Scarred Sunrise: A Fortis Security Novel Book 10 (Fortis Security Series)
Page 18
“No!”
Milla’s scream made him look up as she held up her hand to stop him as the ice gave way and she sunk like a boulder beneath the frigid water. Gunner stiffened, his body refusing to move as his entire world came crashing down around him. Then his brain kicked in and his fight or flight response sprang into action as he ran for the road, screaming and waving his arms to get the attention of the fishermen heading home for the day.
More experienced than he would ever be in this situation, he watched as they quickly moved into action. Securing a blow-up dinghy to his body, one of the men rowed out over the top of the ice until he got to the gap where Milla had gone in. With the others holding the man and the dinghy secure, he slipped into the water. Gunner looked on with wild, tear-filled eyes as the seconds ticked by and still, he didn’t see her, the guilt inside him a storm of destruction whirling through him as his fists clenched by his sides.
As he was about to scream his grief to the world, the man pulled Milla from the frigid lake. Her body was limp, her soaking wet hair hung over her face obscuring the smile he was desperate to see.
As the men sprang into action and pulled him to shore with an unresponsive Milla in his arms, Gunner knew that his life, and certainly Milla’s life, would never be the same again and it was his fault. His selfish desire for fun had cost him his sister, his best friend, and the one person who he adored above anyone else.
Gunner sat in the hallway outside his sister’s room a few days later, his head bent as he watched a spider crawl up the wall toward a web where a fly was caught. He knew how the fly felt, he was the same. He was trapped in a hell that he couldn’t wake from as he saw the nightmare he’d created barrelling down on him like a freight train.
For three days he had sat there as his grandmother spoke with doctor after doctor about his sister. He kept hearing words like vegetative state and coma and didn’t know what any of it meant. All he knew was that his sister wouldn’t wake up and it was his fault.
He had done this—his selfish actions had caused it and now every time his amma looked at him all he saw was sorrow and pain. He had hurt the two people he loved most in the world.
As a strangled cry came from the room where his sister lay, he stood on the chair to try and get a better look and saw his amma on her knees as the doctor tried to comfort her. He knew the anguish and pain would stay with him until the day he died and he deserved it.
He glanced at Milla; she had tubes coming out of her mouth, needles in her arm and her eyes were open and staring up at the ceiling. His heart hammered for a moment and he jumped down from the chair to tell his amma that Milla was awake, that everything would be okay now, but he stopped with his hand on the door at the voices inside.
“I’m so very sorry, but Milla will never be able to walk or talk or feed herself. Her brain was so damaged by the lack of oxygen that she will never recover her motor functions.”
“Does she understand what is happening?” His grandmother sounded wrecked, her voice barely a whisper, gritty with distress.
“We need to run more tests, but it seems she has some cognitive thought process and recognition, but we don’t know how much.”
He heard footsteps come closer and quickly got back on the chair in silence, his head down to hide the tears. He didn’t know what all of the things the doctor had said meant but he knew in his gut they were bad.
As the two adults stopped at the door, the doctor lowered his voice. “My advice, Mrs Eivinsdóttir, is to find a good government assisted home and let them take care of it. The girl you know is dead and gone, and she is not coming back.”
Gunner clenched his hands into fists as he listened to the hateful doctor utter those words. He was about to get up and tell the doctor he was a horrible mean man when his grandmother spoke.
“She is not an it. She is my granddaughter and I will care for her the same as I have always done. A person does not become expendable when they are hurt or because they can no longer do the things they once did. That, young man, is how you treat family. You care for them no matter what.”
“Mrs Eivinsdóttir, I didn’t mean—”
His amma cut him off. “I know what you meant, and you can forget it. Milla is my family and she’s not going in a home while I’m able to look after her.”
“Have you any idea of the work involved in caring for someone with her special needs? It is a twenty-four hour, seven day a week task.”
“I don’t care, she’s family.”
Gunner heard the masculine sigh as the door was pulled open and the doctor looked down at him as Gunner glared at him with defiance.
“You have no idea what you have caused, do you child?”
The doctor shook his head as he walked away and Gunner fought the tears that stung the back of his nose, the guilt so heavy he thought he might never stand again the burden was so heavy.
A strong arm came around him and he leaned into his grandmother’s familiar hold, taking comfort he didn’t deserve. The man might be mean, but he was right. This was his fault and he would do whatever it took to ease the burden his reckless behaviour had placed on his amma.
As for Milla, that was something he would have to live with. It would be his penance for the life he’d stolen from her. He would live for both of them, do the things she had dreamed of and serve those who needed him. But he would never again let anyone in. He wasn’t worthy of love and loving someone made you open to the pain that he was now feeling as he cried against his grandmother’s shoulder.
Books by Maddie Wade
Fortis Security
Healing Danger (Dane and Lauren)
Stolen Dreams (Nate and Skye)
Love Divided (Jace and Lucy)
Secret Redemption (Zack and Ava)
Broken Butterfly (Zin and Celeste)
Arctic Fire (Kanan and Roz)
Phoenix Rising (Daniel and Megan)
Nate & Skye Wedding Novella
Digital Desire (Will and Aubrey)
Paradise Ties: A Fortis Wedding Novella (Jace and Lucy & Dane and Lauren)
Wounded Hearts (Drew and Mara)
Scarred Sunrise (Smithy and Lizzie)
Fortis Boxset 1 (Books 1-3)
Fortis Boxset 2 (Books 4-7.5
Eidolon
Alex
Blake
Reid
Liam
Mitch
Gunner (coming late 2020)
Alliance Agency Series (co-written with India Kells)
Deadly Alliance
Knight Watch
Hidden Obsession
Lethal Justice
Innocent Target (coming late 2020)
Tightrope Duet
Tightrope One
Tightrope Two
Angels of the Triad
01 Sariel
Other Worlds
Keeping Her Secrets Suspenseful Seduction World (Samantha A. Cole’s World)
Finding English Police and Fire: Operation Alpha (Susan Stoker’s world)
About the Author
Contact Me
If stalking an author is your thing and I sure hope it is then here are the links to my social media pages.
If you prefer your stalking to be more intimate, then my group Maddie’s Minxes will welcome you with open arms.
General Email: info.maddiewade@gmail.com
Email: maddie@maddiewadeauthor.co.uk
Website: http://www.maddiewadeauthor.co.uk
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/maddieuk/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/546325035557882/
Amazon Author page: amazon.com/author/maddiewade
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14854265.Maddie_Wade
Bookbub: https://partners.bookbub.com/authors/3711690/edit
Twitter: @mwadeauthor
Pinterest: @maddie_wade
Instagram: Maddie Author
A Fortis Security Novel Book 10 (Fortis Security Series)