Beckett goes to protest but I raise my hand to stop him. They both glance over at him with sad eyes and back at me with understanding of what I’m doing. Without any warning, Monroe wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight. I let her. I trust them to keep him safe. They’ll do what I ask as they want to do what's best for him.
She lets go of me and I turn to walk over to Alaric’s bed. Bending over, I cup his face and memorize every line, every feature. Kissing his lips softly, I whisper that I love him and pull away. Before I can talk myself out of it, I walk straight towards the door but stop at the doorway.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Glancing one more time at the man I love, I give a soft smile and walk away leaving my heart with him.
CHAPTER FORTY
ALARIC
“The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.” - William Shakespeare
The sound of monitors beep all around me. My eyes are like sandpaper as I slowly open them. My vision is a little blurred and I blink a couple of times to get a clearer view.
The last thing I remember is getting the living shit beat out of me and seeing Celeste’s face through swollen eyes. I was pushed forward and tried so hard to reach her. A gun shot rang through my ears and I could feel a bullet puncture my skin. Her scream was full of agony before she was suddenly on her knees holding me. After that, everything went blank. I don’t remember anything that happened after that. How I got here is beyond me or even how long I’ve been out cold.
A groan rumbles from my lips as I shift to get up from a lying position. The drugs must be wearing off as the pain radiates over my chest and ribs. Great, a reminder of how pathetic I am for getting my ass handed to me. The fucker cheap-shotted me. The room begins to spin and hands gently press against my arm.
“Take it easy! Please don’t barf all over me!” I hear Monroe warn as she helps me back to a lying position.
A call button is pushed above my head, no doubt signaling for the nurse. Once my vision clears, I notice Monroe is hoovering like a mother hen and Beckett is sitting over by the window with a concerned look on his face.
“How long have I been out?” I wince at my scratchy throat, instantly needing water for how dry it is.
As if she can read my thoughts, Monroe grabs a water bottle and hands it over to me. I take a long pull from it, like I’ve gone months without water.
“You’ve been knocked out for a week. Doctors said it was normal with everything your body endured. They said that it needed time to heal,” Beckett interjects.
I look around wondering where Celeste is. If I’ve been out for a week, she must have had to step out to deal with the mess that occurred or maybe left for food or something. A nurse walks in giving me a gentle smile. She checks me over to see if any of my dressings need to be changed and also changes out my IV bags. She then pumps some more of the good stuff to help with the pain.
For the next hour, the two of them fill me in on the aftermath and uproar of the office. Apparently the Director was working with the Albanian Mafia, and low and behold with The Jawbreaker, Oliver. It’s like all of them were intertwined at some point. I didn’t believe it at first because he was so gung ho about getting the case closed, but he didn’t expect Celeste or any of the girls to come out alive. He wasn’t part of the initial kidnapping, but he was presented with an offer, and apparently couldn’t resist it.
The Albanian Mafia leader wasin cahoots with Bianca, who’s Celeste’s stepmom. She wanted to eliminate Celeste from the picture. Dalmat had heard about Oliver and somehow made contact. He advised how she was a strip club owner full of sin and they needed her wiped from existence. They paid him handsomely for the good work he was doing for the city. Stevens was then contacted by Bianca and made some sort of agreement. Any information we had on Oliver was relayed back to Dalmat.
When the time came for the huge event at the club, the Director had provided the information to Oliver and where to avoid cameras and who to watch out for. Little did anyone know, Celeste had her own plans and was prepared for Oliver’s kidnapping.
It makes more sense now why Stevens was so pissed when he arrived at the crime scene. Seeing Celeste alive in my arms and Oliver dead ruined their plans. That didn’t go over well with Dalmat and he was then informed about a drop that was happening. There was also a new rat who gave them all the information and also that an ambush was going to happen. The rat ended up being one of the Mafia leaders who betrayed their alliance.
Stevens then put two and two together and sent me in as bait. He knew my relationship with Celeste and knew that would be the only way to break her and give them the leg up on destroying her. Things went south and now she lives and they’re in hell where they belong. The only kicker is, once Monroe and Beckett got there with backup, Stevens was found alive, barely.
He’s now in a separate hospital in a coma. I would have left him there to die, but that wouldn’t have been their protocol. Once he’s awake and healed, he’ll be locked up for life. Beckett was able to hack into all his communications and turned it over to the uppers for evidence.
“How’s Celeste? Is she okay?” I ask once they finally get done with their elaborate story.
“She was shot but nothing life threatening. They stitched her up and she’s fine. Pissed, but fine.” Monroe averts her eyes away from me.
I catch the quick glances the two exchange and I have a feeling they aren’t telling me something. I reach for my phone that’s sitting by the chair and check to see if she sent any texts to check in. I have no doubt that one of them had let her know I was awake. Wouldn’t she be here by now? There’s no way she wouldn’t stop what she’s doing to come to the hospital. Something doesn’t seem right.
“Where’s Celeste?” I ask slowly, watching as their bodies shift uncomfortably.
What are they not telling me? They told me she was fine. She had nothing life threatening. So why are they acting like something happened and they’re afraid of how I will react?
“Alaric, she’s gone.” Beckett’s voice is almost a whisper. I almost think that I hear him wrong.
My chest starts to squeeze as if I’m having a heart attack. It can’t be. How is she gone? They have to be wrong. They have it all wrong. My hands begin to tremble and I use every ounce of strength I have to push up and swing my legs off the edge of the bed.
“What do you mean she’s gone? You just said that she had no life-threatening injuries. What the fuck do you mean?” My voice rises causing them to flinch.
