Page 128 of The Ripper

“Yes,” I said, frowning.

“Did she have a box of her things with her, you know, how people usually do when they’re fired?”

“No, what are you doing?” I asked as she lifted her leg, placing it on Damiano’s thigh.

My eyes widened when she started pulling ninja stars out of her boots, throwing them on the table over the entire arsenal she apparently carried with her everywhere.

“We need to check her locker, maybe she kept something in there,” she said as each piece of sharp metal clinked against the table.

Then, she took a long needle and wrapped her hair around it, pinning it in a bun, and turned to me.

“I’m driving,” I said, grabbing my jacket.

“My God, woman, where did you keep all of these?” Damiano asked as he picked up one of the ninja stars and nicked his finger in the process.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she winked at him.

The dynamic between the two was tiring me, though it might’ve been interesting to watch at any other time. It seemed like the start of a dangerous game, and I didn’t want to find myself in the middle of it, but I kept my mouth shut. If I wouldn’t have been so preoccupied with finding my heart, I would’ve probably been amused by them, and as long as their bickering didn’t affect their clarity and didn’t endanger my mission, they could slit each other’s throats for all I cared.

The ride to Northwestern Memorial was rather quiet. I drove in silence while Midnight paid attention to her phone, reading each of Hannibal’s updates to me, and all I could think about was her.

How is she doing?

Has she eaten anything today?

Is she hurt?

Is she thinking about me?

I missed her more than I ever thought I would miss someone. It felt as though a vital organ had been forcefully ripped from my body, and now I was slowly dying in her absence.

Missing her was the cruelest form of torture.

I rubbed my eyes with my hand, then reached for the bottle of vodka I had stashed under the passenger seat, but Midnight took it out of my hand and threw it out the window, smashing it to pieces.

“What the fuck?”

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you drown your sorrows. You’re going to rule the Bratva one day, so fucking act like it,” her gaze pierced through me, and a shiver ran down my spine. “I get it. You’ve realized that you’re not actually a psychopath and that you’re capable of human emotions. Good for you. Yay, love,” she mocked, waving her hands in the air. “But love comes with a fuckload of pain, Grimm, it brings insecurities, and it makes you question everything you thought you knew. Love is the definition of uncertainty. The sooner you come to terms with that, the sooner you can fucking fight for it.”

“Oh, so you’ve been in love before, huh?” I quipped, rolling my eyes.

“No, I haven’t, but I wish I had…” she averted her gaze, and before I could read the emotions on her face, they were gone and covered in thick ice.

She got out of the car without waiting for another come back and walked towards the entrance. Luckily, one of my steps equaled three of hers, and I caught up to her pretty quickly.

“How are you supposed to get to her locker?”

“Oh, not us, big guy,” she raised her arms. “I stay on guard, and you go.”

“Great,” I huffed out a breath as we entered the emergency room.

I hated this place. Not just because they had fired the best doctor they could ever dream of, but also because it smelled like chlorine and death. Not that I had anything against death, but chlorine turned my stomach upside down.

A tall woman approached us, and I recognized her as the doctor who had a lot of crap to say about Arella, and also the woman who had been an accomplice to that sleezy bastard and his lies. I had to slam the brakes on the instinct of bashing her face in with my fists, and I wasn’t a man who harbored violent thoughts against women, but the one in front of me managed to awaken my murderous instincts. She was one of the people responsible for her kidnapping. She lied to get my Snezhinka fired, and she deserved the same fate as the director.

“Arella doesn’t work here anymore,” she said, a little too excitedly.

~ Don’t tempt me, wench.

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