Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
“ A re you sure you can do this?” I bark at Gia as we hop into the helicopter that is bound for the state park. Somewhere, in that mess of a swamp, is my wife.
Gia shrinks back into Vitali’s side at my harsh tone, but she nods firmly. Vitali hands her the laptop when we settle into our seats, our headphones on.
“Your mother wouldn’t have given her the comb if it didn’t have significance,” Gia says as she types away. “They didn’t have tracking devices in World War II, but times have changed, and so has spy work. Keeping track of assets is important. She didn’t need to give her the comb for identification. Your wife was wearing a fucking wedding dress, but if she wanted to be able to track her movements, she could. I just need to be able to find the signal. I tracked the unique signature that has been pinging off your own cell towers in the background. The signal fades out near the state marshlands. The closer we get, the more I am able to triangulate where the signal is originating from.”
Sure. Okay.
Seconds pass. Then minutes.
Ten.
Twenty.
“Got it.” She points to the map, and Vitali relays the information to the pilot. We’re nearly on top of it. My eyes scan the lands below, looking for some kind of steady land structure that isn’t swamp.
“There.” I point toward a large structure hidden out here in the middle of nowhere. If we hadn’t been flying, we would never have seen it. It is so well hidden.
“She’s got someone on her tail,” Adrian shouts.
“Several someones,” Vitali points out as he pushes Gia farther into the helicopter and drags out his sniper rifle. One shot sends a bullet into the head of its intended target. Then another. Vitali is dropping them like flies. They are barely able to fire back before he drops them.
My heart races in my chest, pounding like a jackhammer as I watch one of the men catch up to her. He grabs her hair, and I’m ready to jump from the fucking helicopter to get to her, but she is armed.
And dangerous.
The knife in her hand slides through the man’s eye. She looks down at the man screaming in pain on the ground one last time before she turns and starts hobbling away again. My wife is fucking naked and bleeding.
I’m going to cut the eyes from every fucker who has seen her like this.
“Evaline,” I scream her name as the helicopter begins to descend. She doesn’t stop.
Is she…laughing?
She does it again, just as her legs give out and she stumbles to the ground.
“Evaline!”
I know she can hear me, but I don’t think she is registering what she is hearing.
The helicopter’s blades thump steadily as it touches down on the open landscape, and my team and I spill out onto the ground. We move quickly and strategically, spreading out to cover varying areas of the terrain, ready to unleash hell on the assholes who dared to take my wife.
“Evaline!” My heart constricts at the sight of her slumped form. Bullets zip past me as I sprint toward her, practically throwing myself in front of her to shield her from harm. As I reach her side, she slumps even farther forward, and I slide into her, using my body to protect hers from hitting a large, jagged rock.
She looks like she’s been through hell and back—bruises forming on her skin, blood dripping from wounds, her breaths coming out in short, painful wheezes.
“My dark devil,” she whispers weakly, lifting a trembling hand to my chest as if to make sure I am real. Without hesitation, I grasp her hand and bring it to my lips for a gentle kiss. “I love…”
Her eyes flutter closed, and I feel a surge of panic rise within me. With a guttural growl, I gather her in my arms and hold her tight, determined to never let anyone hurt her again.
“The helicopter is coming to us,” Adrian shouts over the noise. Clenching my jaw, I pick up my wife’s limp form and wait for my pilot to land. As we wait, the last of the gunfire dies down, and Vitali and Wataru make their way toward me. Their eyes hold a pain and sorrow that mirrors my own.
“Santiago is dead,” Wataru informs me. Fuck. I’d hoped to skin that man alive. “But…” He pauses. “We found your mother.”
“Take her to the warehouse,” I grit out. Vitali reaches in to check Evaline’s pulse and nods his head. “It’s there. Weak due to all the blood loss, but it’s there.” I won’t breathe a sigh of relief until she wakes and I can see her smile at me again.
The helicopter touches down, and we all climb inside, leaving Hiro and the other men to take care of business here. Taking a seat, I rearrange her in my lap, refusing to let her out of my arms. Andrei pulls out the first aid kit and starts patching up some wounds, working on stopping the bleeding. None of the cuts seem too deep, but she’s definitely got a broken rib or two and possibly a fractured cheekbone. Wataru unfolds one of the emergency blankets and helps me cover her while still allowing Andrei to work on her cuts.
“She’s strong,” Wataru assures me. “She’s got kai .”
A fighting spirit.
I can’t believe my mother did this.
And not just this. There are so many things that have cut me deep to the bone today, but this is the worst. Right above my mother’s betrayal.
“Fight for me, utsukushī bakuchiku ,” I whisper into her hair. “Fight for us.”
Fight for our love.
Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, welling up and spilling over onto my cheeks. I can’t contain the overwhelming love and fear that consumes me as I hold Evaline Nakamura in my arms. The promise of forever echoes in my mind as I whisper to her, a desperate plea to the universe to keep her with me.
Every second feels like an eternity as we race toward the trauma center, my chest tightening with each passing minute. I refuse to lose her. Not after all this life has already taken from me. I’ll fight any force, even the devil himself, to bring her back to me. My heart is heavy with the thought of losing her, a weight I cannot bear.
As we touch down on the roof of University Hospital, Adrian throws open the door for two waiting doctors. They stand ready with a stretcher between them, their white coats flapping in the wind. We carefully transfer Evaline onto it before pushing through the doors and heading toward the elevators. My grip tightens on her hand as we descend to the surgery level.
“Do everything you can,” I grit out to the doctors. “She’s my wife.”
The doctor reassures me before they rush her down the hallway toward the operating room. We follow closely behind, taking a seat in a private waiting area.
My mind swirls with anger and betrayal at the thought of someone taking my wife away from me. Never did I think that my own mother would betray us both. The realization hits hard that Evaline may have never heard me tell her how much she means to me. That she is my reason for living, my first thought in the morning and last before sleep claims me.
She is my entire existence.
And now it could all be gone because of my mother’s actions.
“String her up,” I growl through clenched teeth. “Let her wait for me to deliver swift justice from the Yakuza for harming my fucking wife.”
Evaline, be strong. You are everything to me, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe .
I’ve lost count of how long we’ve been waiting for any kind of news. By the time the doctors come find us in the waiting room, I am ready to burn the hospital to the ground.
I shoot up from my chair, my heart hammering in my chest, breaths coming fast as they approach us with grim expressions on their faces.
“I’m Dr. Klein.” The older surgeon introduces himself. “The surgery went well. Mrs. Nakamura is in the intensive care unit. We’ve currently got her sedated so that we can give her body a little time to heal before she wakes up.”
Fuck, my heart.
“She has three broken ribs and several deep lacerations to her breasts, stomach, and inner thighs. There is a possibility of some nerve damage to her breasts due to how deep the lacerations went into the adipose tissue, but we won’t know the extent until she wakes up. There is a possibility that she won’t be able to breastfeed.”
“Breastfeed?”
Dr. Klein nods his head with a smile. “You are both very lucky,” he tells me. “She might have some issues later on in her pregnancy, but right now, the baby is safe and healthy.”
Baby?
“Wait…” I swallow back the lump in my throat. “She’s…she’s pregnant?” Tears push at the backs of my eyes as I stare at the doctors, my heart both soaring and dying at the same time.
The two doctors exchange a worried glance. “We thought you knew.”
I shake my head in disbelief.
I’m going to be a father.
Vitali’s voice breaks through the overwhelming silence as my mind struggles to form coherent thoughts. “Can we see her?” he asks, his concern evident in his tone.
“A maximum of two people at a time,” the doctor responds, leading us down a sterile hallway to the room where she rests. My eyes immediately find my wife, and I feel a wave of relief wash over me as I see her lying there, whole and alive. The doctors have cleaned her up, but faint bruising still remains, a reminder of the trauma she has endured.
Gently leaning over the bed, I brush my fingers over her cheek, careful not to disturb the thin sheet that covers her body. I know they can’t pile on blankets, afraid of causing a fever.
Whispering in Japanese, I struggle to find words that accurately convey my emotions. In our culture, there is no direct translation for common western terms such as my love or sweetheart . These words are seen as odd and clichéd between couples. Even the term aishiteru , which means I love you , is rarely uttered by families due to the pressure it places on relationships. But I would gladly say it every hour of every day for the rest of my life.
The sight of her injured and vulnerable form causes an ache in my chest that I cannot ignore. “Forever and always,” I whisper in her ear. “I will love you and uphold my wicked vows.”
Forever and always.