Chapter Twenty-Three Bishop
Ifelt like the biggest bastard imaginable as I made my way out of Samantha’s office building.
What the hell had I been thinking? Well, I guessed I knew what I had been thinking— I had once again let my dick control my decision- making.
Just the thought of the angry sex we’d had caused my cock to throb for a second round.
When my phone rang, I dug it out of my pocket. It was Rev. “Yes. I got the depositions delivered. I’m not a total idiot.”
“That’s not why I’m calling.”
“What is it?”
A pause came on the other end. “Was Samantha okay when you saw her?”
I didn’t think Rev would want me to answer that question honestly, so I replied, “Yeah. Why?”
“She wasn’t alone?”
“No. She had a bodyguard outside her door.”
“Oh. Good.”
“Rev, what the fuck is going on?”
He sighed. “Eddy’s gone off the grid again, even from the Diablos. And I’m worried about what he said before he disappeared, B.”
Anxiety spiked in my bloodstream as I gripped the phone. “What?”
“He said that without Samantha’s testimony, there wouldn’t be a case against us Raiders, so she needed to disappear. Then we would be behind bars, and he and the Diablos could take on the Rodriguez cartel for the guns.”
“Fucking hell.”
I didn’t hear anything Rev said next. Instead, that eerie sixth sense feeling of dread pricked up my spine. “I have to go,” I spat.
After I hung up, I sprinted back into the building. When the elevator didn’t budge, I hit the stairs to Samantha’s fifth- floor office.
When I burst out of the stairwell, I froze at the sound of Sam’s screams. Then I raced forward on a burst of speed, zigzagging my way through the maze of desks. I barreled into Sam’s office, only to find her crumpled on the floor and Eddy stabbing her.
“Over here, motherfucker!”
My outburst momentarily stunned Eddy, and it gave me the leverage I needed to tackle him. After we tumbled to the floor, I drove my fist into his jaw and then his cheek. He was the extreme opponent I needed to take down in the ring, except the stakes were so much higher here.
Eddy launched three punches back at me before I began pummeling his face with both my fists. Over and over, I beat him as I screamed in agony.
The next thing I knew I was being lifted up and dragged away.
When I came to myself enough to realize what was going on, paramedics were dragging a gurney into the room. “Samantha?” I pushed away from the two men holding me and stumbled over to the desk.
“Oh Jesus, Sam,” I moaned.
She lay in a pool of blood with jagged tears along her arms and legs. The worst were the wounds in her chest and abdomen. Tears seared and burned my eyes like acid as I dropped to the floor beside her.
I took her limp hand in mine and brought it to my lips. The metallic taste of blood entered my mouth, and I didn’t know if it was Sam’s or Eddy’s or mine. “Oh, Sam, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Sir, you have to move so we can work on her.”
No, I can’t leave her. I did this to her. It’s all my fucking fault. But she needed the paramedics. She needed for them to be able to save her life. Once again, they asked me to step aside. I wasn’t sure my legs would hold me, but somehow I scrambled to my feet.
“Jesus, I’m so sorry, Sam. I’m so fucking sorry,” I groaned.
After one of the paramedics checked her, he said, “She’s holding on, but we have to get her the hell out of here. She’s losing too much blood.”
I watched helplessly as they put Sam’s body on the gurney. “Sir, do you want to ride along with us?” one of the paramedics asked.
“Y-yeah. Yeah, I do,” I croaked.
“Then let’s go.”
As the wheels of the gurney rattled along the floor, I fell in step with the paramedics. All I could do on the elevator ride down was pray. I needed her to live more than I’d ever longed for anything in the world. I needed to be able to make things right between us.
Most of all, I needed to tell Sam I loved her.