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“Boss! You’re going to hit yourself in the face with the airbag if you don’t stop,”the driver yelled.
Gideon’s fist froze midair as if he debated if getting hit with the airbag would be better or worse at the moment. He decided against it and dropped his hand into his lap.
“What are they saying?”I asked, feeling as if I walked into the end of a movie without any context.
“Frank was shot in the stomach. He’s in surgery now. He hasn’t been able to talk,”Gideon said in a stilted voice.
“Where is she?”I demanded.
The car went into silence, my brothers not wanting to tell me the truth. I looked from face to face. Aiden wouldn’t look at me, his gaze glued on the passenger window. Jaxon’s face was ashen as he just shook his head at me. And Gideon looked like he was about to punch something again.
“No one knows,”Gideon finally answered.
Terror flooded my body, the immediate worst thoughts popping into my mind. Brooklyn shot and dying in an alley, or her body never being found. I tried to push those thoughts from my mind as the car pushed well beyond the speed limit on the way to the hospital.
“No one? You’ve called her office?”I demanded.
“Of course I called her fucking office, Oliver!”Gideon bellowed.
I just stared at the back of his head, waiting for him to tell me the rest.
“Pam said she hadn’t been in today. At all. No one has heard from her,”he said in a quieter voice.
I pulled out my phone and stared at our past text conversation. I typed out a text, even if she might not have her phone. Jaxon watched me, but didn’t say anything. The text read, Babe, call one of us as soon as you can. We need you home. xoxo.
After hitting send, I laid my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes. Brooklyn’s smiling face flashed throughmy mind and I swallowed down the lump that was forming in my throat. We didn’t actually know anything, and I couldn’t let myself get out of control until we had more information. The car swerved around traffic and the three of us in the backseat were thrown back and forth, but I barely registered it.
The car came to an abrupt halt outside of the hospital emergency entrance. The four of us piled out and Gideon took the lead, running into the hospital. At the emergency desk, we were able to find out what floor Frank would be taken to after surgery. In the elevator, Gideon checked his phone again and when the doors opened, we were met by Detective Lee Anderson.
Lee held out his hand, and he and Gideon shook briefly.
“What do you know?”Gideon asked.
“This is an open investigation, Gideon,”Lee hedged.
“Don’t give me that official bullshit, Lee. Who shot Frank? Where is our woman?”Gideon shot back.
The detective looked uncomfortable, knowingly breaking the rules. But he and Gideon had some sort of agreement that worked both ways when needed. My brothers and I just stared at him until he sighed and looked at each of us.
“We don’t know. That’s the truth. The gunshot wasn’t reported. Maybe it was too early for there to be many people on the street. Frank was found by a neighbor leaving for work. The timing was lucky, because the doctors tell me he would have bled out if he had been left even twenty minutes longer,”Lee said.
“And Brooklyn?”I asked.
“I’m sorry, we don’t have any leads as yet. She wasn’t there. I can tell you, her bags were found near Frank’s body, giving the impression she was there when he was shot.”
Jaxon’s hand went to his mouth, while Gideon turned, looking at the wall as if a hole in it was exactly what it needed. I grabbed his arm to stop him from causing any damage. Aidenlooked shell shocked and was running his hands through his hair in jerky movements.
“We haven’t found a second blood type on the scene, as far as we can tell she wasn’t shot there as well,”Lee continued.
“That doesn’t make me feel any fucking better, Lee,”Gideon said.
The detective just nodded. He turned and lead us to the surgical waiting room. Two uniformed officers were also there and Lee spoke quietly with them. Aiden paced the room, agitated, but not speaking to any of us. Oliver and I both sat while Gideon walked out of the room with his phone to his ear.
“What the fuck do we do now, Jaxon?”
My brother just shook his head, without any more answers than I had. I couldn’t stomach the guilt I was feeling, knowing if we had been better with Brooklyn, she wouldn’t have left the safety of our home. I took a deep, painful breath as I thought about how we had driven her away and right into the arms of danger.
Chapter
