“Baby bird, sit up, tell me what’s happening.”
She sits up, and there is blood spilling between her legs onto the car seat, thick, bright red, soaking through her pants.
“What the fuck?” I shout as panic sears deeper than ever before. “Maria! What happened?”
She is fighting for breath through the pain.
Without a moment to waste, I pull back out into the road and slam my foot on the accelerator, heading toward the private hospital.
My hands are shaking when I dial Benedikt on the car speaker.
“Ben, it’s me,” I snap.
“Joe, what’s wrong?” he asks, immediately catching the panic in my voice.
“Maria is bleeding. I’m on my way to Boulevard Clinic with her now. Meet me there.”
“Bleeding? Bleeding where? How?” he blurts out, just as panicked as I am.
“Just get there and tell the others to meet us!” I shout, hanging up the phone.
I don’t have time to explain anything. Especially when I have no idea what’s going on. I swear, if my father hurts her, I’ll skin him alive. There is no chain strong enough to hold me back from tearing him to pieces.
Maria is crying softly with her legs curled up against her chest as she rocks in the passenger seat.
“We’re almost there, baby bird,” I reassure her.
Chapter 25 - Benedikt
I’ve never driven so fast in my life.
After calling the other guys and telling Art and Kaz to meet us at the clinic, I bolted out to my car and drove like a bat out of hell to get here as soon as I possibly could.
All the way here, my mind was racing with what might have happened to her. All Joe told me was that she’s bleeding. And his voice was so panicked and strained that it terrified me.
It could literally mean anything.
Running into the clinic, I practically crash into the front desk. “Maria, she came in with a man named Joseph. Where is she?” I demand.
The lady behind the reception desk jumps in fright, her eyes wide. “She’s upstairs, sir. Your friend is with her. Fourth floor on the left.”
I don’t wait. Sprinting toward the elevators, I slam my finger against the button several times, trying to get the door to open.
It slides open in slow motion as though we had all the time in the world.
“Open, dammit!” I snap at it.
As soon as I’m inside, I’m pressing number four, repeatedly slamming my finger against the button again.
The doors are busy sliding closed when someone runs up to them and tries to put their hand between them to stop them so they can catch the same elevator.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I snarl, and the person backs away with shock in their eyes.
Guilt tugs at me, but I ignore it. I’m hardly ever rude to people. This is an emergency. I can’t be waiting for someone else to climb in and make nice chit-chat with them while we head up to level four.
The doors slowly slide open, and I grab them and shove them to try to make it faster. As soon as the gap is wide enough, I push through and hurry to the left.
“Maria?” I snarl at the next reception desk.
