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Scott grabs Gregori’s arm and wrenches the knife away from Laura. I rush forward and catch her before she falls, then gently lay her on the ground.
Gregori and a bloody Scott are fighting for the knife.
I rush over and, with a hard kick, blow out Gregori’s knee. He drops to the pavement with a howl of pain.
I jump on him and wrench the knife from his hand as Scott stumbles backward, his face dazed.
“Xavier!” Gregori cries, but the sound is cut off as I slice through his voice box and even deeper. Then I finish with the knife in his heart. “No one takes my precious Laura from me. Rot in hell, and if your family comes for me or my Laura, I will kill them out here in the desert just like I did you.” I wrench the knife to the right, twisting it deep as the life vanishes from Gregori’s eyes.
A thump pulls my attention away, and I see Scott has passed out on the median. In the distance something glints. A car coming from Vegas, taking the desert highway.
We have to get out of here.
I leave the knife embedded--a warning to any who try to touch my territory--and rush to Laura. She’s still out. Worry sinks deep into my gut as I look at her pale cheeks. I gently scoop her into my arms and rush her to my car. After placing her gingerly in the backseat, I go back for Scott and place him in the passenger seat, even going so far as to fasten his seatbelt. It’s what Laura would want, so I do it.
I gun the engine, and with a kick of sand and dust, we take off and leave the wreckage behind us. My eyes constantly glance to the rearview to check on Laura. She’s breathing, but I don’t like the cut on her head or the way she seems so still. Laura is never still. She’s electric. A bolt of life and love.
“Hang on, Laura. Just hang on.” I dial my doctor and order him to my house.
He’ll be there when I arrive.
I’ve worried before. About winning battles with other kingpins. About growing my own empire. But that was nothing compared to the worry that eats me up inside when I look at Laura.
“I love you, precious. I love you so much,” I whisper under my breath and floor it, hoping like hell that she’ll be okay and that I’ll have a chance to make all this up to her.
23
LAURA
“Precious. Open your eyes for me,” I hear someone say. No, not someone, it’s my Xavier. I try to open them, but I can’t. My head pounds as I try to remember what happened. Am I dreaming? “You can’t leave me.” I feel his mouth brush against mine.
“Leave her alone.” I swear I hear Scott’s voice, but how could that be?
“Don’t make me throw you out.”
I hear the familiar laugh of my brother Scott. Itishim. I try to open my eyes to see for myself, but I can’t. I remain in the blackness, my confusion growing by the second.
“You need me here, and you know it. You’re not going to do shit to me.” A warm hand takes mine. “Rest. You’re safe. I won’t let him take you again.”
Let who take me? Xavier? I try to open my mouth to speak as Xavier and Scott start to argue. Their voices get farther and farther away until finally sleep takes me.
The next time I wake, the room is quiet except for a beeping sound. I feel a hand holding mine once again. It’s familiar and comforting. I manage to get my eyes open a little bit to see Xavier with his hand in mine. His head is down, staring at the floor as his thumb drifts back and forth against my skin. He looks defeated. Before he can see that I’m awake, my eyes fall closed again. I try with everything I have to open them when I hear my brother.
“You look like shit. Eat something and shower.”
“No.”
“You do know that sitting next to her won’t help her wake up, right? She’ll come to when she wants. When she’s ready.”
“No,” he says again. “I’m not leaving her.”
“I’ll get you food, and you’ll fucking eat it only because I know my sister cares about you for some fucked up reason.” I can hear Scott’s retreating steps as he leaves the room. It’s not long before Xavier starts to read to me once again. Something that he’s been doing. His voice has been one of the only things that has been soothing me and keeping me calm.
“Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"
"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”’
Sleep takes me.
