Page 48 of Utah

“For them.” He chuckled, but his laughter was quickly replaced with concern. “What happened?”

“I’m pregnant.” I stopped speaking as if those two words were enough of an explanation as to why I was in the hospital.

“She’s bleeding,” my sister added. “No major pain, but we wanted to come and make sure nothing is wrong.”

Kyla had told me about the issue my brother had with Dr. Sanders being her boss, and looking at him now, I understood. The man was almost too handsome. He was tall with dark hair and green eyes, and when he smiled, he put people at ease. At least he did with me, which I appreciated. I wasn’t attracted to him, but I did find him attractive. My type was more of the stubborn, sometimes ornery, mountain-type-looking man withink, long hair, and a bushy beard. Just thinking of Utah made my heart ache, but luckily, the good doctor distracted me again when he spoke.

“Dr. Greer is the obstetrician on duty tonight. You’re in good hands.” He glanced from me to Evie and back again, flashing his megawatt smile. “How is Utah doing?”

Dammit, now I’m back to worrying.

“He’s okay. Getting better each day.” I responded with what I believed to be the truth. But in reality, Utah simply replied with “I’m fine” whenever I asked him how he was. He was popping those damn pills like candy, though, so he couldn’t be all that fine.

“That’s good. Tell him to reach out if he has an issue, okay?”

“I will. Thank you.”

Two minutes after he left, a brunette walked in. Her hair was slicked back in a ponytail. She couldn’t be any older than thirty.

“Hi, Ria.” She extended her hand in greeting. “I’m Dr. Greer. What brings you in tonight?”

“I’ve been having some slight cramps today, and when I went to the bathroom earlier, there was blood.”

“Okay. Well, let’s see what’s going on.”

As she performed her exam, I clutched Evie’s hand but wished Utah was here with me. I silently prayed that my baby was okay, and that I wasn’t on the verge of heartbreak.

When I’d first found out I was pregnant, I’d been upset. We’d been careless, especially since we never discussed children. But why would we have? We’d never defined what we were to each other, let alone bringing another human being into the equation. Utah had more life experience than me being ten years older, and even he’d been upset by the news. Neither one of us was ready to be parents. And even though he said he’d support whatever decision I made, would be there for me however I needed, it took me some time to finally decide tokeep the little bean. Once I’d made the decision, though, my soul felt lighter, and I believed this baby had been brought into our lives for a reason.

And now I stood to lose everything I’d come to accept and be excited about, all in the span of a heartbeat.

27

“That won’t work for me,” Rafael Carrillo said, aiming his gun at Marek. His men followed his lead and aimed their weapons at us, trapping us in place. If we made a move, they’d fire.

The other men in the Knights Corruption acted as if it was game over, which only served to heighten my despair at the turnout of this meeting. They’d been through countless scenarios where their lives had been threatened, so to witness them giving up now was like a dagger to the heart. Or a bullet to the brain, as it appeared that was what would be happening soon enough.

“Whatwillwork for you?” Prez asked, briefly diverting Rafael’s attention from his California brother.

“The end of your club,” Javier answered for his uncle, the smirk he wore deepening as he stood in front of us.

“I’m not sure that’s gonna do it,” his uncle retorted. Javier turned to look at him, his smugness slowly evaporating as Rafael swung his arm to the right, lining up his aim to be level with Javier’s forehead. “You don’t think I know what you’ve been up to?” He gestured for his men to lower their weapons.

“What are you doing?” Javier asked, the hitch in his voice screaming with surprise. His uncle wrapped his finger around the trigger. “You’re gonna kill me?” His nervous laughter fell short. “You’re gonna kill your sister’s son? Think what that would do to—”

The blast of the gun startled me even though my focus had been lasered on Rafael and what I thought he was going to do. A part of me didn’t believe he’d actually shoot his nephew, but he did. Javier’s blood sprayed onto Prez and Marek since they’d been standing closest. His body hit the ground with a heavy thud, inches from his uncle’s feet.

Rafael stepped over his nephew’s lifeless body and handed Prez and Marek a handkerchief. “You never know who you can trust.” He sighed as if he hadn’t just murdered a member of his family. “He didn’t think I knew about his plans to take me out so he could sit at the head of the table.” His gaze remained on the two leaders of our charters. “Are we good?”

“Yeah,” Marek answered, his eyes wide in shock.

“It’s over now?” Carrillo asked.

“It’s over,” Prez responded that time.

Rafael never apologized for his nephew’s actions toward us, but I didn’t expect him to. Then again, perhaps him shooting the guy in the head was his form of an apology. We didn’t stick around long enough to inquire.

We walked out of the warehouse intact and headed toward our SUV. Brick called Hawke to let them know we were okay and that we’d meet them two miles up the road. We wanted to give them a heads-up we were coming so we didn’t inadvertently get shot by our own men, surprising them without notice and having them think we were the cartel trying to ambush them.

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