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Once she leaves, I grab Tori’s arm. All the nerves that have been restrained all day rush to the surface. “What if he changed his mind? What if he decided this was a mistake and he took off?”
Tori shakes her head. “Don’t be silly. Alden would never do that to you. He knows we’d hunt him down and plant him in this damn garden. They probably got caught in traffic on the highway.”
“Yeah, okay.” She’s right. It’s only been fifteen minutes since we got here. They’re probably pulling into the lot right now.
Tori’s phone rings, and she frowns. “It’s Sawyer.”
Our mutual childhood crush and Tori’s ex-boyfriend didn’t end up becoming a federal agent, but he did go on to become a police officer. As far as I know, they don’t keep in touch. Some instinct drags my stomach to the floor. “Answer it.”
“Hello?”
Mr. Stokes walks back in, wringing his hands. “They aren’t here.”
Tori holds up her hand and puts the phone on speaker. “It’s Sawyer. He wants to talk to Ella or Mr. Stokes. Sawyer, you’re on speaker. They’re here.”
“Mr. Stokes, it’s your boys. You need to get to Midtown Hospital now. The ambulance just left with them.” He pauses while my blood pumps in my ears. “It doesn’t look good.”
Mom steadies me while Tori grabs my hand.
“A car accident?” I manage to utter through the fear.
“No, there was a robbery at The Stop Along and they were inside. They’ve been shot.”
* * *
The next few minutes are the most chaotic and terrifying of my entire life. My parents drive us to the hospital while we bombard Sawyer with questions over the phone that he doesn’t have answers for.
“Where were they shot?”
“Were they still breathing?”
“Are they alive?”
“Are they alive?”
Over and over.
Questions I won’t be able to bear the answer to if it isn’t yes.
Sawyer does his best. “Oliver was briefly conscious when I was on the scene, and he was able to tell the paramedics his name. He was unconscious when they left but breathing. I don’t know about Alden. He was unconscious as far as I know. I’m sorry, I don’t have any more information. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
No. This can’t be happening. We’re getting married today. The voices around me fade. All I can hear are the words beating inside my head.
Just let him be alive. Please. Just alive.
Anything else I can handle. Anything else, we can get through. I can’t lose him.
Dad has barely stopped the car when I’m out of it and running for the ambulance bay where two ambulances sit parked. They’re empty. The doors to one of them stand open and the amount of blood on the floor of it squeezes my throat shut.
“You can’t be back here,” a paramedic says, stepping out of the glass doors nearby.
“Stokes,” I manage to choke out. “Alden and Oliver.”
“They’re working on them now. You need to go to the emergency triage desk.” His voice is kind and patient.
“Were they alive? Can you tell me that?”
The paramedic looks over my shoulder at Dad when he replies. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to speak to the doctors.”
