The EMT nodded. “If you’re family, you can ride with us to the hospital.”
Kara began to shake her head—but then stopped. She wanted to make sure Angelo would be all right, but couldn’t lie about being his family.
“Or you can wait here for the police,” the EMT said.
“The p—police?” She choked on the word.
“Yeah. They’ll be here soon to document everything and take your statement.”
Panic flooded her again. She couldn’t face the police. She had to leave. If the police looked into who she was… She needed to vanish. Hide. It was everything her mother had taught her about staying alive.
In the distance, her ears now heard police sirens. Her skin prickled with foreboding. She had to leavenow. She was all set to smile and nod at the EMT, assure him she would wait for the police, then flee the moment the ambulance pulled away.
But she made a mistake. She glanced at Angelo once more, his pale face twisted in pain, his eyes peering at her with fear, finding her.
“Stay… with me?”She’d promised not to leave him. She’dpromised.
His breathless plea stuck in her chest, stilling her feet and burrowing so deeply into her heart that she couldn’t get it out. Shecouldn’tleave him. She had to make sure, for herself, that he was looked after. She had to keep her promise to him—to stay with him, so he wouldn’t be alone after saving her. He was a hero—her hero—and she couldn’t let him face whatever was coming alone.
“Ma’am?” The paramedic pressed. “We have to go now.” He started moving Angelo’s stretcher to the ambulance.
“Wait! I’m his fiancée!”
The EMT turned back to her when she blurted this out, his eyes automatically going down to her gloved hands before returning to her face.
She continued, “I want to ride in the ambulance with him, please.”
The EMT nodded. “Okay, hop in.”
The man helped her into the ambulance, then slammed the doors shut while the other EMT got into the driver’s seat, hit the switch for the sirens and lights, and pulled out into the street.
She watched them put a mask over Angelo’s face to give him oxygen and his eyes closed.
“Can I hold his hand?” she asked.
“Yes.” The man continued to keep pressure on Angelo’s wound, and all Kara could do was curl her fingers around Angelo’s. They were cold, and she hoped her touch could help warm them a little. She thought she felt his fingers twitch in response, and tightened her hold a bit more.
I’m here… Angelo. I’m here. You helped me… I hope I can help you.
She held onto his hand as though that would keep his spirit tethered to her, to the world of the living. She kept seeing thescene in the alley in her head as the ambulance flew down the dark, snowy streets. He’d stepped in between her and that man to save her without a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t even know her other than her name, yet he’d risked his life for her stupid purse.
She stared at Angelo’s face. Who was this gentle, brave hero?
Angelo Vertucci stared up at the horizontal lights that flashed past his vision. Everything was bright, glaring, white, and disorienting. Where was he? Voices shouted over his head in a confusing swarm of faces all around him. He was moving, rolling, but then occasionally he would jerk to a stop before he started rolling again.
Everything was cold.
Something sharp pricked his arm.
“We have to get him into surgery, ma’am. We’ll have a doctor come see you in the waiting room with news. Take his clothing and his personal items.” Someone was saying right near his head.
A vision of a beauty appeared above him. Hair as wavy as the sea, but the color of a fiery dawn. Her big, blue eyes were haunted with sorrow.
I know those eyes… How do I know those eyes?
He tried to move, to reach out to the woman, but her face vanished and his head swirled with pain. His vision went dark.
He faded into that unwelcome void, and when a faint light appeared in the distance he swam toward it. Then he was falling into a dark alley, snow swirling around him. He saw himself lying on the ground, bleeding. It was as though he was standing over his own body watching it happen. The flame-haired womanwas crouched over him, her face strained with tears as she called 911. Church bells rang in the distance, a sound he usually liked but at this moment held a note of doom.
