by Gun Brooke
“Speaking of dying, that’s just what this bitch is doing, right now.” Mark D’Angelo looked outraged, his expression changing him from a handsome man to a monster. He squeezed Sabrina’s neck, and she began to thrash against his grip, gasping for air.
“Let her go!” Darcy didn’t hesitate. She tried to make sure Ivers was truly cuffing himself to the table, when she aimed at D’Angelo. Holding her breath, she fired. D’Angelo staggered back, hit in the shoulder, just by the clavicle, which might have shattered, judging from his roars of pain. He fell back onto the desk and began to slide to the floor.
“God. Darcy…” Sabrina was free to draw new breaths.
Darcy moved across the room, keeping her Glock still raised and ready, set on pushing Sabrina away from the men, when she spotted movement behind D’Angelo, who half sat on the floor, leaning against the desk next to Sabrina. Ivers raised his free hand and pointed a gun at her. Sabrina kicked her leg out just as he pulled the trigger, and an invisible sledgehammer hit the left side of Darcy’s torso, making her stumble back. She saw Ivers raise his weapon again, this time aiming for Sabrina’s head. Darcy knew he wouldn’t miss at that short distance.
Straining to lift her arm and aim, Darcy found she was trembling so badly, she could barely move. Using both hands to try again, Darcy managed to raise her Glock, but the pain in her side sent her to her knees. This time Ivers was going to shoot Sabrina right in front of her, and Darcy couldn’t do a fucking thing to stop it. She had failed Sabrina.
“I’m sorry—” A large shadow seemed to hover above her. It looked much like a beast with bright-yellow eyes and the sharpest of long white fangs when it landed on top of Ivers just as his gun went off.
Darcy’s world shrank to a tiny, bright pinhead at the end of a tunnel. She heard voices yelling and increasing in number. A dog howled. She tried to speak, thinking she needed to secure the scene and start taking statements. But no, not anymore. That was before. Now she was going to jail for killing someone a second time. This time, fate wouldn’t let her forget. “Sabrina…” Darcy barely recognized her own voice, which was so husky and little more than a whisper.
“Darcy, oh, God, Darcy. You’re bleeding. He must have hit an artery. We need paramedics!”
That was her. Her queen. The creature who would never be hers now, but whom Darcy loved with her dying breath.
“Stay awake. Darcy. Look at me. Please, look at me and tell me you’ll fight. I need you to show all that courage one more time. Darcy. Darcy!”
Chapter Twenty-one
Sabrina refused to move as the paramedics took care of Darcy. The amount of blood pooling on the floor made her feel sick, but she refused to give in to her nausea. Swallowing hard, she held on to the one of Darcy’s hands that didn’t have an IV going. It was cold, clammy, and completely still in hers.
“Darcy?” she said with a raspy, aching voice. “Look at me. Just open those gorgeous eyes and look at me.” She couldn’t care less about who overheard her.
A muted whimper from the other end of the room drew Sabrina’s attention. Khan. The large dog sat next to a female police officer, who tenderly cleaned what looked like a bad tear to his left ear. Khan whined a few times but allowed the woman to wrap the ear in adhesive bandages. “This guy needs a vet to stitch him up ASAP,” the officer said to a tall woman standing next to her. She was familiar. Oh. Yes. Detective Lomax.
“See to it, Officer Ossian.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The young woman had made a leash by using some belts and now led the limping dog out of the room.
“How are you holding up, Ms. Hawk?” Detective Lomax lowered herself next to Sabrina and Darcy.
“I’m fine,” Sabrina said. She was so tired, she couldn’t muster any of her old resentment toward the police right now.
“I know it looks bad for Flynn, but she’s a fighter. We have a helicopter coming in a few minutes to take you to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.” Detective Lomax cautiously placed a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “You need to be looked at as well. You’ve gone through hell this evening.”
“She lost so much blood.” Sabrina eyed the darkening pool beneath the gurney. “She saved me…and now…”
“And now you need to be strong for her.”
That last comment seemed to settle something within Sabrina. “Yes.” She glanced around her. “What about the men? Mark D’Angelo and Ivers?”
“Ivers? That’s the name of the second guy?” Lomax blinked. “He’s unconscious and without any ID on him. Are you sure his name is Ivers?”
“Yes. I remember them both from college. He was a senior then. So was D’Angelo. I didn’t know them, not personally. They…they assaulted me. Three men. These two and one more. And now this. One of them might have a scar if it’s them. I bit one guy very hard back then. Broke the skin.” Sabrina flinched as the paramedics readied Darcy’s gurney to be moved.
“Another gurney is coming for you while we load this one,” one of the paramedics said to Sabrina. “Just hang in there. We’ll have both of you in the ER before you know it.”
Sabrina had to let go of Darcy’s hand as they maneuvered the gurney through the narrow hallway. “Can’t I just walk down with her?” She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn’t carry her. “Please?”
“No. Stay here. The second gurney is coming. We can’t have you break your neck on the stairs. Darcy Flynn would never let me live if I didn’t keep you safe.” Lomax smiled gently. “When your doctor has cleared you to talk to me, I’m going to have to discuss with you again about what’s been going on the last few weeks—and also about the assault in college.”
“All right.” The only thing Sabrina cared about right now was joining Darcy in the helicopter.
“Charlie? Charlie?” A man’s strong, shouting voice echoed through the beach house.
Sabrina began to shake, and Lomax pulled yet another blanket around her shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll go check on who’s causing—”
A tall man entered the room, staring at the paramedics working on the two men on the floor. Steve Ivers. His eyes fell on Lomax and Sabrina.
“Someone downstairs said Flynn came close to fucking killing my brother,” he snarled. “Is that him?” He pushed himself over to the other Ivers, whom paramedics were tending to. “Oh, God. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no…” He fell to his knees next to the still man. “Is he dead?”
“Are you his family member?” the female paramedic asked calmly.
“I’m his brother.”
“No. He injured his head after falling backward and hitting it.”
“Flynn did that?” Ivers stared at the paramedic.
“No,” one of the other police officers said. “A large German shepherd went nuts and ran up here. We heard a shot and came in just in time to see the dog stand on top of your brother, who was still holding his gun. He almost took half the dog’s ears off.” The officer shook his head. “I don’t know what your brother’s been up to, Ivers, but this is seriously fucked up.” He tugged at Ivers’s arm. “Let’s get out of here and let the paramedics do their job.”
“But how did Flynn…?”
“Darcy Flynn isn’t the villain in this scenario, Ivers. You’ve spent three years telling everyone how she shot an innocent boy, but this time you don’t know what went down, and I order you to keep your mouth shut. I’m tired of your bellyaching.” Lomax motioned for him to leave. “Take the night off and go be with your parents. They’ll need you now that your brother’s injured.” She frowned. “As I said, that’s an order.”
“Brothers. I don’t get it.” Sabrina noticed how she slurred and how it was getting more and more difficult to sit up. Slumping to the side, she felt Lomax holding on to her while she talked to someone else.
“In here. Perfect timing. Ms. Hawk looks like she’s going to faint if she doesn’t lie down. Can you cut the damn duct tape from her neck before she chokes? You have gloves on? Good. In here.” She held up an evidence bag. “Exce
llent. Better, Sabrina?”
“Yes.” Sabrina couldn’t faint. Now when it was easier to breathe, she needed to remain lucid enough to check on Darcy. As the paramedics wheeled her through her house and carried her down the stairs, she spotted Karimi standing just outside the door, smiling gently as he saw her.
“Darcy is hanging in there. You need to do the same,” Karimi said and raised both her hands to his lips. “I’ll come by the hospital later, after I wrap things up with our friends on the force.”
“Thanks.” Sabrina saw the helicopter down on the beach, waiting to take her and Darcy to the hospital. Its rotors were whipping up the sand around it, but the paramedics covered her entirely with a blanket as they walked with her gurney toward the helicopter. The flopping sound made her headache worse, but she was strapped in tightly and couldn’t cover her ears.
Once they had loaded her onto the helicopter, someone placed a headset over her ears that helped reduce the noise and made it possible for her to communicate.
“Darcy?” Sabrina managed to say, her mouth so dry, her tongue felt glued to the roof of it. “How is she doing?”
“Sabrina? I’m Tamara, your nurse aboard the helicopter.” An African-American woman leaned over her, placing a blood-pressure cuff around her arm.
“Darcy? The other woman in here. How is she?”
“She your friend?”
“Yes.”
“She’s holding her own.”
Sabrina wanted to believe this, but fear held her in a strong grip, and she needed to see Darcy for herself. She struggled against the straps, trying to sit up. Pain shot through her back, and she whimpered but kept trying to free herself.
“Hey. Easy there. Your blood pressure is a bit elevated and so is your heart rate, Sabrina. You need to lie down and try to relax. Once we’re at the hospital, I’m sure you can visit with your friend after you’ve both been checked out and your injuries dealt with.”
“Actually, she’s not just my friend. She’s…she’s more. So much more…” Sabrina felt the world around her start to spin and she closed her eyes, sobbing now. “She’s so much more.”
“Honey. I promise you she’s stable. I wouldn’t lie to you, Sabrina. All right?”
The calm tone of the nurse’s voice soothed Sabrina to some extent, but it didn’t help with her overwhelming feelings of guilt. Darcy was wounded because of her. If she had been more careful, less in denial, everything could have been solved earlier.
Darcy had to live. No matter if she forgave Sabrina or wanted a future with her, she had to live.
Chapter Twenty-two
Darcy slowly opened her eyes. Everything within sight was white and blurry. Where was she? What had happened? Was she back in the hospital after her concussion…no, wait…that was a long time ago.
Voices and footsteps, but muted, as if they were outside a door, strengthened her theory that it was indeed a hospital. Was she sick? Wounded? Closing her eyes, she tried to sort through the images flickering through the haze in her mind. Gunshots? Yes. Several. Angry, panicked voices. A howling dog. Sabrina screaming her name…Sabrina!
Darcy snapped her eyes wide open again and moaned as the light stung like heated needles. “Sabrina…” Her voice was little more than a husky whisper, but someone squeezed her hand right away. A slender, slightly cold hand was holding hers.
“Oh, my God. Darcy?” A beloved face leaned over her, pale and with dark circles under her pale-gray eyes. Sabrina. “You’re awake.” Teardrops landed on Darcy’s cheek, but they weren’t hers. Sabrina was crying.
“I’m in the hospital?” Darcy shifted in bed, only to regret her movement instantly as pain shot through her left side. “Ow. Ow! What the fuck?”
“Try to be still, darling. You were shot and they performed surgery on you. But you’re going to be fine. The bullet broke a rib, then shattered and hit some blood vessels. They were concerned you might suffer a pneumothorax, but you didn’t.” More tears ran down Sabrina’s pale cheeks, and she wiped at them with a trembling hand. “I’m so sorry, darling. I’ll never forgive myself for doing this to you.”
“You shot me?” Darcy frowned, her mind so fuzzy that nothing made any sort of sense. How had that happened?
“What? No! No, of course not. Ivers shot you.”
“My former partner?” This was getting weirder by the second. Darcy coughed and then winced at the pain in her side again. “Ow.”
“Shh. Easy.” Sabrina pulled her chair closer and held on to Darcy’s hand and kept caressing her cheeks and hair. “No, not that Ivers. Remember what we found out? His older brother, who went to the same college as I did. He was one of the guys…one of those guys among the dunes. The second was Mark D’Angelo.” Sabrina shuddered visibly, and Darcy squeezed her hand.
“What the hell…are the odds for that?” Looking up at Sabrina, she blinked several times to clear her blurry vision.
“No idea. It’s crazy. Your Ivers had a virtual meltdown over his brother being injured, but once he learned of his brother’s latest stunts, he became really subdued. Lomax sent him home, and later, his lieutenant had to do the same, so I’m told.”
Darcy was exhausted and couldn’t quite care about Ivers—or his brother. “What time is it? What about your guys? Your bodyguards?”
“One thing at a time.” Sabrina checked her watch. “It’s eight p.m. the day after you were shot. You were in and out of consciousness for quite some time after your surgery. As for Emerson, his bullet went straight through his shoulder, missing bones and major arteries. He’s already on his feet and has told the police what he saw. Logan was hit in the shoulder, and he’s had major surgery on it. I’m afraid he has a long convalescence ahead of him, with physical therapy.” Sabrina sighed and squeezed Darcy’s hand. “I did visit him just before I came back here. I think his wife is going to have to hold him back, as he was asking the physical therapists to show themselves at his bedside right this instant.” She shook her head.
Darcy shifted carefully onto her side that didn’t hurt so much, and that’s when she saw the bruise that covered almost half of Sabrina’s face. “Sabrina! Your face!” She extended a trembling hand, but Sabrina caught it and pressed her lips to Darcy’s palm.
“I’m fine. A mild concussion and some contusions that will self-heal. I’m sore everywhere after being manhandled by those apes.” Sabrina kissed Darcy’s hand again, this time her knuckles. “You saved me and got hurt in the process.”
“I was afraid I’d be too late,” Darcy whispered and drew a trembling breath. “When you managed to keep your phone with you, I was afraid it would get broken or run low on batteries, but Karimi tracked you. It was clever, but dangerous, for you to talk with the kidnappers in a way that helped us know exactly where you were going.”
“I had to do something. They shot my guards, who risked their lives to protect mine. And it damn near got you killed as well.” Sabrina hid her face against Darcy’s shoulder. “This is on me. All of it. My past. My problem.”
Darcy could barely find any words at first. She wanted to curl up around Sabrina and reassure her but had a strong feeling that wouldn’t help. Sabrina had obviously convinced herself she was responsible for the actions of two criminals. Consolation was not what she needed. “You know that’s a weird-ass way to look at this, right?” Darcy ignored the pain to make her voice strong. “These guys damn near raped you in college and let you live with the trauma of that, not to mention I’m sure they enjoyed how you had to suffer victim-blaming for years. Then they carry out some financial scam they need you to make go away—and when you refuse, they abuse you and me.”
Sabrina raised her head, and her pale eyes were huge as she stared at Darcy. “And Khan,” she whispered. “They shot Khan.”
“What?” Squeezing Sabrina’s hand so hard it made her yelp, Darcy could hear the howling dog in her mind. Of course. It had been Khan. “Is he…is he…?”
“He’s okay. Last I saw he had a bandaged ear, but th
at was it. He saved us both, ultimately. Ivers had a gun, and Khan came flying through the room when he aimed it at my head. Lomax told me if Khan hadn’t jumped like he did, the bullet would have killed me. She said they’re putting him up for some sort of canine medal.”
“Whoa…” Darcy slumped back against the pillows. “Lomax, huh?”
“Yes. She’s pretty okay, actually. As soon as I tell everyone you’re awake and talking, she’s going to need a statement from you. Karimi has already told them a lot, so I can imagine you just have to fill in the blanks.”
“Good. I’m a bit tired.”
“Me too.” Sabrina smiled wistfully. “It’s a miracle we survived. Especially you.”
“My queen. How could I ever leave you?” Darcy whispered.
Sabrina inhaled deeply and sucked her lower lip in between her lips. If she had done that to combat the rising of tears, she failed gloriously. Darcy ran cold, trembling fingertips along Sabrina’s bruised temple.
“Can you forgive me?” Sabrina leaned forward and placed her cheek on Darcy’s pillow. Their lips almost touched when they murmured the all-important words to each other. “I endangered so many by being a stubborn bitch.”
“Nothing to forgive. I—I love you, Sabrina. I have for much longer than you know.” Increasing pain shot through her side, and Darcy knew she would need to buzz the nurses for more pain medication soon but didn’t want to move at all right now.
“Darcy.” Sabrina pressed her lips to Darcy’s. “I love you so much. And now I can tell you’re going far too pale on me. I’m alerting the staff.” She pressed the buzzer.
“But I want you all to myself,” Darcy said.
“And you will have me. We have plenty of time. If you want to?” Cupping Darcy’s cheek, Sabrina placed small kisses on her lips.
“Oh, God, yes. I want to.”
Darcy could barely believe Sabrina’s words, but here she was, the woman of her dreams, the queen of her heart, telling her everything she wanted to hear. If this was only some medically induced dream state, she didn’t want to wake up.