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“What’s wrong with Maggie?”
Doc shakes his head, looking troubled. “Anya tried to take her.”
“What?” I breathe. Jesus Christ. She’s a dead woman. And she won’t be alive long enough for me to do the honors.
I nod, and the old boy pads out quietly, leaving me alone with Pearl. I look at her. Silently beg her to wake up.
I flinch when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Beau. I don’t think I can take her pregnant female emotions on top of my own. I’m close to breaking. To exploding and taking out anything and everything in my path.
“My cell,” she says, holding it out. “He called it . . . before Pearl told us Anya’s surname.”
“How did she know Anya was a Dimitri?”
“She saw a foreign card in her purse.”
“She was carrying ID? How? We pulled them out of that hangar with nothing.”
Beau shrugs. “I dread to think where she’s been and who she’s seen since she’s been here. Rose mentioned Nox Dimitri to Pearl. It spiraled from there.”
“Anya took Maggie?”
She nods. “Pearl got her back. Then pushed Rose out of the way of the car Anya was driving.”
I drop my head. God damn her. But if not Pearl, then Maggie or Rose. Either Danny or I would be sitting here praying. “Get Otto to check your phone.” I order. “You can sit.”
Beau drags a chair close. “How is she?”
“Battered.”
“And you?”
I still, looking at Pearl again. “I get it now,” I whisper. “I understand.” I look at Beau. My fiery little ninja nutter. “How James feels about you. How Danny feels about Rose. I totally comprehend it. The level of their love.” I smile, returning my eyes to Pearl’s motionless form. “The unbridled hatred.” I clear my throat, feeling water building in my eyes. It spills over, rolling down my cheeks, and I roughly wipe the tears away. “I understand. I just hope it’s not too late to show her how much I love her.”
Beau seizes one of my hands, moving closer. “She will wake up,” she says. “And when she does, you will show her.”
I squeeze her hold, flinching when a bang sounds in the distance. We don’t race out to see what’s happening. We remain in our chairs watching Pearl, because we both know that bang was the end of Anya. And we both know Danny won’t have pulled the trigger. The second gunshot, though? That’s his.
“Would you . . .” I start. “Can you watch her? I need the bathroom.”
“Of course.”
I drop Beau’s hand, kiss Pearl’s before resting it gently on her tummy, and go to the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind me. I have to press a palm into the wall behind the toilet to hold myself up, and the opportunity to close my eyes for a brief moment while I take a piss is too hard to resist. I let my head hang too.
Red.
“Brad!” A bang on the door startles me, and Beau bursts in.
I jerk, pissing up the back of the toilet. “Fuck.” I grab some toilet paper and start wiping up my mess. “Jesus, Beau, you scared the shit out of me.”
“She’s awake!”
I turn to face her. “What?” And frown when she slaps a hand over her eyes.
“Brad, put yourself away.”
I look down at my groin area, finding my dick hanging out. “Shit.” I quickly fix myself, walking out of the bathroom as I do. I wasn’t there when she opened her eyes, damn it.
“Wash your hands,” Beau snaps, turning me straight back around and taking me to the sink. She flips on the faucet and shoves my hands under for me, rubbing soap into my skin as I crane my neck back to try and see into the bedroom. Try to see Pearl.
