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“I’m sorry, doll, but I doubt he’d answer the phone even if you did try to warn him. If Damien knows about Griffin, then he knows about Jace. There’s nothing we can do for him. Us Ravagers are officially on our own now, so it’s time we start thinking about ourselves from this point forward.” He paused for a moment, sighing. “Look, I gotta get back in there. I have to give Val a ride home. You’re free to come in, but I have to warn you, it isn’t pretty. Youhaveto remain calm and level-headed. Is that going to be a problem?” His sharp eyes landed on Phantom then, who smirked darkly at him and rolled his eyes.
“No, assface, it won’t. But what I'd like to know is why you and Father waited three fucking days to tell us this shit? You had every opportunity to tell me earlier, and you didn’t. Why?”
“Because your father told me not to. Anything else you want to know; he’ll provide the answers.”
Sharkey said nothing more and spun on his heel, opening the door. I followed, keeping it open so everyone could pass by me, leaving me the last to enter.
I closed and locked the door behind me and when I turned around, ahead of me was a curtain with a faint light glowingthrough it. In the distance I could hear steadybeepscoming from what sounded like a medical machine.
“Finn,” Samara’s broken voice rasped out as I moved the curtain aside, finding my dear cousin lying in a hospital bed with a tube down his throat, and Aunt Val hovering over him, weeping as she leaned down and pressed a delicate kiss to Griffin’s tightly bandaged head.
He looked…Fuck.What I could see of his face was black and blue, and his battered eyes were swollen to the size of golfballs. IVs were implanted into both of his arms, feeding him what I believed was saline and hopefully antibiotics to cure the nasty infection that had already begun to spread thanks to the bullet holes in his exposed feet. The rest of him was covered, so I couldn’t see the full extent of the damage to the rest of his body.
Samara gushed out another cry, which made Rhett dash to her side and wrap his arms tightly around her. Father was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the bed. He unhappily wiped his swollen eyes with one hand as his other squeezed tightly around Griffin’s lifeless fingers.
“Sh-Sharkey?” Aunt Val murmured as she turned to him standing by the end of the bed, her face one huge, blubbering mess. “Take me home, please.”
Rhett parted from Samara long enough to wrap Aunt Val in a smothering hug. He whispered something in her ear and gently kissed her forehead. She offered him a wobbly smile and cupped his cheek.
Phantom approached her next, which surprised me because Phantom was never one to willingly engage in physical contact like that—well, not since Samara came along, it seemed. He did the same, whispering something in Aunt Val’s ear no one could hear. When they separated, I offered her a hug of my own. I’d started to offer my own condolences, but no sooner than weparted, Aunt Val bellowed out a shattered sob that’d cracked my cold heart right down the middle.
“Boss?” Sharkey addressed Father when she was gone.
“Just get her home,” he rasped out, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Safely, please.”
“And the warehouse?” Sharkey wondered.
Father nodded, his throat bobbing. “Continue as planned. We must proceed with the trials. Hopefully the money we raise will help pay for whatever treatment Griffin may need should he survive this.”
A thick knot formed between my brows.
What the hell was he talking about?
Sharkey faithfully bowed his head and disappeared behind the curtain, taking his leave. Father blew out a shuddering breath as he brought Griffin’s hand to his mouth, kissing it gently before rising to his feet.
“He’s in a medically induced coma,” he said, gesturing to the multiple machines behind Griffin, as well as the tube shoved down his throat. “He’s gone through multiple blood transfusions since his arrival and has undergone surgery to stop the bleeding in his head. Thankfully, the bullet didn’t puncture his brain. It did, however, take a massive chunk of his skull. He’ll have to undergo another surgery to have a metal plate put in. Vet said it’s a miracle he’s still alive.”
“Why didn’t you call us the instant this happened?” Rhett asked as calmly as he could. “Why call Sharkey?”
“Because I truly thought Griffin was dead and I didn’t know what else to do.” Father’s face crumpled as he stared at Griffin’s body, having to force himself to look away. “Be mad if you want. I don’t care. I needed to know whether or not Griffin would survive before I did anything further, hence why you’re all here now.”
“The note,” I said to him. “Samara says it’s a trap.”
“That’s because itis,” she outrageously sneered at me.
I ground my teeth, choosing not to fire back at her even though I really, really wanted to. I knew she was pissed at me. I was an asshole. I’d wholeheartedly planned to bury myself inside both of those sluts with zero remorse for my actions. Sooner or later, I’d have to talk to Samara about it, but now was not the fucking time for it. For now, she’d remain pissed. My cousin was half-dead, trapped in a fucking coma and Damien Reyez was responsible. This was far more important to me than her jealousy.
“I know it is,” Father agreed. “I’ve already done my research. Fishnets is in Damien’s territory, which none of us Ravagers can set foot in thanks to a certainsomeone.”
Phantom started towards him with his fists clenched, stopping dead in his tracks when Samara and Rhett both grabbed ahold of his arms and began tugging him back.
“My apologies,” said Father, a heavy frown on his face. He sat back down in his chair and wiped away the tears trying to snake down his face. “I don’t want to fight. However, I don’t see where I have much of a choice but to attend this meeting. Banned or not, I have to do what I have to—”
“No,” Samara immediately protested. “Send me instead.”
“What?” Rhett and I roared at the same time Phantom angrily grasped her chin and told her the only way that was happening was over his dead body.
Father blinked at Phantom then, surprised by not only his actions, but his words. “Is there… Is there something going on between you—”
