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“He’s going to be alright?” Joy breathed. The wand in her hand was shaking badly, throwing specks of purple-tinged light all over the floor.
The nurse nodded, a worn smile on his face.
“Can I see him?” Victoriya asked in a voice unlike any Gabi had heard from her. Faint, exhausted—desperate. Eilidh reached out and caught her arm, squeezing tight enough to dent the sleeve of her jacket, but Victoriya didn’t attempt to shake her off. And for her, that was akin to clinging to her friend and sobbing into her shoulder.
“Sorry. No visitors for the time being.”
Victoriya snarled, but it was half hearted at best.
Gabi tugged down her vest and approached the nurse, straight-backed and calm-faced despite the torrent inside her.
“Do you know when I’ll be able to speak to him? I’m Gabriella Pride.” The name, as it had done before, spoke for itself. The nurse became more guarded.
“Not until tomorrow at the earliest.”
Gabi nodded, suppressing a growl of frustration. But she’d suspected as much. “Thank you,” she said, and made herself sit back down. A killer was out there, potentially hunting another victim; sitting and waiting was fucking useless. But she still parked her backside in a seat.
She wanted to pace, todemandto see Neil, to examine and photograph his injuries, but that was impolite and, more importantly, it would get her nowhere. The nurse at least looked less wary of her now she was sitting. Gabi saw the moment he realised Gabi was part of the group, waiting not by coincidence but by friendships. Well. Friendship, but the nurse didn’t need to know that.
“Where is he?” a strident voice rang through the corridors.
Gabi raised her eyes to the ceiling with a sigh, recognising that voice a mile off. This damn woman. A cloud of real fur with diamond earrings pushed through the double doors into their corridor, the thin woman almost swallowed by her giant white coat. Her long legs were like twigs above skyscraper heels. She really thought she was something.
Gabi gnashed her teeth when the woman’s eyes swung to their little group. Judging, and finding them lacking.
“Who are you?” she demanded, her red upper lip curled back from her teeth and her coil of blonde hair wobbling on her head.
Gabi could easily punch her, right here and now, but she flattened her hands on her knees.Professional. You are a Pride.
“Gabrielle,” Lana Ivers said when she spotted her, a laugh in her voice. She intentionally got Gabi’s name wrong. Every damn time. “I heard you’d followed in your daddy’s footsteps. How nice for us.”
Gabi pressed her palms harder to her legs.Calm. Cool. Unmovable as a mountain.Never mind that this bitch had insulted Gabi’s mother so badly she’d cried when Gabi was five years old. Never mind that Lana had sued Gabi’s aunt’s pub for some asinine reason, dragging her through court, putting her throughhell, and leaving the Tipsy Witch with half its regulars at the end of the court case.
Cool. Calm. Unmovable as a mountain.It became a little easier when Joy’s hand covered Gabi’s.
“Mrs. Ivers,” the male nurse said, his face too serene.Everyonehad an opinion on Lana Ivers—saint or bitch, depending on what she’d done for ortoyou. “Your husband’s in this room—you can’t see him—no visitors—please, madam.”
Lana did not give a single shit about respecting rules. She swung the door open, and a laugh burst out of her, tinkling and high. “Neil, you miserable, pathetic fool.”
Victoriya was on her feet in a blink, and then across the corridor, baring her teeth at Lana with a snarl.
It happened so fast that Gabi couldn’t get to her feet before Victoriya had the woman pinned to the doorframe by her throat. Not that she’d have stopped Victoriya.
Salma took a few steps to attempt to, trailing ivy and a comforting earthy scent, but she reconsidered. Maybe she was remembering Lana’s laugh, or her snide words. Her husband had been attacked and was in Gods knew what state, and she’dlaughed. No one stepped in to stop Victoriya. Not even the nurse.
“Victoriya Regina,” a horrified voice cut through the tension, followed by a rush of footsteps. “Let that woman goright now.”
Lana laughed—and choked when Victoriya’s grip tightened. Even with her face red, hair coming undone, and coat askew, she somehow croaked, “Do as mummy says,Victoriya Regina.”
Victoriya Regina did not.
“Either you both stop this, or youbothleave.” Despite Mrs. Stone’s worn, frazzled appearance, she somehow gave the impression of a woman not to be tested. Gabi had a feeling she’d throw them both out with her bare hands.
Victoriya dug her nails into Lana’s red neck, one final warning before she let go, and then hauled herself back with visible effort. Her hands shook, her body quivering with barely-leashed rage. The death threats didn’t leave her eyes, though.
Lana simply straightened her expensive fur coat and smiled lazily. “Nice to meet you, sweetie. Whoever you are. Let’s do this again some time.”
And without even a glance into her husband’s hospital room, she sauntered off.
