His eyes close. "Told him she'd go willingly. If he let me live."
My chest tightens. She should have run. My stupid little wife. "Go on."
"He gave her a syringe. Told her to inject herself. To prove she wasn't lying." Leo's breathing is ragged. "She did it. Without hesitation. Just... did it. To save me."
I can see it. Sera. Thirty-three weeks pregnant. Scared but determined. Choosing someone else's life over her own safety.
Over our son's safety.
To save Leo.
She is the kind of person who would do just that.
"I should have stopped her," Leo says. His eyes are heavy from pain meds. "Should have fought harder. Should have died before I let them take her."
"Then, she'd be gone, and you'd be dead."
"I failed you." His hand reaches out, grabbing my arm weakly. "I failed her. I should die for this, Adrian. I should?—"
"You're my brother." My voice is ice. Final. "You're going to heal. You're going to live. And when you're better, you're going to help me find the people who did this." I lean closer. "You don't get to die, Leo. You get to survive. Understand?"
He stares at me. Then nods weakly.
The doctor appears in the doorway. "We need to take him now."
Nurses rush in. They're already prepping him, unhooking monitors, wheeling the bed toward the door.
"Adrian—" Leo's voice is fading.
"Heal," I tell him. "That's an order."
They wheel him out. Down the hall. Through double doors that close with a finality that makes my jaw clench.
He'd better survive.
Because I'm going to kick his ass.
I stand there in the empty room, staring at the blood on the sheets. Leo, a man who'd seen war, was almost undone by Gabriel, a low-level piece of shit. It makes me even angrier.
My phone rings. Luc.
"Where are you?" I answer.
"Pulling up now. I have something."
"Meet me on four. Surgical wing."
Two minutes later, Luc appears. He looks like I feel. Desperate. Furious. Ready to kill.
"What is it?" It's time to get down to business.
"Gabriel dropped his phone. Probably during the attack. We pulled the data." He hands me a tablet. "Phone pings, surveillance footage from street cameras. We've been triangulating his possible locations."
I scan the screen. There are red dots everywhere. Hundreds of them.
"How many?"
"Six hundred and twelve potential locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens." Luc's voice is tight. "He's been moving constantly. Never staying in one place long. We can start checking them systematically, but?—"
