Finally, when I looked around us, I saw the carnage. Men from above had obliterated the men below, and their wrecked bodies covered the asphalt. I wretched, thumping my head on Noah’s chest. He set me on my feet, holding me steady as I swayed.
“Here,” I heard Benito say, and I blinked up into his bloodied face. He held out a knife, and Noah took it to cut off my gag first, then the ropes around my arms and feet.
Once I was free, I did the only natural thing. I threw my arms around Noah, feeling the stiffness of his arms as he awkwardly patted me on the back.
Stepping back, I coughed as I felt tears pouring down my face. Benito held his palm over his heart, and that was when I noticed the amount of blood pumping from a bullet hole in his chest.
“Sit down,” I ordered, and his legs gave out before he could comply willingly. “He needs the hospital,” I said, immediately yanking his jacket off to press against the wound.
“Will he be okay?” Noah asked frantically.
“I don’t know. It seems you were too worried about finding me while your dad was over here bleeding out,” I snapped. “Unless you have an ambulance in your back pocket, I suggest you dial 911.”
I lowered Benito to the pavement, steadily putting pressure on his bullet wound and hoping like hell I could keep him alive.
Chapter Thirty
Noah
Walking up and down the hallway outside the family waiting room, I tried not to picture the worst. The more I waited, the more I felt like a tiger at the zoo, pacing back and forth incessantly.
I knew Dad had been hit, but he kept assuring me it was nothing and that I needed to find Sailor before worrying about him. After he collapsed in her arms, I called our private ambulance service. Between them and Sailor, they stabilized Dad and sped off toward Grandview General. Though she was filthy and in street clothes, Sailor insisted she was the best-qualified surgeon to operate on him, and I was helpless to argue. Though it seemed her entire body shook, she held up her hands to show me they were rock steady and assured me she’d scrub thoroughly before getting started.
Maybe I was the one vibrating from the terror clutching at me. First, I thought she would die, and then the possibility of losing my father slammed me in the face for the third time in as many months.
Sailor told me she couldn't focus properly if she could see me outside the observation windows, so she had an orderly take me to the surgical waiting area. Entirely too many people sat in those plastic chairs, all of them as worried about their loved ones as I was about mine. Hours had since passed, feeling more likedays, and I hadn't heard anything yet. Though I trusted her and her skills, there was no way for me to know if I’d taken too long to get him help.
Over the years, I’d made certain I was ready to run the Costa family, but I would rather leave it to my father. It didn't seem right, not when he was still relatively young and had so much to live for.
My phone vibrated, and I raised my brows when I saw it was Gio calling for a status update. “I don’t know anything yet.”
“Can I bring her down there anyway? She’s going stir crazy waiting here.”
I sighed. The last thing I’d wanted was to ruin their wedding day, but I’d had no choice in telling my sister that our father was fighting for his life in the hospital. “I think it should be up to you. You’re her husband now.”
“Then I say it’s up to her, and what she wants is to be with you.”
“Okay.” Swallowing the lump in my throat, I added, “I’m sorry.”
“You weren't the one who started this. You were just the one who ended it.”
Matteo Franco was finally dead, mostly thanks to Russo’s men. They were waiting at the docks, which was exactly where we followed Matteo and his men. He thought he was only fighting us, not realizing we were chasing him to the exact place we’d intended to ambush him. The entire way there, I’d been too afraid of shooting at the windowless cargo van in front of us, knowing Sailor had to be in there somewhere. I couldn't stand the idea of her being collateral damage in the twisted scheme her cousin had cooked up.
A nurse came down the hall, and I looked at her expectantly. However, she moved past me to the doorway of the waiting area and called a different last name. Clenching my fists together, Itried not to punch the wall. After what felt like three more hours, I spotted Gio and Vicki coming toward me.
She spread her arms wide, and I let my sister hug me. More than that, I engulfed her in my arms and squeezed back. Instead of the flowy, lacy wedding dress she’d been in the last time I saw her, Vicki wore yoga pants and a hoodie. She rarely dressed down in public, so I knew she’d changed in a hurry when she got the news.
“You should have gone home and cleaned up,” she said when she pulled away.
Glancing down at the tux I’d destroyed, I shrugged. “I couldn't leave him.”
“Here.” Gio held up a duffel bag. “I took the liberty.”
Blinking back tears, I hugged my new brother-in-law and thanked him. Heading down the hall, I ducked into the men’s room and stopped short in front of the mirror.
What the fuck must the other family members have thought when they looked at me? Not only was my shirt covered in Dad’s blood, but so was my face. There were even random bits of crap in my hair and rips down my pants. I looked exactly like a man who’d been involved in a firefight.
“Shit,” I muttered, running the hot water in the sink. Opening the bag, I found clean clothes and a toiletry bag. “God bless you, Gio.”
