“Knife!” I called.
“Here, brother,” Hayden said, tossing one to me.
I flipped it open and used it to saw through the seatbelt. Amy fell in a heap. I carefully pulled her out through the passenger side’s broken window, careful not to scrape her back on the broken glass.
“The police are on their way,” Hayden said, crouching down beside me. “Megan’s already working the story, getting things put to rights up on the road.”
“The man has three bullets in him. I think the police will notice that.”
“Yeah, well, Dante apparently thinks he can take care of that. Make it look like wounds from the accident.”
“How’s he going to do that?”
“Don’t know.”
I ran my hand over Amy’s face as I laid her in my lap. She was still out, but there were no obvious injuries. Just a little blood on the side of her face where she probably hit the side window. Maybe a couple of broken ribs? It was hard to tell when she wasn’t awake to respond to my careful palpitation of her body.
“An ambulance should be here soon.”
“He was CIA. Said that he knew who killed Peter Bradford.”
Hayden stared at me, his head tilted slightly to one side. “You’re kidding.”
“Yeah. He was about to tell me more, but Dante shot him.”
“Why?”
I shook my head. “There’s something not right about that guy.”
“Yeah. He was with Megan when I called her. I think maybe there’s something going on there.”
“I hope not.”
Hayden started to say something, but Megan came half walking, half falling down the embankment.
“Ambulance is on its way. You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She looked at Amy, squatting down to touch her hand.
“Was there any identification on this guy?” Hayden asked.
Megan shook her head. “Nothing in the car either.” She studied Amy for a long moment, her eyes moving slowly over her face. “Dante’s making it look like he was just a business man, accidentally ran into the back of the SUV. Makes things easier.”
She looked at me, her thumb brushing the corner of my forehead. “You should let them look at you when they get here.”
“I’m fine.”
Amy began to stir then, moaning softly. I leaned close and whispered to her, trying to reassure her. And then the trees were lit with revolving lights as the ambulance and two cop cars slid to a stop at the top of the embankment. The paramedics came down, forcing me to back off as they lifted Amy onto the gurney. I followed them to the ambulance, convincing the young female paramedic that I needed to ride along because of my head wound. It didn’t take much convincing.
“Dominic…”
I moved up close to Amy and took her hand. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
She looked up at me. “Is it over?”
“It’s over, babe. We avenged Emily.”
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. Then she closed her eyes and seized.
Chapter 19
Megan
Hayden volunteered to stay behind and talk to the cops. The police weren’t happy with the idea, but Dante and I drove to the hospital close behind the ambulance. I leaned forward the whole time, willing the car to move faster, just as I had all the way to the accident scene. Dominic was like family. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him any more than I would want to see Cole in the hospital.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Dante said, reaching over to touch my knee. I brushed his hand back, sitting up again.
“This shouldn’t have happened. Dominic should have been safe and sound now.”
“Maybe it was just some rogue killer who didn’t get the message that the hit had been called off or simply didn’t care that it had been called off.”
“Maybe. But it’s just…this guy was so aggressive. Why was he so aggressive for just a routine hit?”
“These guys live by their own rules.”
I dragged my fingers through my hair, almost forgetting that I’d pulled it back into a ponytail. “We can’t have this following him around. If the police don’t believe our story—”
“They will.”
“I should call Sam. She’ll want to know what’s going on.”
“Why don’t you wait until we get to the hospital? Until we know better what’s going on.”
I nodded. “Amy’s family just lost a daughter. It would be awful if they lost another. And Dominic…he’s been carrying around an engagement ring for the whole time I’ve known him. He’d be devastated.”
“She’s fine.”
“How do you know?”
Dante looked over at me, those caramel eyes seeming to cover me with something, sympathy, maybe. I suddenly felt like we were back in my kitchen, his body doing things to mine that no one but Luke had ever done. A blush bloomed on my cheeks that was hot enough for me to feel. We pulled into the hospital a minute later, so I had every reason to jump out of the car and leave him behind. The relief that came with that movement was secondary.
Dominic was frantic as he climbed out of the back of the ambulance, watching closely as they slowly unloaded Amy. I grabbed his arm as he rushed to follow them.
“You have to let them do their job.”
“She had a seizure.”
My heart sank. It was my experience that that sort of thing was not a good sign.
We went inside, a nurse shoving a clipboard of paperwork into Dominic’s hand. I had to practically force him into a chair in order to get him to fill it out. The moment he was done, he was back on his feet, pacing and waiting for word on Amy.
It seemed forever. Dante came into the waiting room and then Hayden arrived. I called Sam and she arrived with coffee. Dominic refused even the tea that Sam had thoughtfully ordered for him. He kept pacing, waiting.
“Should we call her parents?”
Dominic shook his head. “Not until we know more. They’re burying their daughter this weekend. I don’t want to put them through any more unnecessary pain.”
We waited more than two hours before a doctor finally came out.
“Amy Greene family?”
Dominic approached the man so fast that I think he intimidated him a little. The doctor stepped back and studied him for a long second.
“Has anyone checked out that head injury?”
Dominic brushed at the bandage the paramedics must have put on him. “How is Amy?”
The doctor hesitated, but then he must have decided it wasn’t worth fighting him over.
“She has a concussion, some scrapes and contusions. Some bruised ribs. But she’s going to be fine.”
“What about the seizure?”
“She was severely dehydrated. And her blood sugar was a little low. Sometimes that can cause a seizure, especially in the presence of high levels of stress, such as a car accident. But we have no reason to believe it will have lasting consequences.”
I could see the relief blow through Dominic. He actually hugged the doctor before asking to go see her.
I watched him go, running down the hall like a child.
Sam came up behind me and gave me a strong hug.
“Time to go home and get some sleep.”
“Yeah. Will you drive me?”
She nodded.
I glanced over to where Dante was standing against the wall, pretending not to pay attention to anything that was going on around him. But there was something about the way his shoulders were stiff with tension, the way he stared at the floor. There was more to this man than he wanted anyone to see…and that made me nervous. I couldn’t quite explain why, but it did.
I just wanted to go home and sleep for a lifetime.
Chapter 20
Amy
I woke slowly, listening to the strange sounds all around me. I wasn’t sure where I was or why I was there. I wasn’t sure about much of anything. My head hurt, and the last thing I reme
mbered was lying in bed with Dominic. It’d been nice, the feel of his arms around me, the pleasure of his touch still lingering deep inside my body. The things he’d said.
And then it slowly began to come back to me. Waking without him there. The sounds coming from the living room of the house we were borrowing. The rush to the SUV.
I turned my head, regretting it as pain sliced through the entire right side. He was there, sitting in a chair, staring at the keys in his hands. He’d showered and changed, his face clean shaven. I wanted to touch his cheeks; I wanted to feel the baby smoothness of his face. He looked up and I saw the bruises blossoming across his forehead and his temple, the small cut on his forehead. His arm, too, was covered in bruises and scrapes.
“You okay?”
He leaned forward, sliding his hand over mine. “I’m not the one who has been unconscious for the last twelve hours.”
“That long?”
“Yeah.” He lifted my hand and kissed my palm lightly. “They said you’d be okay, though. Just a slight concussion.”
“And you?”
“I’m fine. Just a little banged up.”
“And it’s over?”
“It’s all over.”
I closed my eyes, remembering everything now—the man chasing us, the gunshots, the crash. I remembered a little of the ambulance, but that was about the extent of my memory.
“Amy?”
I opened my eyes and focused on him. My heart seemed to swell against my breastbone as I looked at him, so full of love that it didn’t know what to do with itself.
“I love you,” I said.
He smiled brightly, almost like a child who’d just been given a special treat. And then he pulled away, tugging at something on his key ring.
“What is that?”
“We talked about it a lot,” he began, his fingers fumbling, the keys rattling. “But we never really made it official. And I wanted to. I bought this ring before I left for basic training with the intention of asking you before I got on the bus. But then I was afraid that it would be too much pressure. So I decided to wait for the right moment. But now I’m wondering if there is ever really a right moment.”
“Dominic…”
He held up a beautiful diamond solitaire ring set in silver.
“I love you, Amy. I’ve wanted to marry you from the moment we first met. It would make me so happy—”
“Have you been carrying that around on a keyring all this time?”
“Five years.”
I shook my head. “And you call me a procrastinator.”
He leaned forward and slipped the ring onto my finger. I held my hand up and looked at it.
“I never really said yes.”
“You didn’t say no.”
“So I guess that’s kind of a yes, then.”
“It is.”
He leaned into me and kissed me roughly. “You don’t mind if we go to the justice of the peace as soon as possible, do you? After everything we’ve been through, I’d like to make it official as soon as possible.”
“No problem.”
He kissed me again. “I love you.”
***
My body hurt. My bones felt as though someone had replaced them with broken glass. But this wasn’t the kind of moment when comfort was the main concern.
I stood between my parents and Dominic as the pastor said a few kind words about my sister, a woman he’d never met a day in his life. He talked about how much we all loved her and how life is sometimes cut short for reasons we could never understand. But he didn’t say anything about how she used to tease me shamelessly about boys and all my insecurities, but then she would be the first one to stand up for me against bullies.
I wanted so badly for someone who knew the truth to get up there and speak. But I couldn’t…my heart was breaking. I wasn’t sure I could keep the tears under control long enough to get out words that people could understand.
Dominic pulled me close to his chest, his arm snaking around my waist. It was a cool morning for late fall, the wind blowing a soft rain around. I slid my hand over his, so grateful that he’d come to Denton with me.
I quit my job. Hadn’t really meant to do it so abruptly, but the kids liked the sub and the principal suggested it might be easier to just make a clean break. We’d pack up my apartment over the next couple of weeks. My rent was already paid, so there was no rush. And it would give us an excuse to come see my parents often. They were still struggling to wrap their minds around everything that had been happening these last few days.
My life had been shaken up again. But this was a good kind of shaken. I wanted nothing more than to be Dominic Gil’s wife. There was too much wasted time between us. Now was the time to make up for all that and to enjoy each other.
Emily would understand.
I shifted, glancing over my shoulder to the other mourners. Emily had a lot of friends here still. And then I saw her, standing alone under a tree. I’d watched for her before the ceremony began, anxious to make sure she was okay. But she never showed and I thought that maybe it was too hard for her. But she was there, dressed in a black dress, a thin veil hanging from her hat, covering part of her face.
I untangled myself from Dominic and walked toward her. She wiped her face with a tissue, her eyes widening as she focused on me.
“I’ll go,” she said. “I just…I wanted to say goodbye.”
“No, don’t go.” I took her hands and pulled her into me, offering her a hug. “Emily would want you to stand with the family.”
“But, I…”
“It’s okay.”
I led the way back to where my parents and Dominic were waiting. My father looked slightly confused, but my mom—she always seemed to know what we girls were up to. There was this knowledge in her eyes. She leaned close to Elizabeth and took both her hands.
“You must be Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth nearly crumbled, tears rushing down her face as she tried to nod. My mom simply pulled her into her arms and held her, crying a little herself. It was a sweet sight.
Dominic slipped his arm around me again.
“You’re pretty amazing,” he whispered against my ear.
“Thank you.”
***
We sat outside the house I grew up in, a glass of wine on the table between us. We could hear the voices of the people who had come to wish their condolences, as though that would bring my sister back. Dominic poured the last few drops of wine into my glass, smiling as Megan handed him a fresh one.
“I can’t think of a better occasion to drink these,” she said.
She’d brought half a case of wine and the glasses we were drinking them out of. I’d been surprised to see her here, but there was something about the way she and Dominic looked at each other…there was a connection between them. Hayden, another of Dominic’s coworkers, had come with her.
Elizabeth held out her glass for a refill.
“To Emily,” she said, holding it up for a toast.
We’d toasted to Emily three times already, but no one saw the need to point that out to her.
We drank. And then I giggled.
“Emily would love this. She was always the one who wanted to be the center of attention.”
“She would,” Dominic agreed.
“She liked to dress up and pretend to be some special person. The queen or a princess. A few times she pretended to be Angelina Jolie.”
Elizabeth giggled. “She had such a crush on her.”
It was still kind of weird to hear things like that. However, I found that I wanted to know these things, so it was okay.
“Well, I didn’t know your sister,” Hayden said, “but if she was Dom’s partner over there in Afghanistan and France, she must have been one hell of a lady. I know firsthand how hard it is to work undercover with this guy.”
Dominic tossed an empty wine bottle at him, underhanded, knocking him in the thigh. Hayden pretended to be mortally wounded, but he was laughi
ng too hard to pull it off.
“I should have known she was CIA,” I announced. “She loved to play dress up, loved to pretend she was people she wasn’t. It was either espionage or acting, and she was never good in front of a large audience.”
“She was smart and beautiful.” Dominic shook his head. “And tough as nails. If I had a dime for every time she kicked some idiot in the balls because he hit on her…”
“Not just guys, either,” Elizabeth offered. “I’ve seen her do the same thing to women twice her size.”
“She beat up my prom date.”
Everyone laughed, even me.
It felt good to remember her this way.
Megan came over with the last bottle of wine. I slipped it from her hand, noticing for the first time that the label was specially made. It said, “Luke and Megan, November 2.”
I glanced at Dominic, and he subtly shook his head.
“What’s this?” Megan asked, lifting my hand, her thumb brushing my engagement ring. “You finally gave it to her?”
“Did everyone know about it but me?”
“Everyone,” Elizabeth said. “Emily told me about it.”
“When’s the big day?” Megan asked.
“As soon as possible.” I elbowed Dominic. “He’s in a hurry.”
“Can’t blame him,” Hayden said with a little bit of a grin.
“What do you mean, as soon as possible?”
“We’re going to the justice of the peace as soon as our marriage license is good.”
“Oh, you can’t do that,” Megan announced. “You’ll get married at my place. We’ll invite your families and friends, make a big deal out of it.”
I glanced at Dominic. He was looking incredibly uncomfortable.
“That’s really not necessary.”
Megan took his hand and mine, holding them both together between her own hands.
DOMINIC (Dragon Security Book 3) Page 14