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I didn’t check in with my mom. I mean, I tried half-heartedly, but I never reallytried. I always secretly blamed her for Franco moving in with us and her moving on with him.
And now that I’m in the darkness with no light in sight, I’m not sure if I’ll ever get the chance to make amends with her.
CHAPTER16
Viktor
It’s difficult to run fast with Gemma in my arms. Seeing her eyes shut and her head roll back makes me more scared than I’ve ever been.
There, I’ll admit it. I’m scared, and Gemma is the only one with the power to make me that way. I’ve fallen in love with her. And now, she may die because of me. Because I can’t stop. Because Franco decided to shoot at us in public. I’m normally not one to judge, seeing as I’ve drawn my gun in public many times. But Gemma is hurt, and it’s partially Franco’s fault. I knew he would try coming after me again, but I never thought he’d put Gemma in harm’s way. That’s why I figured Marco had backed off, to make sure Gemma wouldn’t get hurt. It seems her uncle refuses to give her the same courtesy.
“Stop!” the police officer shouts as I continue to run down the Coney Island boardwalk. People jump out of my way. Parents grab their kids. Teenagers look up from their cell phones. Tiny dogs on leashes bark at us.
I don’t slow down. Gemma’s head rolls against my arm as blood seeps out of the back of her head, staining my shirt. “Wake up,” I tell her. “Gemma, wake up.” She doesn’t.
I bump into a man walking past who’s talking on his phone. “Watch where you’re going!” he shouts at me before grumbling into his cell phone.
“Watch out for the police, asshole!” I shout back. The man looks over at the cops chasing me and quickly gets out of the way. If I didn’t have Gemma in my arms, I’d probably shoot the guy. I’d for sure shoot the cops coming after me.
I spot another pair of cops running toward me from the opposite direction, blocking me in. Shit. This is really going to be hard to get out of. If I set Gemma down and shoot at the cops, they’ll surely hit me. I have no protection, and if I get hurt, I can’t help Gemma. I know I’ve put Gemma in harm’s way before, but I always had it under control. The times we played Russian Roulette? I always knew which chamber had the bullet. I just liked pushing her to the edge and seeing how she’d respond. Gemma was never in any true danger from me. She’s my girl. I want her at my side.
I don’t have many options left. My eyes skim the buildings as I turn a corner, barely evading the police coming at me from both sides. If I’m caught, Gemma will be brought back to her family, and I’ll never see her again. Franco and Marco won’t allow it. But If I stand up to the police, she might die in the process. Gemma needs a doctor now.
My eyes land on an abandoned restaurant. I run down the alleyway and find the back door. Shouldering it open, I get inside and slam it shut, locking it. That will slow the police down slightly.
I’m in the kitchen at the back of the restaurant. It’s filled with grimy appliances. A cockroach scurries past my foot while the smell of rotting meat hits my nostrils. Well, it’s not perfect.
I set Gemma down, catching my breath, and check the back of her head. The bleeding has slowed down, but she still hasn’t woken up yet. I jerk when the police bang against the backdoor, demanding I open it. Ok. Time to take a stand.
I move Gemma into the pantry, where she’ll be safe from any gunfire, and then position myself against one wall, my gun drawn, ready to kill some officers. The door slams open, and two officers enter. One, a young man, enters my line of vision, and I shoot him in the head. The other officer backs up and shouts at me to lower my weapon. He calls for backup, letting the other officers know a cop is down.
With a snarl, I run out from my hiding spot and shoot the other officer, killing him instantly. I only have a few minutes before the other cops arrive. I need to get Gemma out of here and back to my car. I knew coming here was a bad idea, but Gemma really wanted to have a day of fun, and I didn’t want to refuse her. Honestly … I wanted a day of fun, too.
I pick Gemma back up and leave through another door. I run down an alleyway until I make it back out onto the boardwalk. I’m a few stores down from the restaurant, where I can see the two other cops running toward it. They don’t see me. With a quick inhale, I pick up my speed and run the opposite way toward the parking garage a block away from the amusement park. I’m getting close, but I’m not out of the woods yet.
With a big burst of energy, I run faster. Gemma’s head bobs against my arm. She’s still breathing at least, and that’s the most important thing. There are less people around this area as I get farther away from the theme park, but the few who are around give me odd looks. Somone shouts behind me.
“Stop! Put the girl down!” Judging by what they’re saying, it’s obvious the cops have spotted me. I don’t stop, even as the parking garage comes into view. Thankfully, I’m parked on the ground level, and I hurry over to my car. I put Gemma into the car as gently as I can before getting in myself and gunning the engine. I speed out of the parking garage before the police have a chance to catch me. One of the cops is trying his hardest to catch me, but I’m in a sports vehicle that can go insanely fast, and he’s on foot. I zoom away as the cop grows smaller in my rearview mirror.
I breathe a sigh of relief once I’m out of that shitty situation. The only good thing that came out of it is that Franco was arrested. Knowing him, it won’t hold long. He’ll be out before anyone can blink. But it was still satisfying to see him get pushed to the ground with cuffs around his wrists.
Gemma doesn’t wake up once, even after I drive us home. “Come on, Gemma.” I carry her inside and set her down on the couch. “Wake up.” With shaky fingers, I grab my phone and call my personal doctor. When you’re in my line of work, you can’t really go to the hospital, where people ask questions. He tells me he’ll be over in fifteen minutes. “That’s not good enough,” I growl at him. “Gemma isn’t waking up, and she’s bleeding from the back of her head.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Viktor.” He hangs up. Bastard. He knows I can’t kill him. He’s too valuable.
I pace around the living room as I wait for the doctor to show. When Thompson, my doctor arrives, I practically shove him toward Gemma. With stark white hair and speckled hands, Thompson is getting up there in years, but he’s still a damn good doctor. He looks over Gemma, making little noises as he checks the back of her head.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“She has a cut on the back of her head. The head bleeds a lot, so it’s not cause for much concern. But she should still get a head scan to make sure nothing internal is wrong. From the looks of it, she has a concussion.”
“So, why is she not waking up?”
“It’s normal for people to rest with any kind of injury. She’s trying to heal herself. But we should take her to my home, so I can get a scan of her.”
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
Thompson doesn’t question my hard tone. He’s used to it by now. Once we arrive at his home, he has me take Gemma into his medical room, where he has a full-on CT scanner. Thompson does a lot of black-market fix-ups for people like me. He has the big bucks to afford shit like this.
