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Ryzen stood in the doorway, his face twisted in anger. “You! You ruined everything!”
He pulled the trigger just as strong arms wrapped around me and pushed me to the side. I landed on the floor with a thump just as Cian lunged for him. Another shot went off as they rolled on the floor. Cian pinned him down, grabbing his arm and bashing it on the ground until Ryzen let go of the gun.
Delove rushed over and flipped Ryzen onto his stomach, his knee in his back. He pulled out a walkie-talkie and yelled, “Get a medic in here, now.”
My eyes widened as Cian toppled onto the floor, holding his stomach, blood running down his shirt.
“No!” I screamed and crawled over to him. My heart was on the verge of exploding out of my chest as I put pressure over the wound. “No, Cian. Please. Somebody help!” I couldn’t recognize my own voice as people rushed around me, a medic running over. Dobbs put his hands under my armpits and dragged me backwards so the medic could get better access to Cian.
“He’s losing too much blood.” The medic was calm, controlled, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Please, God, don’t let it end like this.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Day 74
Cian
The hospital monitor beeped in a slow and steady rhythm that started to agitate me. My eyes flew open, and I instinctively reached down to where Goodacre had shot me, a bandage covering the area.
Thank fucking God. If I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be at the hands of that son of a bitch.
Anger coursed through my veins, my nostrils flaring. The beeping noise coming from the machine grew faster and louder, and a hand gripped mine.
Nova.
My beautiful little star. Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders, her cheeks flushed and damp. She was a site for sore eyes. I knew the second I had seen her in my club dressed as Lara Croft, that I was done for. Her beautiful blue eyes and plump ruby lips had haunted me since that day. I had wanted to be a part of her world so badly, that I had been willing to destroy mine over it.
“Cian, you’re awake.” Her eyes glistened with tears, and she leaned down, pressing little kisses all over my face. “I was so scared,” she sobbed, squeezing my cheeks between her hands.
God, she smelled good, like sunshine and peace. My heartbeat immediately slowed back down.
“What happened?” I groaned as I tried to sit up, my stomach still tender to the touch.
The last thing I remembered was Goodacre busting in the room and pointing a gun directly at Nova. I hadn’t even hesitated before pushing her out of the way and charging towards him, but not before he got off the first shot.
I scanned her body, my eyes frantic, looking for any type of gunshot wound.
“I’m OK,” she whispered and held up her arm. “The bullet grazed my cast. I think the universe was looking out for me.” Her eyes welled up with tears again and she pressed her forehead to mine. “Ryzen overpowered one of the cops, knocked him out cold and got his gun and came looking for me.” She shook her head, and I noticed her hands were trembling. Never again though. I would never let her out of my sight for the rest of my life. I wrapped my arm around her waist and tugged.
“Get up here.”
She bit on her bottom lip and looked down at my wound, hesitating for a moment.
“It’s OK, my beautiful star.” I moved my legs, hissing at the pain. She climbed up, resting her head on my chest. Her whole body was shaking, which only made me angrier. Angry at myself, angry at Delove and dickhead Dobbs. They should be fired for a slew of fucking reasons.
“They rushed you to surgery. Said that the bullet missed your liver by less than half an inch.” She looked up at me with those big, beautiful eyes, and I clenched my jaw. How anyone could ever hurt this woman, I’d never know.
“Cian, how did you find me?” She leaned up and placed her hand on my chest. “Delove said you were the one who told them I was on the island, but he didn’t know how you knew. Was it the phone?”
I exhaled sharply and shook my head, thinking back over the last hellish few weeks. God, how frantic I had been when I had heard her screaming that night at the party. My brothers and I had rushed to the party with the FBI in tow, but Goodacre and Nova were already gone. He had taken her away from me, and I vowed a vengeance so fierce, so terrible that I almost couldn’t take it.
I had searched everywhere, every major airport and private airstrip, paying off pilots and flight attendants. Nobody had seen them. Not one damn person. I went to all of Goodacre’s known hangouts, showing anyone and everyone a picture of him and Nova. I questioned everyone from the maître d’ at his favorite restaurant to the hotel staff. There were no fucking leads, and when paying off people didn’t work, I resorted to violence. I craved it. I needed it in order to stay sane. Nobody was safe. Not the dirty cops I had tracked down with the help of one of Goodacre’s old guards, or even the delivery drivers Kaviathin had on his roster.
And I had had absolutely no regrets about it. Goodacre had taken the most important person in my world away from me, and everyone was going to suffer because of it.
“Did my phone track me? I thought it wasn’t working.” She scrunched up her nose, and my heart softened. I’d thought I was never going to see her beautiful face again, and I’d been ready to go to the grave and take as many people down with me as I needed to.
