out. “I want these bastards six feet under. In pieces. But I ain’t doin’ a damn thing about that until Grace wakes up.”
For several long moments, no one speaks. The harsh antiseptic is practically choking me. I’d give anything to be home right now. Curled up on the couch with Grace in my arms, the scent of her gardenia and jasmine perfume filling my nose.
“You’ve got a plan,” Parker says, abandoning her phone and moving into the chair next to Connor. “What is it?”
The former FBI agent glances over at me, and eventually, I nod. “Spit it out. You’re gonna tell me whether I want to hear it or not.”
“What if we get Zephyr to alter her hospital records? Double down by leaking a story to the media—through Emi—that her surgery was so successful, she’s being discharged early. Sent home. Give the bad guys a target they can’t resist.”
My gut clenches. “You want to use my wife as bait?”
“No.” He shakes his head, the word sharp.
“The opposite. Use us. If Jasper shaves the beard, he could easily pass for you behind the wheel of your SUV. I know Parker ain’t leavin’ this hospital for anything, but I’ve got an old FBI buddy who’s about Grace’s build.
Slap a blond wig on her, along with a pair of dark glasses and a bandage? No one would suspect a thing.
“You, Parker, Hardison…you stay with Grace. Bring in a couple of your Ranger buddies if you want a stronger wall. I’ll run point from the edge of your subdivision.”
Jasper drags a hand down his jaw. “Gonna take me a month to grow this back. Emi’s gonna hate it. But…it could work.”
“Tomorrow’s the full moon,” Hardison says, his gaze locked on Connor. “They don’t have the luxury of waiting. Any move they make is gonna be soon. And if they’re that desperate…they could be that gullible too.”
Parker frowns, her eyes unfocused like she’s running the play in her head. “Good. Let them be gullible. We’ll use it. But Grace is off the board. No one touches her. Not now. Not ever. I’ll put an end to anyone who tries.”
I turn and look at Parker—really look at her. She’s all sharp edges and shadows. She inserted herself into my life when I had nothing. All because I asked her to keep an eye on Jasper after he got blown up and lost everything that mattered to him—including me. But she’s never let me in. Not really.
Grace though…she slipped past every one of Parker’s defenses. Hearing that determination—that steel—in her voice now, I breathe a little easier for the first time all fucking day.
Grace doesn’t just have me in her corner. She’s got all of us.
Every single one of us is willing to bleed—to die—for her.
I glance back up at the clock. Four hours, nineteen minutes.
“It’s a good plan,” I say, the words bitter on my tongue. “Connor, get Zephyr looped in. But make sure she knows… We ain’t doin’ a damn thing until Grace is awake. I need her to open her eyes. To feel me squeeze her hand. I need that.”
Fuck.
I scrub a hand down my face before meeting Connor’s eyes.
“Grace needs that before anyone leaves this hospital.”
One by one, our family nods.
And we wait.