Page 78 of Smitten with the Single Dad

They were in defense mode and ready to fight.

“Get back in the restaurant,” Dom yelled at a few stupid patrons who came out to see what was going on.

“Into your cabins,” Clint barked at cabin guests. “Now!”

People scurried and listened to them. Nobody questioned these men when they spoke like that.

“Vica,” Bennett said from the other side of the gate. “Are you okay?”

“I … I think I was shot,” she said.

His blue eyes went wide. “Where?”

“Um … my arm. It looks like just a graze though.”

“Can you lift your arm?”

She lifted her arm. “Yeah.”

“Can you army crawl to the man door. I know it’s going to hurt your knees, but I don’t want you to stand up.”

Abandoning the pasta maker, she slowly army crawled across the gravel, using just her left arm. The sharp rocks dug into her knees and elbows, but she ignored the pain until she reached Bennett and the open door.

“You got her?” Dom called.

“Got her,” Bennett replied, scooping up Vica into his arms and running full tilt with her back to his house. “Justine!” he called as soon as he entered the front door. “Vica’s been shot.”

Justine emerged at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide with horror.

Their house was the exact same layout as Wyatt’s, just decorated a little differently.

“Vica’s been shot?” came Aya’s little voice as she entered the living room from the kitchen.

“Just a graze,” Vica said. “I’ll be okay.”

“I’ve got my medical kit,” Justine said, hurrying down the stairs.

The front door burst open to reveal Wyatt and the three boys. Terror streaked across all of their faces. “Christ Almighty, Vica. I knew you shouldn’t have gone down there alone.” He slid to the floor beside her, but Justine was quick to shoo him out of the way so she could tend to Vica. He sat on the couch at Vica’s feet. The cousins all curious, but knowing they needed to stay out of the way, convened in the kitchen with a package of cookies between them. Emme had come down the stairs to join them.

“Well, you’re right that it looks like just a graze,” Justine said, holding gauze to Vica’s bleeding arm. “Nothing’s been nicked.”

“What in the absolute fuck is going on?” Bennett said. “We have guests and children on this property. First, they try to run Vica off the road. Then, they run your whole family off the road, shoot at you, and now they’re shooting at Vica on our fucking property?” He shook his head as rage burned in his blue eyes. He pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Myla.” Then he put his phone to his ear and stepped away.

Wyatt’s complexion was getting greener by the second, and although Vica’s arm hurt, she wasn’t really concerned about herself. Justine patched her, and the moment she finished, Vica sat up. “Wyatt, you don’t look well.”

“I’m fine,” he said, swallowing at the same moment Clint and Dom entered the house. Then Wyatt’s eyes rolled backward, his lids closed, and he slumpedback against the couch cushions.

“Shit,” Clint exclaimed, lunging forward. He hauled his brother up and started slapping his cheek gently. “Wyatt! Wyatt, wake up.”

Justine was right there. She checked his pulse and breathing. “We need to get him to the hospital. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s nothing I can do for him here.”

Clint and Dom carried Wyatt out to Clint’s truck and loaded him. Vica wanted desperately to go with them, but she knew with her in the vehicle, their safety would be compromised. Glancing over at Griffon and Jake, and seeing the fear in their eyes, she knew she was needed here more.

“Come here, boys,” she said from her spot on the couch. They ran to her from the kitchen table and even though it hurt to lift her arm and wrap it around Griffon, she did it anyway. “Your father is going to be all right. Justine is the best, and so is Dr. Malone. He is in very good hands.”

Griffon glanced down at her arm. “Someone shot you.”

“Yeah, but I’m too tough for them. They’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to take down Ludovica Vitale.”

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