Page 79 of Simply You & Me

"SHE'S NOT!" Zach's animalistic roars are back.

"Sweetheart?"

Julian's here now. He's touching her. Talking to her. He's crying.

"Ambulance is one minute out. Don too. Fuck." Wyatt’s voice cracks in my ear, but he sounds so far away.

It's happening again.

And I couldn't do anything to stop it this time.

I trace one of her eyebrows. I think I'm telling her how beautiful she is.

Please, Lynnie. You're safe now, I promise. You can wake up. Please wake up.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Wyatt

Fifteen minutes. Maybe ten. Maybe twenty. Did you know that how long it takes for someone to bleed out and die from a cut to an artery in your arm? Depends on how deep. Addie's was deep.

I watched it all, counted the seconds.

Calculated how much time she had left.

I watched. Through the fucking screen of my computer. Thank hell for Julian keeping his vest on so I could watch through his body cam. From one angle, I saw Addie bleeding out between three of the men who love her. Tate's pale, disassociated expression flashed across the screen with each twist of Julian's body. Julian would shift and I'd see Zach watching the life flow from Addie and our baby. The pure anguish and tears that mingled with her blood will forever be engrained in my memory.

Johnathan won. Tate and Rylee’s parents, Mason's parents, those we sent to prison… they won. They broke us. Ruined us. And I watched from the warmth of my office.

I bet Addie's skin was cold to the touch even with the trails of blood coating her beautiful, soft skin.

All I could do was watch.

I had a job too, though, to keep Rory safe. I didn't do it for Adelyn. Rory is just as much my little girl as she is hers. I stayed behind to keep our kid safe, and I don't regret it. I regret not holding Addie while she swam in the darkness between this world and the next. I wasn't there for her in the end. When all of this came to a close, I wasn't there to hold her hand and beg her to hold on.

They kneeled in the puddle of her blood and begged for her to stay. To open her eyes, to just wake up. The cops and ambulance didn't drive as fast as Zach. They were slow. So slow I died a little every second I counted.

Zach did everything he could. He kept pressure on the wound and never let up. Julian rubbed warmth into her arms and bare fucking legs, while begging to see her pretty green eyes. Tate whispered sweet words in her ear, telling her how beautiful she was. How much he loved her. How excited he was to meet our baby.

Then the paramedics stormed in, Don hot on their heels, frantically looking for his niece. Five minutes and thirty-two seconds from the moment I heard her scream. It felt like longer with Addie's life hanging in the balance.

Zach stood and moved with her, keeping pressure as they wheeled her out. Tate didn't put up a fight, numb to the world, his sole focus on the woman we love. Julian shoved a few police out of the way to keep his hands on her, but I wouldn't expect anything less. If I got to be with her in those precious moments, I wouldn't let anything separate us. Not even death.

"Daddy?"

I hit send. Every final piece of evidence, every extra video and audio, sent. Everything I could dig up to keep the Heads buried deep in their life sentences, sent to the feds so they can deal with the shit show that's back in Washington.

"Yeah, honey?"

"You done yet? Dad Z's doing it again." The little sigh behind me makes me smirk, drawing me out of my swirling darkness of my thoughts.

Spinning around, I turn my back on months of work. Facing my little girl, I smile. I’ll never forget the day she asked to be ours. It was the only thing she asked for on her ninth birthday. It took a few months after everything came crashing down around us, but yeah, I’m her dad now. “Yeah, Bestie. I'm done."

It's finally over.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Aurora

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