"Where. Is. He?"
Something in my voice makes her step back. "Fourth floor. Surgical wing. But he's?—"
I'm already moving. I wish someone would stop me. I'm so on edge that I need to smash someone's face in, but I don't.
I don't have time for emotional displacement, and fortunately, everyone gives me a wide berth as I make my way to the last man to see my wife.
A doctor is standing outside a room, reviewing a chart. He looks up as I approach.
"Leo Conti," I say. "Where is he?"
"Are you family?"
"I'm his brother." The lie is told before I even think about it. "Where is he?"
The doctor's expression shifts. "He's stable for now. But he has a subdural hematoma. A brain bleed. We need to operate immediately to relieve the pressure."
"Is he awake?"
The doctor nods. "I understand?—"
"I need to speak with him."
The doctor looks like he's going to tell me no, but something he sees in my face must have stopped him.
"You have five minutes. Then we take him to surgery."
He steps aside. I enter the room.
Leo is on the bed, pale. There's a bandage wrapped around his head, already soaked through with blood. His eyes are half-closed, unfocused.
One of his eyes is filled with blood, and I swallow the copper taste that invades my tongue as I see him.
He hasn't looked this bad since he returned from Fallujah.
"Leo..."
I'm not sure if he's able to focus, but I see recognition in his eyes, and I release a heavy breath.
"Adrian." His voice is weak. Slurred. "I'm sorry."
Until this moment, I didn't know what I was going to say. I trusted Leo with the two people most precious to me, and now, they are gone.
I'd considered killing him—briefly—but never seriously.
Now, watching him, I feel like a piece of iron has taken residence in my stomach.
"Don't."
"She—" He coughs, wincing. "She saved me."
I close my eyes. This isn't easy. Leo is gravely injured, but he still failed, and it cost me. "What happened? Do you remember?"
"Garden. Explosions. Front and back." Each word costs him. "Gabe came through. Had men. Something hit me."
From what the police told me, they blew a wrought iron gate to hell. I suspect Leo got hit with shrapnel, either from the grenade, the fountain that exploded, or the gate. I pray to God, Sera did not.
"And Sera?" Her name is heavy on my tongue as I hold a breath.
