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I didn’t know. I also hadn’t realized how much it meant to me until I’d almost lost it.
Dominic sank into the seat next to me as Dr. Grant explained the test results to Mari, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. “Those two have nine fucking lives,” he muttered.
“Let’s hope so.” We didn’t need any more bad luck.
Dr. Grant gave Mari’s hand a pat before heading out the door, and our girl immediately came over, dropping her ass into my lap like it was her normal seat. Not that I was complaining. Any chance to have her touching me was one I took.
She pulled Dominic’s hand into her lap, playing with his fingers idly as she repeated what the doc had said. “He’s got a possible concussion and some burns. They had to get some debris out, but we were far enough away that it’s nothing serious. As long as we keep everything clean, he’ll be fine.”
“That’s a fucking miracle,” I said under my breath.
Dr. Grant came back in, wheeling a tray behind her, and Mari gave Dominic and me a kiss before joining her. As the good doctor talked her through redressing certain wounds, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
The call was a welcome reprieve from the throat-closing relief and the rage I’d ignored festering in my gut, coiling and slithering like a snake lying in wait. “You find him?”
“Yeah. Won’t say where he’s been, though,” Tennessee said.
Of course he wouldn’t. Shady fuck.
“Does he know about Mari?”
Tennessee grunted. “Don’t think so.”
“Keep it that way. Joaquin is no longer in the inner circle. Treat him as we’d treat a rat, and keep your mouth shut until further notice.”
Tennessee’s sigh echoed down the line. “Do we call Cameron?”
I watched Mari’s face, her brows furrowed in concentration as she wrapped Nate’s arm under the careful watch of Dr. Grant. She would want her cousin in the loop, but I knew more than anything, what she really wanted for him was a fucking break.
“No,” I finally answered. “We’ll tell him when he gets back.”
It was only another week before he and Ash returned from their honeymoon. We’d give them that long. When they arrived home, war would be on the horizon.
As I hung up, the sound of arguing hit my ears. I found Dr. Grant and Mari squaring off. The good doctor had cornered my girl and was trying and failing to clean a cut on her temple.
“Would you just sit still?” she snapped.
“If you let me get my phone, I will,” Mari snapped back. A smile tipped my lips. If she was fighting, she was feeling good.
“Your phone’s trashed,” I said, walking over to hand her mine. “Who do you need to call?”
“Rafael,” she growled, snatching it out of my hand. “People died today. Good people. My people. Nate—” She looked at the bed, and her face crumpled before she built it back up. “I’m done playing nice, and he’s done hiding. The Osorios promised us information, and I intend to get it.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mari
As I sat beside the hospital bed with one of Nate’s hands clasped in mine, I knew the way the world worked around me wasn’t normal. Some things were too fast and others too slow. I knew I was in shock, but I didn’t care. All I could focus on was the gradual hiss of Nate’s breath, the beep of his heart monitor, and the tick, tick, tick of the clock.
“He’s here.”
I slowly lifted my gaze to see Greyson on the other side of the room. He was dirtier than I thought he’d ever been, even as children. His hair was mussed, his suit trashed, fingers wrapped in bandages. My eyes caught on them and couldn’t move.
Why were they wrapped in bandages? What had happened to his fingers?
“I dug you out,” he said, voice hoarse. “Scraped them on the stone.”
Had I ever seen him so raw before? The terror that blanketed his features felt too much like it had after the warehouse and I wanted to make it all better, but I couldn’t. I could barely keep pushing forward myself.
