Page 4 of Ours to Keep

Her throat rolls as though she’s going to reply, but only a choked sound greets us.

“Shit, Duchess, I'm here,” he replies, his voice cracking. “We all are.”

She groans in response and then begins to panic, her body writhing on the bed.

“Sunshine, you're safe. I promise.” Unable to stay away, I approach the bed, take one of her hands in mine, and squeeze.

Her breathing is ragged as her fingers twitch in a poor attempt to squeeze back.

“W-where is he?” she croaks.

I look to Jax for guidance, not knowing how the hell to respond to that, but he's looking at Elliot. I turn my gaze to him, too. His fingers fly over his phone, deep frown lines are drawn between his eyes, his jaw locks, and he looks up, eyes connecting with Jax.

“He's on the M1.” His words send a maelstrom of chills throughout my body, causing me to shiver and resulting in a slight jolt to Lily's palm in mine.

“Mia,” she whisper-groans.

Oh fuck!

I flick my gaze to Jax, his jaw ticking. Because shit, what the fuck are we meant to do?

He's Mia's father, and if he's going to get her, which is something I think we all suspect, then he has every right to. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Lily's main concern, even above herself, has always been Mia.

“Lily, I need you to stay awake for me. Can you do that?” River asks, but the unmistakable sound of worry is etched into his words.

But it proves useless, Lily's hand is now limp in mine. My heartbeat ricochets against my ribcage in earnest. Fuck, we have no idea if she has a head injury. With the blood oozing from hertemple, it's a fair possibility. “Sunshine, you need to open your eyes,” I coax, squeezing her palm in mine. “Sunshine?” But it's no good. If she can hear me this time, she shows no sign, and that terrifies me to my core.

“How long for that damn ambulance?” Jax demands, his usually light eyes now a dark midnight blue.

“They should be here soon,” Elliot says, looking at his watch. “The police will want to interview her as well, but I think we should push them off due to her current state.” He makes his way over to Lily, touching her foot beneath the blanket as if needing to touch her to know she’s still here or maybe to ground himself. I have no idea.

“Lot of fucking good talking to the police will do,” River scoffs, still working on wiping away blood and adding gauze on the worst of her cuts.

“What other choice do we have?” I ask. “He can't get away with this, and as much as I know we all want to gut the fucker, he's not here. But one way or another, he needs to be held accountable.”

“At the end of one of my switchblades,” River replies with a lethal edge to his voice, one full of dark intent.I'd never want to cross any of my brothers or get on their wrong side, especially River.

As if sensing his dark spiral, Elliot stands beside River and cups his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze.

“We all want justice, Riv, but right now, she's our main concern. We're limited to what we can do within the confines of the law.”

As much as we've all wanted to cross that line at one time or another, we never have, but something tells me that if anything were to push us over the edge, it would be this.

“Where the fuck is the ambulance?” Jax demands again, his voice full of ferocity.

“I told you, it's on the way.” Elliot glances at Lily before raising his eyes to Jax. “I'll go wait by the front door, grant them access and bring them up when they arrive.”

Jax nods, gingerly wiping Lily's cheek.

Chapter Four

ELLIOT

I’m furious that someone like him evaded us all so easily.

I pull at my hair as I pace outside the main house, waiting for notification of the arrival of the ambulance. Part of me wondered if we should have just driven, but without knowing the true extent of the injuries she’s suffered at the hands of that arsehole, it’s not a risk I was willing to take or even voice.

Furious, I pull up my tracking app and look at his location again, a ball of dread settling into the pit of my stomach. None of us said the words out loud, but I think we’re all thinking the same thing, what if he’s on his way to Mia’s school? It would be just like a cunt like him to use his daughter as some sort of human shield.

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