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Liam waved.
Conrad mouthed,You good?
He nodded, then mouthed back,She’s in surgery. Conrad’s wife had checked in with their mom hours ago and got the skinny on Destiny’s minor injuries, but Liam hadn’t been able to update his brother on Roxie before he headed home for thirty minutes just so he didn’t inconvenience anyone.
Liam eased out and closed the door behind him. He was holding it together until Roxie got out of surgery and he got word that she was all right. Until then, he was avoiding the people he worked with. Holding his phone instead of putting it in his pocket, praying every second that it would ring and he’d find out she was out of surgery. Awake.
He used the empty stairs rather than the elevator, just to avoid people. At the door to the fourth floor, he grabbed the handle and stopped. Took a long breath, alone.
God, don’t let her die.
It had taken far too much time to find her. Raphi had only given them a rough area where he thought the cabin might be. Peter and Simon had found records of property in the area owned by Mark’s wife’s family. They’d managed to find the place in the dense woods. A cabin so old it was no longer on any maps. Only one road in and out, which was washed out or overgrown in places.
They’d found her just in time.
Barely.
She’d been on the ground and hadn’t gotten up. Brad had been about to shoot her dead when Liam squeezed off a shot and dropped the guy. No guilt. Her problems were over, and it was he that had put an end to all of it.
When she woke up from surgery, she would have nothing to worry about.
Notifshe woke up, butwhen.
He said another prayer, refusing to lose hope, and headed for his mom’s room. Liam waited for her to answer his knock and then stepped in. She lay in the bed reading a magazine. She had a bandage on one wrist but was otherwise uninjured.
“Hey.” He went over and kissed her forehead. “How are you feeling?”
She folded the magazine closed and shot him a look. “Me? Really? How are you, kiddo?”
Liam sat on the side of the bed, facing the wall. She touched his elbow. He couldn’t speak for a few minutes.
“You didn’t tell me how she is.”
All he’d said before he left was that Roxie was in surgery, kind of like the nothing update he’d just given Conrad so his brother wouldn’t needlessly worry. “She’ll be okay.”
“Liam Sheamus O’Connell, you tell your mother the truth right now.”
He gritted his teeth. “Her lung was punctured. Brad threw her on the ground and there was a rock that penetrated her chest.” He had to swallow to give himself a second so he could keep going. “Her chest filled with air and collapsed her lung from the weight of it. One of the Vanguard guys—”
His mom didn’t want all the gory details of a pocketknife, a plastic tube from a ballpoint pen, and the sound of air escaping Roxie’s chest. At least she’d started to breathe again thanks to a guy with medical training. Her heart rate had come back up, and they’d stabilized her before Life Flight showed up.
It was the only thing that kept him going while watching them tape the pen in place and carry her to a clearing so the local Life Flight helicopter could land.
“God holds her in His hands.” His mom squeezed his arm again. “You either believe that or you don’t. It’s not about whether she lives or how she fares through surgery. He’s either your good God or He isn’t.”
“I know.” Faith wasn’t contingent on whether God did what he wanted or not. “It’s like Dad all over again.” He winced and looked at her, the burn of tears in his eyes. “Roxie was there. When I found out Dad had been killed in the line of duty. She held on to me.”
“And you want the chance to hold on to her now.”
Liam nodded, not able to reply out loud.
“Every day without your father is worth it for the ones we had together. The ones I can only cherish in my memories.”
Liam sniffed. “I miss him.”
“He loved you so much. He would be so proud of you.”
Liam puffed a breath through his lips. “You’re the one who exposed what happened. Gage told me that Lieutenant Turnbull was arrested. He lied about how Dad died. He’s the one who killed him, in the confusion. He used the homeless man’s gun to shoot his partner in the back.”
