Page 56 of Sebastian

None of this told me how the injuries happened, and none of my fellow coworkers seemed inclined to tell me.

Finally, after an extensive examination, I was left alone with Damien and Frankie to demand answers.

The pair looked at each other, seemingly daring the other to speak first. Eventually, Damien sat by my bed and leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees in a defeated position.

“Some sort of explosion went off in the apartment. We don’t know the cause yet, but I doubt it was accidental. The entire apartment was destroyed. Those of us who were downstairs at the time are fine, but you and Sebastian barely survived. He...”

Damien’s voice cracked and I was startled to see tears drip from the man’s eyes.

“Sebastian. What happened to him?”

A new thought occurred to me.

What was Damien doing here with me?

If Sebastian was hurt, Damien would want to be with his brother.

Unless...

I couldn’t breathe.

“He’s not... Damien, tell me Sebastian is alive.” My heart thumped beneath my breast and my monitor went wild.

Breathing deeply through his nose, Damien managed to find some composure. “He’s alive, but he’s in surgery right now. In order to get the two of you out of the apartment, he had to jump out the window. His leg couldn’t take the impact. It re-broke worse than before. The doctors are trying to fix it right now, but... He may not be able to walk again.”

Before I knew what I was doing, I’d thrown my blanket aside and was halfway on my feet.

“Absolutely not. He can’t... I won’t let that happen.”

“Whoa, Newt.” Frankie grabbed my shoulders and forced me back onto the bed. “Calm down. What are you going to do, storm the operation room and perform the surgery yourself? The doctors are doing their best to fix his leg, and then afterward you and I will make sure he recovers. All right?”

The surge of adrenaline drained me, and I collapsed back against the thin hospital pillows. “Fine. You’re right. I just...” I pressed my hands against my eyes, trying to hold my tears at bay. “It’s not fair. He was finally getting back on his feet. Do you know when he’s getting out of surgery?”

“It should be soon,” Damien said, right before Gabe stepped into the room distracting him.

“I’ve set security around the building. This room should at least be safe, so we’ll have the doctors bring Sebastian here once they’re done.”

Damien gave an absent nod as he stood and casually wiped the wrinkles from his clothes. “Safe. Right.”

With no warning, he suddenly lunged forward and punched Gabe across the face. The force of the blow sent the FBI agent slamming into the wall.

Damien loomed over Gabe and grabbed the other man’s lapel like he meant to punch him again.

“This room is safe? Just like the apartment was supposed to be safe? This is the second time your agency has promised to protect us and failed. Someone got into the apartment and planted an explosive. How were they able to do that when you were supposedly protecting the place?”

Pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket, Gabe wiped the blood from his split lip. “Supposedly? You think I was lying to you?”

Damien’s knuckles cracked when his fists clenched. “One of your people betrayed us. It’s the only explanation. God, this is just like last time. Nothing has changed. Russo still has spies in your agency.”

Gabe eyed Damien’s hands warily, ready to dodge another punch, and wisely didn’t try to come any closer.

“We don’t know for certain that David Russo is involved.”

Although Damien stood with his back to me, I could still tell he rolled his eyes just from the sound of his voice. “After what we just discovered. Of course he’s involved.”

Not wanting to disrupt the argument, I leaned over to Frankie. “What did they discover?”

Frankie kept his voice to a whisper as he also cautiously watched the two arguing men. “Right before everything... blew up. Agent Adder brought some new information. The FBI has been looking into the adoption agencies that we know kids have disappeared from. They found donations to those agencies made by companies that are suspected fronts for David Russo and the Mariano family.”

---