His lips form a shape.
A word.
A name?
But blood bubbles at the corner of his mouth, and the sound never comes.
“Stefano!”
His eyes roll back.
“No.” I press harder against the wound. “No,fratello. You don’t get to leave me. Do you hear me? Don’t leave me.”
“Pressure,” Foster says. “Keep pressure on it.”
“Hospital.”
“Ambulance is eight minutes out.”
“Too long.”
“I know.”
I look toward the empty SUV.
Amelia is gone.
Olivia is gone.
Stefano is bleeding beneath my hands.
And Victor Dane’s threat echoes through my skull.
Perhaps God was kind enough to give you a second wife and daughter so I could take them from you properly.
My vision goes red at the edges.
I hear the Shadows' bikes thunder in the distance.
Good.
Let them come.
Let every man who calls me brother see what Victor has done.
Let them remember this moment when I tell them we’re no longer waiting.
The ambulance arrives in a blur of lights and shouted commands. I refuse to move until Foster grips my shoulder and forces me back so the paramedics can work.
They load Stefano onto the stretcher, and I follow, but the paramedic tries to stop me.
Luca removes him from my path with a single look.
At the hospital, they take my brother straight to surgery.
When the doors close in my face, I stand there staring at them.
Blood covers my hands.
