Bella looked up just as Victor and his ridiculous entourage entered the private waiting area.
“What do we know?” he asked, looking from her to his mom.
“He's in surgery,” Tabitha Creed croaked solemnly.
Unable to handle the fear in her future mother-in-law’s eyes, Bella walked over to the corner, slid down the wall, and tucked her head in her knees.
Because Tabitha Creed was a well-respected physician, her lack of hope was crippling. If she wasn't optimistic about Lucas’ chances, it was likely that they should expect the worst. Bella didn’t look up when Victor asked again, “What happened?”
“To Lucas or us?” Donna asked. “So, what happened with y’all?” she questioned.
“Bella and I were also targeted.”
“What happened?” Victor asked.
Bella jumped to her feet, frustrated by the barrage of questions. “Donna and I went out to lunch. After lunch, we walked to the car. A van pulled up, the side door opened, and the occupants opened fire. We got one. But, because of the bullet that went through his nose, you won’t be able to interrogate him. Another one was hit, but they got away.”
Bella took a breath and swiped a tear from her cheek. She began to pace back and forth with her face twisted with anger. “We were in a full-on firefight on 79thStreet, which is not that unusual, you know. We are cops. You know whatisunusual?” Bella gritted. “What isunusual…”
When she clutched her chest in agony of the thought of losing Lucas, Donna rushed to pull her into a hug. After a painful sob that had to have been felt by everyone in the room, Bella continued.
“Unusual, is my fiancé, a businessman, getting gunned downin a fancy, fucking downtown restaurant!”
CHAPTER 12
NIYAH
Niyah slipped on a pair of gloves as the transport team rolled the body of one of Bella and Donna’s attackers into her examination room.
After the call came out, she’d rushed to the scene as fast as she could. As busy as she was with her current case, hearing about Bella and Donna’s involvement in a shootout that had left an offender down, prompted her to put it to the side. Once she’d learned that the twins were okay, Niyah thought instead of going to the hospital with everyone else, she would be of more use doing what she did best.
As a medical examiner, Niyah had the ability to investigate in a way that no detective could. The dead spoke, and she understood their language. So, when the team placed the body on her table, she pressed record, unzipped the body bag, and got to work.
At least, cause of death was no mystery; not with a bullet hole in the middle of the man’s face. Niyah rolled the decedent over and found no exit wound. The bullet was encased somewhere within his skull.
“Male... judging by the hair, possibly Asian or Hispanic. The decedent's face is unrecognizably disfigured. Age unknown,” she rattled for the recorder. “Stand by for height and weight.”
Niyah turned and looked in the clear, plastic bag that contained the dead man’s belongings. He’d carried no identification. So, she went back to the body and took note of the many identifying marks. The man had a gallery of tattoos, mostly on his upper body, that led her to conclude that he was more than likely Asian.
Niyah made a mental note to enter the tattoos in the database then continued with her examination. She searched the body thoroughly. Her goal was to figure out who he was and why he wanted her friends dead. Hopefully, fingerprinting and DNA would answer some of her questions.
CHAPTER 13
XANDER
Xander slipped out of his suit jacket and laid it across Bella. She was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. A weak, “Thank you,” confirmed his suspicions.
Xander looked at his watch. It was nearly five in the morning. Lucas had been in surgery for a little over eight hours, and they still had no answers. His family had been waiting on pins and needles for the small update from the surgeons, but they hadn’t heard from them in at least two hours.
Xander felt utterly useless as he leaned against the wall and looked around at his anxious and exhausted family. There was nothing he could do to make it better. It seemed no one understood what he did. Lucas was going to be fine. He couldn’t die. Even though Victor was the oldest, Lucas was the raft that kept his brothers afloat.
Since Victor’s life had been mapped out before he was born, his childhood and most of his time had been dominated, dictated, and monopolized from the very beginning by Victor Senior. Thankfully, Victor had rebelled, always finding time for his younger brothers. But Lucas was the brother that tucked them in at night when their father was in Washington and their mother was working at the hospital. Lucas was the one who had protected them from bullies and only called on Victor to help when he couldn’t handle them alone. Then he’d come running every time. The Creed brothers had been raised to look after each other. And they couldn’t do that without Lucas. So, there was no way that they were going to lose him.
The creak of the door caused Xander to look up. A nurse held the door while Niyah hustled through, carrying multiplebags. A few long strides carried Xander across the room. He grabbed the bags from Niyah’s hand and placed them on a round table in the corner of the waiting room.
Niyah thanked the nurse and walked over to the table.
“Smells delicious. Thank you.”
