“I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound.”
“That could be worse than we think.”
“It’s not?—”
“You don’t know that,” Theo said, a little firmer this time. “What if there’s bullet fragments in there? What if you’re in shock? What if?—”
“Theo…” I reached for him, my hand going to the back of his neck and pulling him in close enough that I could rest my forehead to his. “I’m fine. I promise.”
“But there’s so much blood.”
“It’s not the first time and won’t be the last,” I whispered, and when our eyes met, I saw the love swirling in his.
“You could’ve died.”
“But I didn’t.”
“But youcouldhave.”
“Kind of like you in WalesandBrazil?”
“That was different. He was after me. That bullet wasmeantfor me, not you.”
“And it didn’t get either of us. Not how he wanted.”
Theo shut his eyes, and I squeezed the back of his neck, trying to reassure him, but I knew firsthand that only time would do that. Time to see I wasn’t going to drop dead at his feet.
“Uh, guys?” Benoit’s voice filtered past the rapid beats of my heart. “I hate to break this up, but you might want to finish this elsewhere. People are starting to come back around.”
“Benoit’s right,” Lucien said, after a quick glance over his shoulder. “You should go now, and we’ll stay here and take care of this. I’m guessing you two have somewhere else you’d rather be?”
“Oui.I want to get Shep to?—”
“Libertine,” I interrupted, stubborn as ever. “Where we all said we’d meet.”
Benoit held up his hands. “I’ll let you two hash that out.”
“There’s nothing to argue about,” I said, finally getting to my feet, and when Theo stood opposite me, I braced myself. The last thing I needed was to pass out or fall over in front of him. I’d never hear the end of it.
“My arm is fine. It’s nothing. Plus, I want a piece of this fucker who tried to kill youagain. Don’t deny me.”
Theo’s jaw bunched as he gave me another quick once-over, then he finally relented. “Okay, but if I think for one second you need a hospital?—”
“Then I’ll go.”
“All right, then, let’s get out of here. I have a few questions for this asshole myself.”
22
THEO
KING, LACHLAN, AND Alessio were gone with Ari before the cops arrived on the scene, with Shep and I following after. The disaster of a gala was over before it began, and Lucien and Benoit took up the task of handling things while the rest of us went to Libertine.
To our underground hideaway.
To the last place Ari would ever see.
The place he would take his final breath.
