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I have never had to.
I always knew my husband would protect me and our children with everything he had. I don’t blame Christian for what has happened. I am just confused as to why it’s happened.
My shoulders shake as I sob silently. The comforting hand holding mine grips me tighter and pulls me in closer as he presses kisses into my hair. “It’s okay, baby. Everything is going to be okay.” My husband’s voice is soothing and calms me some.
“Who would do this?” I choke out.
Christian is silent for so long that I don’t think he is going to answer. I glance up at him. His lips are pressed together in a thin line, and he grimaces. “I don’t know. But rest assured that I am going to find out.” His voice is determined, confident. I know my husband will not stop until whoever did this to our daughter is found.
The door to the private hospital room opens. I look up to find our son, no longer in his bloody white shirt, but a hoodie and sweats. His eyes zero in on his sister, looking so small and fragile in the bed as she sleeps. “Has she woken up yet?”
I shake my head, frowning when I remember my grandson, who Evan is supposed to be looking after. “Where is Baron?”
Evan steps inside, closing the door. “I called Anais; she is entertaining him in the family room down the hall. Edward, CJ, and Karl are with them.” I exhale a relieved breath at his words. Anais is the daughter of Christian’s longtime and our family friend, someone we trust. But we don’t know what or who the threat is to our family right now. So, I am glad Evan had the foresight to leave three guards protecting our grandson. We also have five guards stationed outside Aria’s room. I don’t want anyone near my daughter who is not meant to be. “I spoke to Thalia. She didn’t want to wait for Dad’s jet, so she and Theo are catching the red eye from Miami.”
Christian eyes our son. “Although I don’t want Thalia out in public like that right now——not until we have eliminated whatever threat we are dealing with—she made the right choice. By the time the jet gets to Wellington and back here, it would be hours. I trust she has Greg with her?”
“Of course.” Evan sighs, moving further into the room and taking a seat on the other side of the bed. “Have the doctors said anymore?”
I shake my head. “No. Just that the bullet missed any vital organs, which is good. The bullet hit just below her ribcage and the fleshy part of her waist. It passed straight through her body. They operated to see if there was any stray shrapnel and found she broke a few ribs from the impact and will be sore, but she is alive, which is the main thing.” A cry breaks free, just repeating what the doctor told us. How close we came to losing her. Christian kisses my forehead as he murmurs words of comfort to me. I chuckle as I remember something, even though the situation isn’t funny. “I didn’t think it at the time, but Aria is lucky I spilled my wine and she stood up to get a cloth. Had she not…” I trail off as the implication of what I am trying to say settles between us. If I hadn’t spilled my red wine on my favorite damn rug, my precious daughter would not be here right now.
“This is something to do with Bishop. Just like all the shit when Thalia was taken was to do with that asshole,” Evan growls.
Christian eyes him. “We don’t know that for sure yet, and I don’t want to make assumptions, but I will be speaking with him.”
“He called. He called Aria’s cell, and he sounded frantic. He knows something,” my son states. I see the worry and pain on Evan’s face. He has always been strong, like his father, but right now, he is breaking. We are all shattering.
“The press hasn’t got hold of any story yet, have they?” my husband asks.
Evan shakes his head. “No. But I am sure it won’t be long before something breaks on some shitty gossip site. The staff in our building have all signed NDAs, but not the tenants. I just know someone would have witnessed Aria being taken out on a stretcher and put into an ambulance.”
I sigh, leaning back on my chair. “I hate this side of being in the public eye. Hate that we even need to think about any of this. We should be able to deal with this as a family and not have the press in our faces trying to get a story.”
“It’s okay, baby. I will take care of it when the time comes,” Christian says in his voice he usually reserves for the boardroom and the vulture tabloids.
I smile up at him before pressing a kiss to his lips. “Thank you. I love you, amore mio.”
He brushes his lips against mine. “And I love you, my love.”
A gagging noise sounds making me grin. I look to Evan. His brow is cocked, and he grimaces. “Can you not? I am here to watch out for my sister, not you two making out like a couple of teenagers.”
I roll my eyes. “Hardly making out, son. You should always make sure that the people you love know that you love them. You may think that I am overkill when I tell you every day, as do your sisters, but as long as I have air in my lungs, my husband and children will always know I love them.”
Evan smirks and opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by a small, soft voice.
“Mama?” Everything in me snaps to attention and relief courses through me as I thank everything above for bringing Aria back to me. I jump out of my chair, my hand gripping hers as I stare down at her pale face.
She is awake.
My daughter is awake.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
ARIA
Slowly, my heavy eyes peel open. I grimace at the hazy feeling in my head and the pain in my side.
Where am I?
