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“Keep an eye on that red dot; it’s your wife.”
“You put a tracker on my wife?”
“After the Jasmin situation, yeah, I’m putting trackers on my clients. Put your seat belt on. You said the shooter was on the driver’s side?”
“Yeah, that’s what I saw.” It is then that I realize what she has planned. “Ridley, my pregnant wife is in that vehicle. You can’t just slam into it. Plus, what about your truck?”
“I don’t drive this monstrosity just because it’s big and intimidates.” She points to the hood. “Big battering ram. You think your wife would have listened to me when I told her the statistics about seat belts and vehicles.”
“When did you do that?”
“The night we had dinner.” She’s so matter-of-fact.
I slide the belt across my body, and for the first time since I can remember, I say a prayer that she knows what she’s doing.
“Don’t worry, did this once in Fallujah. The airbags are going to deploy. Your knife will cut it so you can get it out of your way. You’ll want to have a gun out as soon as we come to a stop. Their side curtain airbags will go off too. Go for Erika, but be careful moving her if she complains.”
“Shit, Ley, are you really sure about this? Can’t we try something else?”
“No. He’s going to kill her as soon as he can. I told you I’d protect her, and this is the way to do it.”
“How do you know he’s going to kill Erika?”
“It’s what I would do.” She doesn’t say anything else as she slams her foot into the accelerator more and we move faster.
I see Jimmy’s SUV moving along the next street. I try to look for Erika, but with the tinted windows I can’t see her. As if my sister planned it perfectly, and she probably did, she slams into the side of the SUV right at the driver’s door, taking out both doors and causing the post to start to buckle. Just as she said, the airbags go off, but I was prepared and ready. The bag hits me and throws my body back. I pull my knife and stab it to make it deflate faster. Opening my door is difficult, but I throw my body against it and am in motion around the other SUV. I open the back passenger side door and stab the curtain airbag, careful that my wife is on the other side. She is shaken up and looks at me with glazed eyes. I gently lift her out and move to the back. A man groans from behind me, but before I can do anything, Jimmy’s SUV is surrounded by Andrei’s men and they shoot everyone but Jimmy. They take Jimmy away screaming and bleeding. I look back and find my sister standing there holding her wrist with one hand and a gun in the other. Her door never came open, but I see the windshield broken out.
An ambulance pulls up, and I carry Erika toward it. The paramedics greet her as if they know her. She’s taken to the hospital and is admitted so they can monitor her and the baby for the night.
I holdmy wife’s body to mine and see the bruises from her seat belt. Other than that, she and the baby are good. My cell rings from the nightstand. I reach over to silence it before it wakes Erika. She was discharged early this morning, and between everyone checking her out and the nurses checking her vitals every few hours, she never got to sleep well. This is the best sleep she’s had.
“Yeah,” I answer without checking the caller ID.
“Gray, meet me at the pin drop.” It’s Andrei. He hangs up without giving me time to deny him. I’m about to call him back when a text comes through.
Ley
On my way to you to keep an eye on Erika while you go.
That means he called her first. He knew I wouldn’t want to leave her. I don’t even want to leave her with Ley, but I can’t tell them no when obviously it’s important enough to get my brother out of Vegas.
I slide from the bed and dress in all black, just in case. Moving back to the bed, I brush Erika’s hair back from her face. I hate to do this but don’t want her to wake and me be gone.
“Princess.” She opens her eyes and looks up at me. She notices that I’m dressed, and I see the panic hit her eyes. “I’ll be back. I have to go for a bit. Ley is on her way to sit with you until I get back. I love you.” I lean down and kiss her lips. She sighs and her eyes are soft when I pull back.
“I love you too.”
It still causes my heart to thump funny when she says those words back to me. She rolls to my side of the bed and cuddles my pillows as she falls back to sleep.
I look down at Riggs, who is sleeping at the foot of the bed.
“Protect,” I order him, and he huffs as he looks up at me.
I’m downstairs and grabbing my gun when Ley knocks.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask as I notice bruising on her too. Her wrist was sprained from impact with the steering wheel and airbag. She tips her head to the side and shrugs her shoulders.
“I’ll heal. Glad your girl is okay.”
