Although I wanted to tear into the clinic, guns blazing—because I sure as hell had the sidearm from my glovebox clipped to my belt—I went in slow.The ding of the front door would give away my entry.Whoever might be in there would know I’d come inside.
Marty was on the floor at the front, blood on her forehead.I could see her chest lift as she breathed.Not dead.I unholstered my gun and pushed into the back.
Horror punched the air from my lungs as I watched a guy fist a handful of Erika’s hair and slam her skull against the treatment table.She let out a strangled cry that tore right through me.
“Stop!”I shouted, stumbling forward.“What the hell are you doing?”
Her attacker snapped his head toward me, eyes wild, pupils blown wide with madness.A twisted grin peeled across his face, stretching too far, too wrong, as he lifted a gun like it was nothing more than a toy.
“Uh-uh-uh,” he sing-songed, wagging the barrel at me.“Throw the gun on the floor.Stay right there, Dr.Hurst.”
My heart hammered so violently I could taste metal.Every instinct screamed to run, to fight, to dosomething.But the gun tracked me.I tossed my weapon on the floor, away from both of us.
“Who are you?”I asked.
The man dragged Erika’s limp body to sit upright and used her hair to position her so I could see her face.Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t look like she was even conscious.“I’m the one she belongs to.Say good-bye, Dr.Hurst.If Erika won’t be mine, she can’t be yours either.”
This must be her psycho ex from Philly, Jay.“Who says she’s mine?We’re business partners.”I needed to stall until Dante could get here.“We just work together.”
The gun was pointed at me with intent.Erika didn’t seem coherent enough to process what was going on around her.Her eyelids hadn’t even twitched.Thank God, she wouldn’t see this, but I hoped her head injury wasn’t too serious.
“You think I’m stupid, Josh Hurst?”His eyes were wild and unfocused, sliding right past me like he couldn’t anchor to reality.The madman aimed his gun.
I was going to die.
The world detonated into white noise.I squeezed my eyes shut on pure instinct, flinching, bracing for pain that should’ve come like fire through my body.My ears screamed with the ringing of the shot, drowning out everything else.
Was I dead?
Time seemed to hold its breath with me.I waited for darkness to swallow me whole… But nothing happened.No agony.Just the thunder of my heart, pounding hard enough to hurt.
I forced my eyes open.
The shooter lay sprawled face-first on the floor, limbs twisted awkwardly, blood pooling beneath his cheek.And behind him stood Dante—shoulders rigid, jaw clenched—his arms locked tight as he held the gun steady, still aimed at the downed man’s head as if the threat might rise again.
Dante’s gaze found mine, burning, breaths uneven.He’d saved my life.
And for a second, the world tilted, everything too sharp, too bright, too real.
“Call an ambulance!”My voice sounded foreign to me.I dropped to my knees beside Erika.The floor was cold beneath me, and her body felt terrifyingly limp when I touched her.
She was breathing.Barely.Shallow, uneven breaths that whispered instead of filled.Her eyes stayed closed, lashes unmoving, like she was already slipping somewhere I couldn’t follow.I shook her gently, my hands trembling.“Come on.Please wake up.Tell me you’re okay.”
No response.Not even the slightest flicker.
I dragged her into my arms, holding her tight against my chest as if I could anchor her there by will alone.I rocked her without realizing I was doing it, a desperate, helpless motion, fighting against a rising scream clawing up my throat.
“Stay with me,” I whispered.“Don’t leave me.”
My vision blurred, and I lifted my head, searching blindly for the only person who could still help.My eyes locked on Dante, pleading, wild.
“Help,” I choked out.“Please.”
He kneeled beside me and put a hand on my arm.“I already called for the ambulance.I need to check on Marty.”
An eternity later, Dante said softly, “They’re here, Josh.The medics are here to get Erika and Marty to the hospital.Can you relax and let her go?”
“I’m going with her.”
