Page 92 of Sebastian

“No way, Seb. You’re not driving like this. Give me the keys.”

“Yeah, okay, you’re right.”

Seb watch his other brothers walk further into the hospital parking lot.

“Where are those assholes going?”

Declan shook his head. “Cooper rented some souped-up fancy ass car when we got here. They’ll follow us to your place in it.”

“God, that idiot and his cars.”

“Tell me about it. I had to talk him out of ordering another truck last week. He needs a wife and kids to spend his money on.”

“Mom and dad probably think he isn’t the only one.”

“Yeah, well, with Emma coming into the family, I’m sure mom and dad will get off of my back for a little bit, so I guess I have to say thank you for that.”

Sliding into the passenger seat, Sebastian turned to his oldest brother. “I need your help with something.”

“Name it. You know I want to help.”

“The asshole who did this to her, I’m going to kill him.”

Declan raised his eyebrows but kept his focus on the road.

“So, what? You need me to be your alibi? You know where he is and want me to join you?”

“No. I’ve got things in the works for taking care of him once he’s found. But when I took Emma to Colorado a few weeks ago, the fucker burned down her bakery and her apartment. I want to rebuild it all for her.”

Declan stayed silent as Sebastian continued. “Look, I know you were the one who oversaw all the building and renovations with the distillery. I trust you to oversee this now. I don’t care the cost. I want it finished by the time Emma is out of the hospital.”

“You’ve already got the plans in place?”

“Yeah. I’ve been working on it since we got word of the fire.”

“Good. I’ll take care of it.”

Aside from giving the occasional direction, the brothers rode in silence the rest of the way to Sebastian’s building.

* * *

Sebastian stood in front of his office, the breath stuck in his lungs. He wanted to look anywhere other than where Gage had found her laying, dying, earlier that day. But he couldn’t. Sebastian’s eyes were glued to the sidewalk, his brain unable to comprehend why it looked as though nothing had even happened there.

“Seb?” Coop’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“I don’t understand.”

“Don’t understand what?”

“It happened right there,” he pointed to the sidewalk. “She didn’t have a heartbeat. Right. There. Her blood was running in streams all down this concrete and now it looks like nothing even happened here. Like she was never right there, fighting for her life.”

“Seb. Someone from the city probably came and cleaned it up after the police finished processing the scene.”

“The sheriff’s department.”

“Huh?”

“We don’t have a police department here, the county has a sheriff’s department.”

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