Hearing my younger brother's hateful wails, broken with his argued whispers at the voices in his head, I knew that if this woman died, it would break a piece of him that would never be put back together. Pulling out my phone, I called a doctor I knew who would keep it on the low and told him to get here as fast as possible, or it would be his head on a platter. Closing the phone, I looked down at her, and my heart threw itself against my rib cage, and I realized that Cezar might not be the only one who lost something.
Bloody footprints came my way, his knees crashing to the floor. His despondent face bent towards her like a follower of its god. A shaky, stained hand reached towards her before closing into a fist and slamming it onto the floor. “I-is s-she…?”
He couldn't finish the sentence, almost like it would have been real if he had spoken it into existence. Shaking my head, I responded, “She passed out from the blood loss and pain. She’ll live. I promise you, brother, shewilllive.”
His eyes finally rose from her, a haunting stillness took over, and even I felt the cold darkness of death surrounding us. “They’ll pay. They’ll all pay tenfold.” I could only nod, knowing he was not making any idle threats. He was going to track down every last mother fucker and kill them savagely. I’d seen it before.
The doctor came over, and Cezar went into full feral mode, threatening the doctor, telling him if she didn't wake up, he was going to not only come for all his family and friends, but would wipe out the whole family lineage. By the third threat, the doctor’s hands shook too badly to work, and Ion had to wrestle Cezar away from her.
It has already been three days since the incident, and she still hasn't woken up. For the first few days, we kept her sedated to spare her the worst of the pain. It’s been twenty-four hours since we stopped, and she still hasn’t woken.
The three of us took shifts watching her… well, except Cezar. He never left, sleeping next to her like the dark shadow he was. Ion and I barely talked him into eating regularly and just taking him into the shower. We told him that when she woke up, she would look at him and be grossed out by him. That made him move his ass real quick.
So now I was watching over the woman who had saved me, the last person on this earth who should've saved me. Everything I’ve been taught, seen, and lived by says that I should’ve just let her die on that floor, getting rid of the dead weight…but I just couldn’t. It wasn't for my brothers; it was something deep inside me.
It just didn’t make any sense.
She was a smart woman; she knew when we met that I planned to kill her. I could see the fear and the fake acceptance in her eyes because she knew he was a bargaining price as soon as she accepted Cezar. Then she somehow collected Ion behind my back, so I knew she had some fight.
That's why I couldn't figure out her game in saving my life. She could’ve left or told my brothers it was one of the Shadow Kings who got me. She should've done a million different things, but she chose to save me… and I needed to know why.
It was like something underneath my skin couldn't settle; I couldn't accept the facts as they were. I didn't want to determine what that meant and how I felt about it. No, because if I did that, I would succumb to weakness, and I wouldn't do that. Never.
Fingers digging into the leather of my chair, I stared at the woman, trying to figure out her angle and what she wanted. And why I cared so much.
The soft slide of sheets moving caught my attention. Her face pinched in pain before she let out a quiet hiss, her eyes still closed. My whole body stilled, paying complete attention to her.
“I’m not dead?”
Was that what she was doing? Did she want to die? My back tightened; the thought of her pulse slowing to a stop in my arms that night…bothered me. Why? Why? Why?
“Why?” I growled out without thinking. She flinched, eyes flying open and turning in my direction. As soon as those eyes saw me, her whole face got tense. Her walls stacked up fast, but those autumn-colored eyes made me feel things I hadn't since childhood. Taking a slow measure breath, I internally chastised myself. This wasn't the plan. I would talk to her with ease and dance around the subject to learn her true motives, but I just blurted it out like an idiot.
Now that it was out, I had to try to take some semblance of control, calm my pounding heart, and get some answers. Keeping my voice low and soft, I asked, “Why did you jump in front of me?”
She looked around the room, recognition lighting up those honey-golden eyes. She tried to sit up, crying out as she made the mistake of trying to use the hand with the shoulder wound, and I got up, taking her by the waist and lifting her to a seated position. Her jaw clenched as she whispered out a sharp ‘thank you’. Looks like someone doesn't like to look weak in front of me.
That thought made me smile; turning away from her before she could see it, I sat back down in the chair beside her like nothing had happened.
We stared at each other, locked in a silent standoff, until she finally sighed in disgust. “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.” The beating in my chest thumped harder, faster. “Plus,” she rolled her eyes, “even if I got away, past all the guys coming after us, I would’ve had Cezar after me for the rest of my life and…,” her lips tipped up to the side as she looked down at the bed. “He’s crazy enough to keep his promises.”
Somehow, in just a few sentences, this woman made me feel more things in the past three minutes than I’d felt in more than ten years. Shoving that on the back burner, I kept to the facts. “The man that shot you was taken care of,” the blood took forever to get out of the hardwood, “and has been made into a message for the leader.” It was quite a chore to send over all the pieces Cezar left of the corpse, but it made a clear message, and those are the ones I liked best.
“Is everyone okay?”
I couldn't tell if she was fishing for someone in particular or just curious. “Of course we are. My brothers and I have been trained in ways that are much worse than whatever those imbeciles call this assault.” I thought this would reassure her, but when her lips turned down and she looked away, I knew I said something wrong.
Seeing the pill bottles on the side table reminded me of her injury. “You were lucky.” My jaw tightened. The labels of the bottles were not all facing forward.Whywouldn't they be facing forward? You need to see the label to take the right dosage. “The bullet went perfectly through.” I could not handle it anymore, so I turned all the bottles to match. Perfectly centered forward. “Not hitting any nerves or bones, the healing time has decreased significantly. Also, we have the best doctors on standby.”
“That's good.” Something about getting validation from this woman filled me with pride until her somber voice continued. “So your father won't get too mad by the delay.”
It was like a punch to the gut when she mentioned my father, and I felt like an idiot for not thinking this would be at the top of her mind. All we’ve been doing these past three days has been wanting to see those eyes of hers open, but she was right; now that they are, we must fulfill.
“I talked to him, and it made him understand the situation. The flight was delayed a week per the doctor's orders.” She stayed stiff, silently nodding, still not looking at me, and it was driving me mad.
None of this was going how I’d hoped. It seemed like I had just soured her mood, and she'd just woken up. I'm sure that wasn't good for her healing, so I got up, tugging my sleeves to keep my hands busy. “I'm sure you need some rest. I will let Cezar and Ion know you’re up.”I'm sure you would prefer to be around them than me.
Telling myself it was fine, that she was never meant to mean anything anyway, her harsh, accusing voice stopped me. “Just tell me, is he going to kill me?”
