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Then Nicole made a sound, that jerked our heads around, sucking in a panicky breath. She was choking, panting, and then convulsing, her feet drumming, body arching. She started to foam at the mouth. I left her to it, pulling Holly’s face against my chest. “Don’t look at her,” I said, backing away. Letting karma take its course.
Nicole went still, her face turned toward us, eyes wide and blank and red-rimmed. She had been weeping blood. She looked monstrous.
“It’s over,” I whispered to Holly. “She’s done.”
And just like that, so were we. We sagged down together onto the ground and just rocked, hugging. We were oh, so done. Too done for questions, or to even notice or care about the flashing lights, the yelling, the people running around in a dither.
I roused myself only when I saw Ethan being wheeled by on a gurney. His neck and chest were blood-soaked, but his eyes were open and sharp. Thank God.
He saw me and Holly, and lifted his hand as he went by, with a ghost of a smile. I wanted to run after him, but Holly was wrapped around me, and I couldn’t toss her off.
Then Freya appeared. She was battered and bloody, but ambulatory. She grabbed us both, hugging us so tightly poor little Holly was practically squished.
Predictably, that hug devolved into yet another sob-fest, this time a three-way, and even more intense. Freya kept thanking me weepily for saving Holly, which made no sense to me. I’d done it purely for myself, and Holly. It would have killed me if they’d gotten her. I couldn’t go through that again. I’d rather be fried by a bolt of lightning. I was a protector of girls, at the core of my being, because of my sisters. Life had forged me into that by fire and blood, and I had no other choice.
Nor did I want one, I realized, as I rocked in Freya’s and Holly’s tight embraces.
CHAPTER48
Kat
Iopened my eyes to a dim, unfamiliar room. Not a hospital room. Or not exactly. Some kind of hybrid room. I was having that weird sensation where you forget everything; not just where you are, but who you are. Or maybe that was just my jacked-up, stress-rattled brain. Me, running away from myself. Who knew.
Then I felt the warm weight on my shoulder. It was Holly, fast asleep. Her tousled head was cradled in the crook of my arm. That explained how numb it was, but it was worth it, for the soft rush of tenderness that rose up in me.
It all rushed back, in a torrent. That brave, tough little sweetheart. Looking at her made the truth of who I was spring to the front of my consciousness with a vengeance. I was Kat Banner, formerly Francesca Lovero, and I would go to any lengths to punish and destroy slime-sucking assholes who preyed on women and kids. For Gabri’s and Raffi’s sakes.
That was who I was. It was good to know it, and embrace it. It steadied me.
The flood of emotion practically drowned me as I looked at her. The tenderness, the anger, the wonder. That kid was a freaking miracle, and she had been so badly used, I wanted to kill someone to compensate for it. But I had absolutely failed to do so. Holly had been forced to take matters into her own hands. Damn, what a brave, excellent kid.
I hated how she looked so pinched and ashy pale. The scrapes and bruises on her little face stood out in sharp relief. Her forehead was bandaged, from when Nicole had hit her head before shoving her into the escape car. But that could not keep Holly down.
None of the wounds I saw were serious, but no one knew better than me about damage on the inside. Wounds no one could see, that never really healed. They just ended up making people impatient and frustrated with you. Wounds that left you lonely and bewildered. Nightmares, stress flashbacks, permanently hiked up stress levels. Anxiety, depression, and God knows what all else. It hurt to think of it.
I wished I could suffer it for her. I was already an expert. I could take it.
A hurt, terrified nine-year-old girl had found the nerve to bash that monstrous harpy on the head with a chunk of rebar. She was a freaking boss, and yet, it was so wrong that Holly had been the one forced to deal that blow.
I looked around the room, struggling to remember what had happened, and in what sequence. The recent past was a blur, after the painkilling drugs, but the time before that was disordered and fragmented too. Like a pile of broken glass shards.
I wondered, in a detached way, if I would have problems with the law, after all the awful stuff Nicole had pinned on me when she made me her fall guy. But whatever. My conscience was clear, and I didn’t have the energy to worry about it. Later for that.
The room had some hospital equipment, but it had more the air of a luxury hotel. Probably some high-end clinic for the super-rich. They got sick, too, I supposed.
That thought reminded me of Ethan, and that bleeding cut across his throat. Someone had given me a shot that scrambled my brains before I could follow up on his status. I couldn’t bully info out of anybody in that soft, floating state.
But I was awake now, and I had to see how he was doing. The man had walked into that hellhole for Holly and me, without hesitation, alone, unarmed. Which was ass-for-brains stupid of him, but full of heart. And I loved him for it.
No, I just loved him, period. Every minute that passed, I was more aware of this new state of being. So unshielded. Like my heart was just running around buck naked outside my body, uncontrolled, unprotected. It felt so risky, so dangerous, but it wasn’t as if I had any choice. I was destined to love him. Helpless to stop.
Same went for Holly. I’d be stuck to that kid like glue from here on out.
I took exquisite care in extricating my arm from under Holly’s head. I nestled her up in the pillows, tucking the blanket tight around her. I’d just check on Ethan and hurry right back. I did not want my girl to wake up all alone in a strange place after this shitshow. I had on a knee length, soft jersey night shirt, thank God, not an ass-baring hospital gown, but I had no memory of putting it on, or having it put on me.
I crept down the hall, silent on my bare feet, and opened up the first door. It was Amos, his shoulder and arm heavily bandaged, with an IV drip next to him. I was grateful to see him alive. I was grateful to the cavalry, for charging in and saving us, against all hope. Even Mick had come through in the end. Amazingly.
Oh, shit.Jed.What had he and Mick done with the bomb? Where had they taken it? The fear that Jed had been in that van when it blew shook me to the bone. He and Mick had been so valiant, sweeping in to take that terrible burden from me. Jed was a good guy, brave and selfless, and I did not want Freya to be a widow. She’d just now found love.
