Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
He’s not okay.
More than not okay.
I fall to my knees next to my father. “Daddy! Daddy, wake up!”
I touch my hand to his neck. His flesh is clammy but…
“He’s got a pulse! There’s a pulse! Call 911!”
“I already called them before you got here,” Jared says. “They’re on their way. But Raven, he’s bleeding out.”
“No, no, no,” I shake my head, tears welling and spilling over. “He’s got a pulse, Jared. He’s still alive.”
Jared kneels beside me, his hand on my shoulder. “I know,” he says softly. “But we need to stop the bleeding. Can you do that?”
I nod, wiping my tears away. “Yes, yes,” I echo to myself and fumble with my trembling hands to open the drawer of the nearby desk.
There are towels there. Dad always kept some in case he spilled his coffee while working late nights. He was so meticulous about everything, never leaving anything to chance.
I grab one and press it against my father’s wound, wincing at the sticky warmth spreading through the fabric.
“Keep pressure on it,” Jared instructs me.
Mom continues to sob softly from where she’s collapsed against the desk, her body shuddering with each hiccupping breath.
“Keep pressure on it. Pressure…” I chant in my head like a mantra, forcing myself to focus. I need to keep the blood from pouring out, need to keep my father alive until help arrives.
Outside, a siren wails, growing louder as it approaches our house.
“I’ll go flag them down,” Jared says, standing abruptly.
My heart sinks as he leaves the room, leaving me alone with my mother’s sobbing and my dying father.
The towel is quickly becoming saturated, so I grab another one from the drawer. Each second feels like an eternity.
The sirens grow louder and then stop altogether. The front door bangs open and I hear distant voices shouting commands at each other.
“Jared! Jared, he’s bleeding out!” I scream at the top of my lungs, my voice cracking under the strain of my terror.
Mom’s sobs turn into wails, loud and piercing.
Footsteps echo through the hallway, coming closer and closer until two paramedics burst into the room.
“I’ve got a pulse,” one of them says after examining Dad. “But he’s lost a lot of blood.”
As they begin to work on my father, I’m pushed aside, relegated to a corner where I can do nothing but watch. Jared comes back into the room, his face drawn. He looks at me, and in his eyes, I see the same helplessness that gnaws at my own heart.
The paramedics move quickly, their hands a blur as they try to stabilize my father. They speak in medical jargon that only seems to heighten my growing panic.
My mother is led out of the room by one of the police officers who have arrived, her frail form shaking with each sob. The sight of her falling apart rips my heart into pieces.
Here we are in another nightmare.
How many are we supposed to endure?
Chaos reigns in the once-peaceful study. The paramedics operate with a controlled frenzy that is both reassuring and terrifying.
Then a loud beep.
“I’m losing him!” one of the medics yells to his partner who is frantically pumping at a bag connected to an oxygen mask on my father’s face.
“No, no, no,” I whisper under my breath, my hands clenched so tight they hurt.
Then I know.
I know what to do.
I leave the room, grab my phone, and I call Vinnie.
38
VINNIE
My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket.
It’s Raven.
I don’t think she would call without having a good reason.
“Go back in there with Serena,” I say to Mario. “I’m taking care of everything. If she agrees, you and she will be out of here by morning.”
“But I have to alert the—”
“If you’re gone, I’ll alert everyone. They’ll have no choice but to do as I say.”
“Vincent—”
“I have to take this call. I’ll be back.”
Mario relents and goes back in with Serena. I close the door of the room and answer the phone as Renée comes back up the stairs.
“Raven?” I say.
“Oh my God, Vinnie,” she sobs. “I don’t know what to do.”
My heart lurches. “Raven, what happened?”
“It’s my father,” she gulps. “Someone shot him. In our own house.”
“What?”
That doesn’t make sense. He has the best security out there.
“Who? What happened?”
“I don’t know. Paramedics are taking him to the hospital now. He has a faint pulse, but the shot was in the head, Vinnie.”
Damn. A shot to the head would take him out. It must’ve just grazed his skull or something. But God, the blood. Head wounds are the worst because of the many vessels close to the skin’s surface. Part of my so-called education when Mario was grooming me to join the family business.
Who the hell would have done this?
Then again, he’s working with some dangerous people. Perhaps Bellamy got in over his head.
“Raven,” I start, carefully choosing my words. “You need to get out of there now. We don’t know if they’re coming back.”