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I ran to the door and broke it down with my shoulder despite the fact it was a foot thick. Right now I was a ten times stronger than usual. My muscles were twitching and firing at constant speed. My body prepared me for the ultimate battle, the fight that would claim my life or his.
What I saw made me stop in my tracks.
Button lay on the floor covered in so much blood I couldn’t distinguish her features. She was a limp corpse, smelling like death. I couldn’t tell if she was bleeding. Her blood gleamed under the light.
Cane stood there with his head held high. He was caked in her blood. His eyes lacked remorse. Rage was the only feeling he could convey. “Black and Blue, Crow. You should have done this a long time ago.”
Without thinking twice about it, I pointed the gun right at his head.
“Like you would shoot—”
I pulled the trigger and he crumpled to the ground.
My eyes turned to her crumpled mass on the floor. I found her neck and listened to for a pulse, needing there to be some form of life. If she slipped away I would never forgive myself. I already broke my promise to her. Now I would never get the chance to apologize for it.
But it was there—weak and dangerous.
“Button, hold on. I’m here.” I lifted her from the floor and carried her out of the room, leaving my brother to bleed out and die. My rage was quickly replaced with terror. If I didn’t get her to the hospital quick enough she would pass on. I couldn’t lose another person. I just lost Vanessa and now I was going to lose someone else I couldn’t live without.
Button.
***
I got her checked into the hospital and they whisked her off for emergency surgery. If they didn’t perform immediately, she was guaranteed to die. But she was likely going to die anyway.
I paced in the hallway and watched the clock as time stood still. My legs carried me back and forth and my chest ached with every breath I took. If she didn’t make it I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with myself.
I’d probably take my own life.
Hours dragged on indefinitely. I stayed in the exact same spot in the waiting room just in case anyone came looking for me. I didn’t eat or drink. I was exposing myself to my enemies by lingering without my guards but that didn’t matter right now.
Nothing mattered but Button.
***
Ten hours later she was out of surgery.
“How is she?”
“Critical,” the doctor said.
I processed the word without reacting, without feeling. It was just like Vanessa all over again. The pain was too unbearable. If I allowed my body to feel the pain it would shut down forever. “Will she be okay?”
He looked at the ground and avoided my look. “It’s too early to tell. She lost a lot of blood. Had a lot of internal injuries. We fixed everything but that doesn’t mean she’ll pull through. It’s a lot trauma for one person to take. It’s all up to her at this point.”
She was a fighter. She would push through. “Take me to her.”
“She can’t have any visitors—”
“Now.”
He didn’t dare defy me after the terrified expression I gave him. If anyone fucked me with right now, he was an idiot. I was delirious with pain and could snap at any moment. “Right this way.”
He guided me to her room, a private room in the corner of the hospital. It had a large bed, a private living room, and a large window overlooking the city. He nodded before he shut the door behind me.
I approached her bed and stood over her. The blood had been cleaned up but she looked half her usual size. Her skin was no longer plump and it was unusually pale. Bruises and cuts still marked her face. It was so bad I couldn’t distinguish her features at all.
I sat in a chair at her bedside and felt the grief creep up my throat. She was in this condition because of me. I shouldn’t have been so arrogant to assume she was safe in my home. She’d already been through so much and now she went through something worse.
I failed her.
My hand found hers and I interlocked our fingers together. It reminded me of the times I held her hand during the drive. Her fingers felt smaller now, lifeless. The affection wasn’t the same. It was like touching a corpse. “Button, I know you can hear me. You’re going to pull through this. You’re strong. You’ve been through worse. Just keep fighting.” I squeezed her hand gently, hoping she knew I was there. “Don’t give up on me.”
***
Two days passed and she didn’t wake up.
I showered in her room and ate whatever the nurse brought for me. I didn’t leave her side because I was too afraid. If I weren’t here to protect her, she would be vulnerable and alone. Even if Bones’s men came with guns I still wouldn’t move. I would cover her body with mine until I was pierced with bullet holes.
