“Maybe so but at least I’ll be a living pussy and not a dead one.”
Gordon places his gun on the sofa and squats at my feet, cutting the zip ties around my ankles. “Will you tell them that I didn’t hurt you?”
“Yes.”
A shot fires, and Gordon falls to the floor at my feet. “I can’t believe that he turned out to be such a pussy.”
“What are you doing, Greer?”
“Taking matters into my own hands just as I should have done from the beginning.”
“Leith is outside.”
“I know. And that’s why Gordon panicked and shot you. I knew I’d be next, so I wrestled the gun away from him and shot him to save myself.”
She lifts the gun and points it directly at my chest. “You can thank Bleu for teaching me how to do this.”
“Don’t, Greer.”
“I have to. I don’t have a choice now.”
And then there’s a loud pop.
Chapter 15
Leith Duncan
Gunfire. A single shot.
I thought that my heart couldn’t beat faster but I was wrong. It barely has time to relax before it contracts again.
“Move, move, move now,” Sin orders.
A second gunshot.
Fellowship foot soldiers file out of the van and move around the cottage, surrounding it from every side. No one within the house can escape without coming face-to-face with an armed brother. Although I want Gordon and his accomplices to pay for what they’ve done, that isn’t my concern at the moment.
Lorna. I don’t want to live in a world that doesn’t include her.
I won’t live in a world that doesn’t include her.
Kieran places a bipod on the boot of the car and leans down to adjust its position. “Gordon Acheson is part of The Order, but he’s violated our alliance with The Fellowship. The wrong is against his brotherhood and yours but more so you and Lorna. She is your woman so this is your call: dead or alive?”
Torture would be the only reason to leave him alive, but I’m not that person. Inflicting pain upon him would bring me no pleasure.
“Kill him.” And let us be done with this forever so Lorna and I can move on with our lives.
“That would be my choice as well.”
“His dispute is with you. You should be the one to do the talking,” Sin says.
“Gordon! I’m here. What is your decision?”
No answer.
I don’t like this game. “What does no response mean?”
Kieran lifts his face away from the scope and looks at me. “It’s not unusual for them to go radio silent once they realize that they’re defeated, most especially when they’re cowards.”
“He’s right. I’ve seen it happen this way countless times. Call out to him again,” Sin says.
“I said that I’m here, Gordon. Are you going to make this easy, or are we going to do it the hard way?”
The front door opens and Lorna slowly emerges from the cottage with her hands in the air. “It’s me. I’m coming out.”
I’ve never been so relieved in my life. Until I realize that it’s not Lorna coming out of the house.
Greer? She was kidnapped by Gordon too?
Greer falls to the ground on her knees, sobbing, and looks up to the sky. “He shot her. He killed her,” she screams.
No.
Fuck no.
Greer is wrong.
Lorna isn’t dead.
She can’t be.
I run toward the cottage with Sin, Jamie, and Kieran close on my heels. Greer stands and reaches out, trying to stop me from going inside, but it’s not possible for anyone to keep me from getting to Lorna.
“Don’t go in there, Leith. You don’t want to see her like that.”
I burst through the door and see that Lorna is slumped in a chair. Her head is dropped back completely, and her wrists are zip-tied to the arms of the chair. And there’s blood. So much fucking blood. I didn’t know that a person had that much in their body.
Pale skin. Toneless. Unmoving.
Lifeless.
Sin kicks the limp man at her feet away and takes out a blade. He cuts the plastic ties from her wrists, and I catch her limp body when she slides from the chair.
“Lorna… baby. Can you hear me?”
No response. Not so much as a twitch.
I look up at Jamie. “You’ve got to save her. Please.”
“I need her on her back on the floor.”
“Gunshot wound to the chest.” Jamie presses his finger against her neck and places his ear over her mouth. “She’s breathing and has a pulse. Both are weak but they’re still there.”
“What?” I hear from a female voice behind me.
“Can’t you do CPR to make her heartbeat stronger?”
“I can’t, Leith. If I make her heart pump harder, she will bleed out. We have to apply pressure to the wound to keep her from hemorrhaging and get her to the Royal Infirmary now. She’s going to need urgent medical care, more than I can provide.”
“Anything she needs.”
“We don’t have time to wait for an ambulance. Pull the van around to the front door. We have to move her now. There’s not a minute to waste.”
“You heard him,” Sin tells a few of the foot soldiers.
Lorna is moved into the back of the van and Jamie holds pressure over the wound at her chest. I hold her hand, stroking the top, and I’ve never felt more worthless in my life.
I lean down and cover her ear with my mouth. “This changes nothing. You’re still going to be my wife and the mother of our children. And you win. I’ll give you as many babies as you want—a dozen if that’s what you decide. I just need you to stay with me. Please don’t leave me, Lorna. It’s finally our time to be happy.”
The drive to the infirmary is the longest of my life, and I’ve never been more relieved than when I see that red emergency department sign. “We’ve made it to the infirmary. You’re going to be just fine.”
The medical staff assess Lorna’s injuries and she is rushed to surgery. Everything from the time we entered the emergency department doors until now is a pure blur. I only remember telling Lorna over and over how much I love her.
“Leith.”
I turn at the sound of my name and Greer is sitting beside me. “Did you hear what I said?”
“No.”
“I’m going to take care of you through this tragedy.”
She’s going to take care of me through this tragedy? “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Lorna told me to take care of you after she died.”
She must be fucking insane to say something like that to me right now. “Lorna isn’t going to die.”
“Gordon shot her in the chest. Things don’t look good. Even if the doctors aren’t saying so, you must know that the odds aren’t in her favor.”
“Lorna is going to survive and we’re going to be married. That’s the only thing that I know.”
“Denial is a normal step in the grieving process.”
“Shut your gob before I come over there and shut it for you,” my mum says.
“I just think that everyone should be realistic about her chances and how slim they are. She wouldn’t want us to have false hope.”
The smacking sound of my mum’s hand against Greer’s face is loud. And then the waiting room falls silent. “Leave. Now. You are not welcome here.”
“Leith…”
“You heard my mum. Get out.”
“Everyone is under a lot of stress. I’ll step out and give you some space to absorb what’s happening.”
Sin leans over after Greer leaves the waiting room. “Bleu and I have been talking about the kidnapping, and we feel that something is off about it.”
“Like what?”
“Gordon didn’t mention a word about kidnapping Greer. Why not? Having two of our women would have given him an even bigger advantage.”
“Aye, it certainly would have.�
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“It’s been so long since you killed Gordon’s brothers. It doesn’t make sense that he waited all of this time to retaliate.”
“I hadn’t considered that.”
“Understandably; Lorna is the only thing on your mind at the moment. But I’ve decided that I’m going to take Greer by surprise with an impromptu debriefing about the kidnapping.”
“When?”
“Now. I think it’s better to do it when she isn’t expecting it.” Sin gestures toward Bleu across the room. “And the human lie detector is going to sit in on the questioning with me. I want her input on Greer’s responses and body language, whether it’s truthful or deceitful.”
“She can tell if Greer is lying?”
“Absolutely. That woman has mad skills.”
“Greer was really pissed off about my engagement to Lorna. She threatened us right after we announced that we were getting married.”
“I’m aware. Lorna told Bleu and she told me.”
“I didn’t mention it because I saw it as an empty threat. I didn’t think that she had the power to touch us.”
“She doesn’t have the power on her own, but it’s a different story if she had the aid of Order members.”
I don’t want to think that Greer could have played a part in this. “Lorna was concerned about Greer’s threats, and I brushed them off as though they were nothing. I’ll never forgive myself if I find out that Greer was to blame for this.”
“If she is responsible, you can’t blame yourself. You had no way of knowing that she could be capable of something like this. And we still don’t know that she was behind it. She could be a victim and innocent of any wrongdoing.”
His face says something different. “Your gut tells you otherwise?”
“Aye, but I place my trust in Bleu’s training more than my gut. We’ll get down to the bottom of it.”
“What will happen if she’s to blame?”
“Let’s not worry about that unless the time comes.”
A woman wearing scrubs comes into the waiting room. “Frazier?”
“That’s us.”
“Dr. Stuart would like to speak to the immediate family.”
“My mum and I… we are her family.”
“You’re her husband?”
“I would have been today. It’s our wedding day.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“How is she?”
“That’s a question for the physician to answer. Come with me, please.”
Mum and I follow the woman through the maze of halls until we reach the physician’s office. “This is Lorna Frazier’s family. Her fiancé and his mum.”
“Aye, come in please and have a seat.”
The doctor stands and reaches across his desk to shake my hand, but I’m not interested in introductions. I need to know how Lorna is. Now.
“What is Lorna’s condition?”
“It’s nothing short of a miracle but she made it through surgery.”
I release the breath that I’m holding and I blink to clear the blur covering my eyes. “Oh thank God.”
“I didn’t have high hopes going in. Most people don’t survive a gunshot wound like hers, but your lass was lucky. If her wound had been two inches closer to her heart, she would have died instantly.”
Most people don’t survive.
She would have died instantly.
I lean forward and rub my face and eyes, wiping away the tears.
“Do you need a minute, Mr. Duncan?”
I shake my head from side to side. “I’m good. Keep going.”
“All right. Let’s discuss prognosis.”
Bullet fragments. Infection. Bleeding. Blood clots. Breathing problems. Pain. Scarring. Loss of nerve sensitivity.
So many potential problems exist. Lorna isn’t in the clear but she is alive. And that’s all that matters right now. We’ll have to take it one step at a time.
“When can I see her?”
“I think we can get you in to visit her briefly after she leaves the recovery room and the nurses are finished admitting her to the critical care ward.”
“How much longer will that be?” I need to see her as soon as possible.
“Should be within the hour.”
“Will she be out of it or will she be able to talk?”
“You can expect some lingering sedation from the anesthesia, but she should be able to wake up for brief periods to talk.”
“Can my mum see her?”
“Let’s keep it at one visitor for now. We’ll get your mum in to see her a little later after she’s had time for the anesthesia to wear off.”
My mum pats the top of my leg. “You’re the one she needs to see and hear.”
I’ve paced a path in the floor of the waiting room, cracked my knuckles, and bitten my nails down to the nub.
“Mr. Duncan. You can come back now.”
A nurse wearing all white is standing at Lorna’s bedside, pecking on a laptop on a rolling stand. “Hello. I’m Bunnie and I’m going to be taking care of Lorna until the morning.”
The first thing that I notice is that some of Lorna’s color has returned. There are at least several shades of difference in the color of her skin and the white sheets on her bed. “She was so white when we brought her in. She looks better. Still not like normal, but I can tell that there’s been improvement.”
“She received blood while she was in surgery. That helps the skin to look pinker.”
The nurse closes the laptop. “I’m going to step out, but I’ll be back to check on her in a few minutes. Feel free to hold her hand, talk to her. Whatever you’re comfortable doing.”
“Leith.” Lorna’s voice is low and hoarse.
“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”
Her eyes squeeze shut and lines form on her beautiful face when she coughs. “I’m hurting. What happened to me?”
I don’t want to have that conversation while she’s like this. “You had surgery.”
“Why? What kind of surgery?”
“Let’s not talk about that right now. You need lots of rest so you can heal.”
Her eyes open, but barely. “What day is it?”
“Saturday.”
Her eyes widen. “Saturday? Our wedding day?”
“Aye.”
“Did we get married?”
“No, baby.”
“Why not?”
“Something happened.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want you to worry about it. We’re still going to get married. It just isn’t going to happen today.”
She breathes in deeply. “My chest hurts.”
“You’re getting medicine through your IV, but it probably won’t take away all of the pain.”
“I’m so sleepy.”
“You should close your eyes and rest.” I lean down and kiss the top of her head. “I love you so much.”
“Love you too.”
Lorna closes her eyes and her respiration becomes regular and steady. I watch her chest rise and fall, and I realize just how very grateful that I am for every breath that she takes.
Every breath, every beat of her heart. Each one is so very precious.
I learned something tonight. A man can think that he loves a woman, but he doesn’t truly know the depth of that love until he believes that he’s lost her forever.
Being parted while we’re living is different than being parted by death. I didn’t know how much I truly loved her until I faced losing her forever. I got a taste of what living without her would feel like, and I never want to know what the real thing feels like.
“You can’t leave me in this world without you, Lorna. I won’t make it without you.”
I watch Lorna sleeping, and the rhythm of the air moving in and out of her lungs is soothing like a living lullaby. Until she gasps and her eyes pop open, sending my heart into a tailspin.
“What’s wrong?”
“Greer.”
“What about her?”
Lorna’s hand comes up and touches the dressing on her chest. “Greer… she shot me.”
“You’re sure that it was Greer and not Gordon?”
“It was Greer. And she took my ring. She wants me dead because she’s obsessed with you.”
“Who killed Gordon?”
“Greer did.” Lorna inhales deeply and releases the breath slowly. “He was backing out on her plan to kill me.”
“We only found Gordon’s body in the cottage. Was anyone else there?”
Gordon couldn’t have pulled off Lorna’s kidnapping alone. Someone had to drive the getaway car and another someone had to be available to help subdue her in the event that she fought and got away.
“Two brothers from The Order were helping Gordon and Greer, but they ran off when you got to the cottage.”
“That’s very good, baby. I’m so proud of you for being able to remember and tell me those kinds of details.”
Greer is counting on Lorna dying. Her survival is a wrinkle in her plan—a wrinkle that she’s going to be eager to iron out as soon as possible so she doesn’t get caught. And she’s proven that she isn’t one to be underestimated. The woman is clever, manipulative, and evil. And that is a very dangerous combination.
“I’m here and I’m not going to leave your side. You’re safe. Rest now.”
I enter the waiting room, and our family and closest friends are waiting for an update on Lorna’s condition. And Greer is there playing the role of concerned friend.
“Lorna is awake and talking. There are some complications that could arise over the next few days, but the doctor expects her to make a full recovery.”
“What does she remember about last night?” Sin asks.
“Nothing. It’s as though her memory beyond leaving the restaurant has been wiped clean. The kidnapping, the shooting… it’s all gone.”
Greer needs to feel safe and secure.
“It’s okay if she doesn’t; I can tell you everything that happened,” Greer says.
“That’s good because Sin will be depending on you for answers.”
“We’ve already had a debriefing, and I gave him all of the information that he needs.”
“Greer confirmed what you thought you already knew?” That she was involved?
Complete Sin Box Set Page 128