Page 31 of Vicious Vows

There was no time to waste. I had to get to Lionel and then make sure he was okay. After that, I'd find out who the fuck dared to cross me, and I'll make them pay for what they stole from me in pain and blood.

CHAPTER 15

Dominic

The sound of my shoes clicking against the linoleum floor grated against my ears.

I hated fucking hospitals with a passion, mostly because it always felt like the workers were too busy to be bothered to save their patients. Too lackadaisical. Then, when it came down to it, once the patient had fought for as long as they could, all the nurses and doctors would jump into gear just so they could claim they did all they could.

It was one of the main reasons I made sure I had Dr. Nelson on constant call. I wanted to be sure I always had someone on hand who could handle a medical emergency if the time called for it. Someone I owned and knew that I'd kill him if he didn't do absolutely everything that he could before it was too late.

I eyed the nurses and staff in the halls as I made my way down to Lionel's room. According to Dr. Nelson, Lionel was in critical condition but so far everything was as good as could be hoped.

The bullets that sliced through him damaged several organs and caused a lot of blood loss. If he would've stayed at the house, he would've surely bled out. It was right for Dr. Nelson to make the call to bring him here.

I turned into my brother's room but stopped short as a curvy nurse coming out of the room nearly slammed right into me.

"Oh... wow, I mean sorry." She blushed furiously as she looked me over.

A small tick in my jaw pulsed when she didn't continue to move on her way. I wasn't there to flirt with her, and she wasn't there for that either.

I was sure other patients in intensive care needed her more than she needed to ogle me.

"You have something to say?" I snapped at her, and the flirtatious smile on her face dropped away at my brusque tone.

She shook her head and squeezed past me.

I rolled my eyes at the entire interaction before I huffed out a breath and walked into my brother's room. The heavy antiseptic smell burned my nose the closer I got to him. He was covered nearly head to toe in bandages.

Lionel and I may not have the closest relationship, but he was still my brother, my blood. We'd experienced more together than we had apart. I'd survive if he died, but it would sadden me for sure.

I leaned over to see his face, but his eyes were taped shut. There was no waking up for him today.

Now that I was here at the hospital with him and could see for myself that he was indeed still breathing, I didn't know what more I could do. He wouldn't be able to tell me what he knew any time soon.

"You know better than to leave yourself open like that. Know better than to get caught out there." I reprimanded his sleeping form before I walked over to the chair and dropped into it.

Of course, I'd find a way to blame him for almost dying.

Out of everyone, Lionel knew how dangerous it was to run with the people we ran with. Even more dangerous than I would've thought. I figured everyone on my team was loyal to me, but what happened today proved that I was wrong.

With nothing more to do besides watch the steady beep of the machines humming around Lionel, I pulled my phone out to start making my calls. I didn't have to be unproductive while I kept vigil.

On my phone were four messages, two of which had come while I was still at the party with Faye.

How disappointing was that?

I wondered if Lionel or someone else tried to call me while I was entertaining people to let me know that the drop was bad. I would deal with those two later. What I was more concerned with were the two new messages.

The other messages came from Yuri. He'd called in to keep me up to date on what he found back at the drop site.

All the guns and the money were cleared out, and there wasn't even the slightest hint of a surveillance tape anywhere to be found.

That would've made it too easy. As I held the phone in my hand, it began to buzz again, this time with a number registered to a Middle Eastern phone. Kumar was calling.

The entire handoff had been a complete shitshow, and I was sure he was more than just a little pissed off. I didn't know if anyone from his team suffered casualties or if he even managed to get out with the merchandise, but if he was calling me, I was going to guess that he wasn't so lucky.

I slid the indicator on my phone to answer the call. It was no use putting it off. "Speak," I barked.

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