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The hospital couldn’t come soon enough. When its looming silhouette finally broke through the darkness, Adriana navigated the car into the emergency zone. Tires screeching against the cold pavement, she came to an abrupt halt just a few feet from the entrance.
“No time to be delicate,” I muttered, yanking open the back door. The injured man fell out onto the concrete with a thud, his body limp against the chilled ground.
Adriana gasped, shooting me a horrified look. “Tristan!”
“Go and scream for help,” I said. “Then come out here and get in the car. I’ll drive us away.”
“This is fucked.”
“It is,” I said. “Hurry!”
She shot me one last disapproving look before sprinting into the ER, her voice echoing off the cold concrete, “Help! We need help out here!”
The hospital doors swung open moments later, spilling harsh fluorescent light onto the scene. A group of nurses and doctors rushed outside, a gurney in tow. I stood back, keeping my face obscured from their view as they moved the man onto the stretcher.
Adriana emerged from the hospital, her face pale and eyes wide. She climbed into the passenger seat, looking shaken. Without a word, I slid into the driver’s seat and put the car into gear. We drove away just as they were wheeling the man inside.
We hadn’t taken our luggage out of the car, so it was easy enough to drive away. As the hospital faded into the distance, I gripped the wheel, my knuckles white. Adriana sat silent beside me, her eyes staring out of the window. The tension in the car was thick enough to be cut with a knife.
“Adriana…” my voice trailed, not sure what I could say to make it better.
“What the fuck, Tristan?” Adriana said, her voice low, cutting. “What the fuck are you thinking?”
“I…” I swallowed hard, wrestling with the lump in my throat. “I wasn’t thinking. I saw him looking at you and I…I just lost it.”
“Lost it?” Adriana echoed, a bitter laugh slipping past her lips. “You almost killed a man, Tristan. For what? A lewd look?”
I swallowed hard, my grip on the wheel tightening. “I saw him watching you, Adriana,” I said quietly. “In that filthy way. I saw the threat he posed to you, to us. I reacted. I didn’t think. I just…protected.”
She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, “You don’t get to make a unilateral decision about what threatens me and what doesn’t!”
“I know,” My voice was hoarse. “I’m sorry.”
“Fuck your sorry, Tristan. And fuck you.”
Chapter Nineteen: Adriana
Tristan hadn’t killed that guy. I thought. I hoped.
There was no way I was ever going to find out. It wasn’t like I could just call the hospital and ask. “Did the random unconscious guy that was dropped off outside survive? By the way, just asking for a friend.” Yeah, that would go over well. Not to mention any inquiry would likely lead them straight back to us.
I glanced at Tristan out of the corner of my eye. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, forehead creased in an unusual display of emotion. I hadn’t expected this. Any of this. I had boarded a roller coaster of emotions with Tristan and it seemed there was no getting off now.
I turned my gaze back to the window, watching as the city lights rushed past us in a blurred kaleidoscope. We were leaving all that behind—the hotel, Dr Hawthorne’s clinic, any semblance of a normal life. All because Tristan couldn’t control his violent instincts. We would have to drive back to the clinic for my ultrasound appointment, but beyond that, I realized I had no control about where I went next.
My heart pounded in my chest, not just from the adrenaline but from something deeper, a chilling fear that I hadn’t fully understood until now. The reality of what Tristan was capable of, the lengths he would go to protect me…it was terrifying. Not just because of the violence he had shown, but because of what it meant for us.
When the baby came, would I become a threat?
Would Tristan hurt me to protect our child?
I’d heard the rumors about Malachy Callahan…that he’d had his three wives killed rather than allow them to influence his sons. Especially if this baby was a boy…
…I couldn’t think about that right now.
I needed to keep my stress levels down.
I felt my stomach clench as we passed by one city sign after another, each one a reminder of how far away we were getting from any semblance of familiarity. The lights of the city faded into the inky blackness, drowned out by the ominous shadow of what lay ahead. The unknown.
