CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
It was bad enough that he’d misled me for years. But that he was trying to kill me was starting to piss me off. It brought me some joy that he was mad at me for the same reason.
After he hit me with the butt of his gun, I managed to disarm him and send it sliding under one of the marbled sinks. But the fight was quite balanced. And I hated it.
He was approaching his sixties, but he was taller than me and just as strategic. “Why the fuck is it so hard to kill you?” He threw me against the table, which broke under the impact, and I had to roll to the side to avoid him jumping on me, while also trying to breathe through the pain. “So many wasted opportunities!”
Still lying on the ground, I threw my feet up, kicking him hard on the knee. I rolled on my stomach, trying to get to his weapon before him, but he pulled me by the ankle and punched my ribs.
He took advantage of my recoiling to roll me on my back and straddle me. As I struggled beneath him, he rounded his hands around my neck, cutting off my airway. “A sniper couldn’t kill you. The man at the bar failed to kill you. Even Pablo couldn’t do it.” My vision darkened and my lungs started to burn as Edward tightened his hold. “But you won’t escape me today, you annoying bitch. Always getting in the way. My way! ”
I tried to remember my training and relaxed my body, fighting against every survival instinct I had. It was time to be strategic again. And that was something I was good at.
I let my body go limp, so he’d loosen his hold. Once he did, I fished the knife Zach had given me out of the sheath on my ankle and stabbed Edward on his side.
As he roared, clutching to his wound, I elbowed him in the nose, rolled away hastily, grabbed a piece of wood from the broken table, and swung it against the side of his head.
I stood up, grabbed the sink for balance, and smirked at him. “I should’ve told you before, I kind of like getting choked. ”
He panted in pain and stared at me with hatred. “So many years fucking up my business. And what a shame. Today you’ll die like a traitor.” Edward laughed maniacally. “After attacking a beloved member of the community. A father, a grandfather. You’ll die as the criminal the agency thinks you are. I’ll be a hero.”
I scrunched up my nose in disgust. “Oh my God, you’re that cliché? If you intend on killing me, at least make it interesting.”
He advanced against me again, and I hit the wooden bar against his stomach and swiped the knife cutting his arm. It wasn’t fatal, but it was enough to stall him and piss him off. Two things I was coming to enjoy.
Letting go of the wood and allowing my anger to take the lead, I pushed forward. I punched him in the face, kneed him on the balls, and booted him on the knee. I was so close to overpowering him. So close to severing that betrayal.
Then I lost my focus.
I heard Ethan calling my name in distress, and instead of putting an end to the whole debacle I was in, I let myself get worried about my Phoenix.
Edward stood up, punched me on the side of the head, and threw me against the wall, making me hit my head against it. In the mere seconds that it took me to steady myself and my mind, Ethan threw a chair against the locked glass door and barged into the room.
Edward finally managed to get his gun back and pointed it at me.
My Phoenix flew, jumping on me and tackling us both to the ground. “Mia, get down!”
Bang .
I didn’t feel the pain from any shot. But I felt the blood soaking my clothes. “Ethan? Oh my God! Ethan !”
From my peripheral vision, I could see Mr. Dawson overpower Edward to the ground and handcuff him. I would’ve been impressed if I wasn’t so terrified.
I gently pushed Ethan onto his back, looking for the wound. Blood oozed from his chest, and I cursed loudly. “Ethan, honey! Hang in there!”
In the distance, I heard Aaron calling for an ambulance.
Danny kneeled beside us. “We need to apply pressure on the wound.”
Zach ran to us and took off his shirt to press it over Ethan, who took in a sharp, painful breath.
Benny urged the paramedics we could hear running down the hall to move faster.
I pressed the shirt on his chest with one hand and caressed his face with the other. “Can you hear that, Phoenix? Help is on the way. Just hang in there. ”
He smiled weakly. “Maybe you could—” garbled cough “—boss them into moving faster. No one puts the fear of—” garbled cough “—God into someone better than you.”
I nodded through my terror, attempting a weak smile at him to reassure him that everything was under control. “You’re right. But the guys can handle it because I’m not leaving your side.” He struggled trying to say something, so I pressed a kiss to his lips. “Save your strength, Phoenix. You promised me you’d stay safe, and I need you to keep that promise. Otherwise, I’ll be very pissed at you. Can you do that?”
He gave me a weak nod and smiled. “Anything for you, Fire.”
I suppressed a sob and did as he suggested. Still caressing his face and pressing his wound, I looked over my shoulder and shouted for help, urging the medical team to hurry their asses.
They finally arrived in the broken room to wheel Ethan out on a gurney. I drove with him in the ambulance, praying during the whole commute. I let the professionals do their thing, but not once did I stop touching my Phoenix. I needed the reassurance that he was still alive.
We arrived at the closest hospital, and they ran with him to the emergency surgery. I was left in the hallway as I watched a part of me be taken away.
I heard heavy and loud steps approaching quickly and turned around to find Zach, Shane, Aaron, Danny, and Benny racing toward me.
I peered back at where they’d taken Ethan and shifted to see my brother. “I hate this place. I hate hospitals.” I ran angry hands through my hair, not caring that I’d end up with a deranged, bloody-person look. “We almost lost Izzie and Teddy in a hospital. Then Lisa. Then John. I lost you in a place like this. And now…” I bit my bottom lip to stop the quivering in my chin. “I can’t lose him, too.”
There are moments when you just need your big brother. Zach opened his arms and motioned me closer.
For the first time since I learned Zach was alive, I buried my face into his chest, hugging him like my life depended on it.
Then I cried. And waited. And prayed.
Because when you learn the man you love has a bullet lodged in his lung, there’s not much else you can do.