“Nina.”
“She’ll be right behind you.”
“With me.” I tried sitting up, but the world started spinning and I fell back.
“Austin, I swear to you, we won’t let anything happen to her,” Gibson said.
Then I’d swear I heard him say, “Just do it,” before the world around me faded to black.
Chapter 61
Nina
My lids grated against my eyes like sandpaper as I tried to open them. A steady beeping noise cut through the fog in my head, giving me a headache.
Where am I?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I spent the night before overindulging. But that wasn’t who I was.
Like a slideshow set to triple time, images flashed through my mind.
The car chase.
Ryan getting shot.
Austin’s head being slammed onto the trunk.
The beeping increased.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to stop the flood of images.
The back of a van.
Austin bleeding.
Tied to a chair.
Austin hanging from a hook.
Beep.Beep.Beep.Please God, let this be a bad dream.
Blood dripping down his black and blue face.
His knee blown to shreds.
They killed him.
My bloodcurdling scream shocked me out of my nightmare.
Only it wasn’t a nightmare. I was in a sterile white hospital room, and the beeping was the sound of a machine monitoring my pulse.
“Nina, it’s okay. You’re safe.”
“Austin?” My voice sounded frantic as I turned my head. Things were blurry, but not so much that I could confuse Ryan for Austin when I saw him.
“He’s alive and in surgery.”
“Alive?” My voice hitched at the end. “How?” I heard them shoot him. My heart broke all over again at the thought of Austin dying to protect me.
