“Because of you,” I admit. “I don’t want to lose you now that I’ve just gotten you. I’m tired of being angry. I just want to be happy.”
“I want that too,” she gasps, resting her hands on my chest. “I want that more than anything.”
I lean down to kiss her when a loud boom comes from the entranceway and before I can even react, Cormac comes running into the living room.
Chapter Nineteen
Ciara
The sight of my brother enraged, glaring at my husband does not come as a surprise any longer.
The problem is: Cormac has a gun in his hands.
“Cormac!” I shout, running at him. “You have to stop this. You have to give up your desire to kill Marco. He and I are making this work. Let it go.”
“No,” he growls. “I cannot live while you’re married to a man like him. He’s in love with another woman. He deserves to die.”
“He’s not,” I say, putting my hand on Cormac’s arm. “He is not in love with another woman. I know that now. I never should have told you anything. It was a mistake. Please, Cormac. Just go. Stop trying to kill my husband. It’s not what I want anymore. I’ll never ask you to do that again. Never. So just go.”
“No!” He rips his arm away from me. “It doesn’t matter what you want, Ciara. It’s a matter of principle now. Dad never should have gone into business with him. He will be our downfall. He needs to die.”
“Cormac, please,” I beg.
But my brother isn’t listening. He aims his gun at Marco.
My husband is standing perfectly still. “Cormac, don’t do this,” he murmurs.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he snaps.
I run in front of Marco to stop Cormac from shooting him. But everything happens so fast.
Cormac pulls the trigger and an intense pain radiates up my arm. I fall to my knees. Cormac stumbles back, staring at me in shock.
That’s when I realize I have blood on my arm. Because I was shot.
“What the fuck have you done?” Marco snarls as he kneels down beside me.
“I… I…” Cormac drops his gun to the ground. “It was meant for you. Not her.”
“Get out of here,” Marco growls. “Go!” He turns his attention onto me. “Ciara. Hey, are you ok?”
My head is swimming from the blood loss. “No,” I whisper. “It hurts.”
Marco pulls his phone out and calls 9-1-1. “We need an ambulance. My wife was shot.” There’s pain in his voice. Fear.
Cormac picks his gun back up and runs out of the house, not even looking back at me.
Marco pulls me into his arms as I focus on breathing. The bullet hit me in the upper arm. Blood is quickly seeping out of me.
“You’re going to be ok,” Marco whispers. “I can’t lose you, Ciara. I won’t lose you.” He blinks and before I know it, he’s crying. My strong, scary husband who took me so long to figure out. He just doesn’t want to be alone and neither do I.
“Marco,” I say right before the darkness takes over me.
Marco
The ambulance arrives within minutes to take Ciara to the hospital. I sit beside her the entire ride there, holding onto her limp hand. She hasn’t regain consciousness.
“Too much blood loss,” the paramedic tells me, putting an IV into Ciara’s arm. I watch as he packs her wound to stop the bleeding.
