Page 100 of Three to Fall

Gray was here somewhere tonight, taking on an extra overnight shift when one of his patients had taken a turn for the worse and was in the middle of an involuntary psych hold. But I hoped that wasn’t anywhere near the emergency room, because whatever was happening with Luca didn’t need to involve my family.

I blinked at feeling protective over Grayson. That had snuck up on me, maybe somewhere between him saving Kara’s life and realizing he’d watched YouTube tutorials on how to French braid Hayley Jade’s hair. He was terrible at it. Her hair hadlooked like a rat’s nest when he’d given his newfound skills a whirl, and Hawk had made jokes about this being why he wasn’t a surgeon getting paid the big dollars.

But I’d seen Hayley Jade’s face as she’d checked herself out in the mirror. She’d been absolutely thrilled and had been Grayson’s little shadow for the rest of the evening, following him around, gazing up at him with big, adoring eyes.

I doubted anyone else had noticed, but I had.

I entered the hospital and pushed all thoughts of my family aside. I couldn’t think about them right now. Luca could be your best friend if he wanted to be. Or your worst enemy. I never knew which one I was going to get until the moment I saw him.

I paused at the reception window and spoke to the woman on the other side. “Where can I find Luca Guerra, please?”

She tapped her fingers across a keyboard, then shook her head. “No one here by that name.”

I sighed and pulled out my phone to call him, having no idea what sort of alias he might have used and no desire at this time of morning to try guessing.

The woman interrupted me before I could make the call. “We do have an Isabella Guerra, though, with Luca Guerra listed as next of kin.”

I frowned. “Okay. That’ll work, I guess. Can you tell me where they are?”

“Are you family?”

“Sure.”

The woman looked too tired to argue.

“She’s been moved to the private ward. They don’t have visiting hours, so I guess you’re free to head up there if you want to. Floor three. Bed 327. Elevators are just behind you.”

I thanked her and made the short ride up, trying to make any sense of what was going on here.

But by the time the doors opened and I found Isabella’s room, I still had no idea what was going on. I knocked quietly on the open door, the room warm with a soft, rhythmic beeping coming from a machine attached to the teenage girl lying in the bed.

Luca sat on a chair, his arms folded on top of the mattress, his head twisted to one side while he watched over his sleeping sister. “She tried to kill herself.”

I leaned on the wall. “This is the sister your dad married off to that old prick you brought to the restaurant the other week, right?”

He finally lifted his head to look at me and nodded.

I had to fight to keep my expression neutral. I’d never seen Luca so wrecked. He had dark circles beneath his eyes, his normally neatly styled hair stuck up at all angles. There was no sign of his trademark suits or even the gym gear I’d seen him in once or twice. He wore a plain white T-shirt and a pair of gray sweats I suspected might have been his pajamas.

“Is she going to be okay?”

Isabella didn’t wake at our hushed conversation, but even in sleep her forehead was lined in a way no girl her age should have been. She should have been at school. Or cheerleading on the sidelines of a football game.

Not lying in a bed with a rock on her finger the size of Texas after having her stomach pumped.

“Doctor says yes. He wants her to stay for twenty-four hours of observation, but she can’t. I’ve got my guys downstairs, my bags packed.” His gaze met mine. “I’m taking her and running. She’s not going back to her fucking husband while I’m still breathing. I’m not fucking losing her.”

“I would do the same.”

He held my gaze for a moment, then nodded, pushing to his feet and putting his hand on Isabella’s shoulder. “Hey, Is. Wake up. We need to get going.”

The girl blinked sleepily, but I was still confused as to why I’d been summoned. It wasn’t like Luca and I were friends and he just wanted to say goodbye.

Isabella sat up groggily, and he pulled a sweatshirt over her head, like I would have to Hayley Jade.

He glanced around, clearly searching for her shoes, and I toed them toward him from beneath the end of the bed.

He crouched to pick them up, and when he straightened, he held his hand out to me. “Sinners is yours. I’ve already told my lawyers to sign over the entire business to you. You’ll get the paperwork in the next few days.”

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