Hunted (A Sinners Series Book 2) (41 page)

“No! Don’t leave,” Bill says sharply. His rigid posture and trembling lips tell me something more is going on in the room. “You gotta help me.” Locking my eyes onto his face, I step in.

At first, I only see a foot.

A hand.

Oh my God.

No.

With each step, I get a clearer image of what’s going on.

My throat tightens.

I cover my mouth with one hand to crush the scream that burns inside my throat.

No, please, God. No. No. No.

Grace lies on the floor, blood slowly amassing around her tiny frame.

My legs give out, and I fall to her side, dropping my gun beside me.

She whimpers with each breath, tears streaming from her eyes.

“Oh my God. Grace, no.” I shake my head fast.
This is not happening.
I fling my backpack off and unzip the top zipper. My hands fumble until I find the medical kit. I’m shaking so much Bill has to open it for me.

“Lusty, what do we do?” he asks. His face radiates pain. “You’re gonna help her, right?”

I nod my head and use the scissors to cut away her bloodstained shirt. There’s a bullet hole on the right side of her chest right below her bra. Blood’s bubbling out of it.
Oh, Grace.
I pause.
Hold on. Please. Just hold on.

My eyes snap to Bill, who is blinking rapidly, holding back tears. My mind spins; I don’t know what to do for her, other than pack the wound with gauze. But what good would that do? Using the stethoscope, I listen to her injured lung. Nothing. No air moving in or out. I’m guessing her lung’s collapsed. Without medical intervention, she’s going to die, and we have nothing here to help her. No doctor. Nothing.

My heart races so fast, it pounds in my ears. A shooting pain runs down between my shoulder blades, and I bite down on my tongue. My shoulders slump forward, and I look into Grace’s eyes.

“How bad?” she asks. “It doesn’t hurt; it just burns.”

The words stick in my throat. I can’t cough them out. The last thing I want is to tell her the truth, but what choice do I have? I glance down at my hands quickly, noting the blood covering my fingertips, and attempt to steady my breathing.

“I’m not going to die, am I?” She takes a deep breath and coughs a few times. “Lexi, say something!” Her question stabs my core, smashing it with a hammer. “Lexi?”

“Grace … I think the bullet … went through your lung.” My chest shakes because I can’t hold back my emotions. My friend is dying, and once again, I can’t do anything about it. “It’s collapsed.”

Hopeless.

Worthless.

That’s what I am right now.

Her breathing picks up pace, and she asks, “What does that mean?”

“It’s not working.”

Why her? It should be me, not her. She has everything to live for. A baby. A new life.

I wipe tears with my forearm.

“Hey, it’s okay, I still have another one … right?” Her eyes search mine, flitting back and forth between them. She’s making jokes, trying to cheer me up even now.

“Yes, but … ”

“Oh, dear God in heaven … I’m dying, aren’t I?”

I swallow hard and choke out, “No! You’re not!” I gently hug her. “Just hang in there, you hear me?”

She rubs the back of my head and says, “Okay.”

“I’m sorry, Grace; this is all my fault,” Bill says, his voice cracking.

“No.” She gasps. Tears spill over her eyes as she takes a few more gasps of air. “This wasn’t your fault.”

Bill looks frantically through the medical supplies as I hold pressure to her wound.

“What about this needle thing?” he asks, holding it in front of me.

“I don’t know … I’m not a doctor, Bill.”

Useless.

Failure.

Taking Grace’s wrist into my hand, I feel her clammy skin and take her pulse, but it’s so rapid, I don’t even bother trying to count, and that’s when she starts the dry, hacking cough.

Her chest rises and falls faster each passing minute.
Oh my God, please help her. Help me. I don’t have time to find help. She doesn’t have much time.

“Grace, look at me.” I take her hands in mine, and her chin trembles. She bites her lip and shakes her head. There’s no holding back my tears. I’m losing her. I gag on my words, bury my face in her hand for a second, and kiss her cold skin. I swallow hard, clear my throat, and glance at her. Already the skin around her lips is turning bluish.

“I need to get you to Bruno, right now. And you need to tell him.”

“I can’t … ”

“Yes, you can. You’re a strong woman, Grace.”

“Lexi, whatever you do, protect my baby. I don’t want to lose him.”

Bill’s eyes widen, and he slams his back against the wall. “What? No.” He throws his hands in the air. “Why didn’t they shoot me?”

I reach for his hands, and he lowers them into his lap. They’re trembling, and I put a hand on his forearm for a second, silencing him with the shake of my head. We don’t have time for him to grieve just yet. She needs us to be strong.

“Bill, listen to me. I need you to carry my stuff and cover me.”

“Okay.”

“Grace, I’m going to have to pick you up.”

She nods.

“Wait, let me take her,” Bill says, touching my arm.

“No. I’m carrying her.” I pick her up, my right arm under her legs and my left arm cradling her back. She rests her head against my chest. Somehow, I get my legs moving and turn down the hall. My eyes fix on the doorway I need to reach. I pick up my pace and call out his name in a desperate tone.

“Cole!”

His footsteps echo behind me, and Zeus pants beside me before I have to say it again. My arms burn with her weight. Her head bobs against my chest.

“Grace, stay awake,” I say. She moans in response.

Cole’s breath catches when he sees me.

“Shit,” he says. “How bad?”

My eyes meet his briefly, and that’s all it takes. He closes his eyes, because he
knows
. I don’t need to say it out loud. He curses and then prays under his breath before saying, “How can I help?”

“Open … the door,” I say breathlessly. I hook a right, and Sutton’s office looms in front of me. I step over the carnage of the hallway and stop at the door, panting and sweating.

Grace is slipping away even as I hold her.

Cole bangs on the door, pushing it open. At first, we don’t see anyone. But then I hear the rummaging of papers and boxes and know they must be in the closet.

“Bruno?” I ask in a shaky voice.

“Over here,” Bruno says. He’s in the closet, out of our view.

Cole stops me for a second. He leans over and kisses Grace on the forehead. “Love you, girl.”

“Love you,” Grace says back.

Roméo leans out, and his face turns white. He drops the papers in his hands, but he doesn’t move an inch.

My arms go weak. I start losing my grip, and Cole takes her from me, carrying her in to Bruno who’s rounding the corner of the closet into the main office. I lean against the doorframe to keep from falling. Bruno looks up and sees her. His eyes go wide as his mouth falls open.

The world freezes.

“Grace!” He darts to her, takes her from Cole, and collapses to the ground, holding her like a little child. And she looks like one, curled in his arms. Her skin’s developed a greenish undertone to its rich ebony, and her eyes flick open when she hears his voice. He pulls her shirt over and sees where she was shot. With a groan, he rocks back and forth as he shivers. He doesn’t even care that blood’s pouring over his arms and chest. “You’re going to be okay,” he says.

“Honey—”

“Stop. You’re not gonna die.”

“I’m so sorry,” Grace says. Her voice comes out in a whisper, and I have to strain to hear what she says.

“Cole, go find help!” Bruno says. Cole stands there and puts his hands on his head. “Now!” Bruno demands. Cole gives Bruno a slight head shake, his jaw twitching and his eyes glazed over.

“There isn’t anyone,” I say through my ugly cry, stuck in the doorway, unable to move.

“I’m begging you.”

“Bruno, please … ” I say. “She needs you right now.”

Bruno shakes his head, clenches his jaw, and looks down at Grace.

Bill wraps his arms around me and guides me into the room. Then he turns around with his gun pointed toward the hallway in case guards decide to come. Even as he keeps watch, tears leak down his face. His gun shakes in his hands.

Cole meets me and pulls me into him. I sob tears and snot all over his shirt. He holds me up as all my strength leaves me. I turn my head to the side to watch Bruno and Grace’s last minutes together.

“Grace, don’t leave me.” Bruno’s voice cracks. “Not now, not like this.”

Grace coughs for a few seconds before gaining enough oxygen to speak. “Bruno, there’s something … ”

My stomach clenches. Cole’s labored breathing makes his chest shake. I brace myself for the words that are about to tear Bruno’s world apart.

Grace lifts her hand and rests it on Bruno’s cheek. She strokes it with her thumb, and she blinks fast, her breathing increasing as the seconds speed by.

“I didn’t tell you,” she whispers. “Because I didn’t want you to worry.”

Bruno scrunches his forehead. “Tell me what?”

Grace sobs, and tears spill over her face. “We’re having a son.”

A gasp.

Then stunned silence.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sound that comes out of Bruno next. A heart-wrenching scream that can surely be heard miles away. The kind that slices you like a knife, creating a wound that will never completely heal. His shoulders shake uncontrollably, and I grip Cole’s shirt and cry so hard it feels like someone stuck a torch down my throat.

There’s something about watching a man, a man with such physical strength, a man that has been nothing but a rock in all our lives, completely crumble before our eyes. Unhindered tears cascade down his defined cheekbones, over his jaw, and onto his clothes. He leans over her face, putting a hand on each side, opening and closing his mouth. Everything comes out as a groan.

“I’m sorry,” Grace says.

“You’re pregnant?” His voice breaks.

“Yes.” Her breathing changes, and her voice weakens, getting softer with each word.

He sits back and slams his teeth together while looking up at the ceiling. His muscles all tense in his face as he lets out an excruciating scream. Then he bends back over, sobbing.

“This isn’t fair! I’m holding everything I’ve always wanted, and I … ” His tears fall onto Grace’s shirt and snot pours out of his nose. He gags on his words, unable to speak. He kisses her face, then lifts her hands to his lips and kisses them too. In between kisses, he cries and rocks on his knees. When he notices her silence, he hunches forward.

“Don’t you give up on me, Grace. Don’t you dare do it. Fight, fight harder. For us, for our son.”

But there’s no fight left.

Grace’s eyes roll into the back of her head. I run toward her and fall to my knees on the opposite side of Bruno.

“Grace,” I say. “Look at me.” She blinks a few times, and her tired eyes, her pained eyes, look into mine. “I’ll be back. I’m going to get help.”

Desperate.

I stand and turn around to sprint out the door, but Cole catches me before I make it two feet.

“Let me go,” I say.

“Lexi,” Cole says into my ear. “You know I can’t.”

“Please.” I’m pounding on his chest, but he just squeezes me harder.

“I’m sorry, but I won’t let you die, too,” he whispers.

“She’s not dying.” But I know she is, and I cry into his shirt and almost suffocate myself. I have to turn my head to the side, and that’s when all hope melts away from Bruno’s face.

“Lexi,” Grace says.

I take a deep breath, and Cole holds my arm as I make my way back to her.

When I’m with her, she takes my hand in hers. It feels like ice.

No. No. No. No.

“I’m here,” I tell her.

“I want to tell you his name.” She coughs and gasps and coughs again.

“Who?” I ask.

“My son,” she says with her beautiful smile. “Christopher, after your father.”

Stabbing pain in my chest.

Wrenching pain in my heart.

“Oh, Grace, thank you,” is all I manage to say as my shoulders shake like an earthquake. I crumble like a building being blown to bits. My head falls into the crook of her neck. I don’t want to let her go. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” she says in a raspy voice. I lift my head and watch her fade.

“Christopher … it’s perfect,” Bruno says before throwing his head back and sucking in air. He drops his head back to hers. “Baby, until I can join you, please tell that boy of mine how much I love him and that one day … when his dad’s work is done, we’ll all be together again.”

“I will,” Grace says. “I love you, so much.”

“Oh God, Grace, not yet. I’m not ready. Please hold on.”

“I’m trying,” she says. “But sometimes we don’t get to choose.”

I stroke her hair as her eyes glaze over. I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Thank you for being my friend.”

She gasps and gasps some more.

I sit back on my heels and let her husband spend her last minutes with her.

Bruno’s head hangs over her, and he kisses her blue lips. She lifts her arm around his neck.

“See you soon,” she says to Bruno and then her arm slides off his neck and falls to her side.

Her entire body goes limp, and Bruno curls her body into his as he repeatedly tells her he loves her and he’s so sorry he couldn’t save her. He sobs and moans, breaking into shattered pieces.

“No! Oh, God, no,” he says. “I’m supposed to save you!” His voice breaks, and he cries out, “Why did I let you come here?” Tears streak down his face as he clenches every muscle in his body. “Wake up, Grace. Grace, wake up, please. Don’t leave me.”

I couldn’t save her either.

Cole opens his arms, and I press myself into him as we cry together. I grasp Cole so tight, I’m sure my fingers leave permanent marks in his sides.

Zeus nudges my leg and whines, reminding me he’s still here.

An unbearable pain suffocates us. It’d be too easy to give up. It’d be too easy to lie down and surrender.