Page 83 of The Millionaire's Mechanic

Shock held her immobile as she stared into Mack’s face.

“Mack, I told you to mind your fucking business!” Samantha screamed over her head.

The shrill words broke the layer of ice that held her immobile.

“No! I’m not going.” Georgia squirmed and kicked out, but the vice of his arms tightened. Someone was screaming. She registered that it was Sam just before Mack twisted, holding her as he pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees. He staggered, letting go of her. Weak from shock, she stared blankly at the rosette of blood that had suddenly bloomed on his abdomen.

“Georgia.” His hand reached out for her.

Finally registering that he’d been shot, she stretched out her arms to try to catch him, but he was too heavy. Mack slid down her front, taking her with him as he went.

Georgia hit the dirty asphalt with a grunt. Mack’s bulk was suffocating, and her side was burning. She was going to push him off, but a movement out of the corner of her eye told her the kidnappers were moving, so, instead, she clung to him until she was too weak to maintain her grip.

The realization she’d also been shot came too late. She was covered in hot metal, the taste of it in her mouth. The world was going dark. Her eyes closed to the sound of distant canons.

CHAPTERFORTY

Rainer paced the hallways in front of the OR where Georgia was being operated on. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be back here, but Powell had a quiet word with the head of administration. Rainer was waved through. But this hospital wasn’t one of those fancy teaching institutions with big picture windows for observers. Built at least two decades ago, the operating room was a windowless chamber.

The only good news was that the surgeon on call was very experienced with gunshot wounds.

He closed his eyes, thrown back in time a mere hour—and a flash flood of nightmare images threatened to crush his brain.

One heartbeat and Rainer was struggling to undo his seatbelt. Powell didn’t try to stop him. He knew Rainer’s life was worthless if Georgia died. And Rainer hadn’t forgotten his training—all those hours running drills under Mason had made him fast, honed his reflexes. In the next heartbeat, Powell was shoving a gun into Rainer’s hand and pushing him behind his two other men.

Another beat, a snapshot of the alley. It was getting dark, the shadows coming together to hide. But he could see the abandoned van, the door open. His mind didn’t register the two crumpled bodies in front of it until he was halfway there.

After that, the beats came hard and fast, blurring together. Rainer couldn’t distinguish one from the next because Powell was pushing Mack to the side, revealing a bloody Georgia, pale and lifeless on the floor.

That was the moment he stopped feeling his heartbeat. It froze in his chest as if refusing to work until Georgia opened her eyes and looked up at him.

But she didn’t. Unresponsive until they swept her away from him, the operating room door a threshold even he couldn’t cross.

Staggering to the wall, Rainer slid down into an empty plastic chair. Powell must have secured it for him because it wasn’t there earlier.

Rainer was still sitting there staring at the OR door when Garrett arrived, towing an unexpected guest.

Mason Lang knelt in front of him. “Hey, I heard things wentfubar,but the doctor said your girl is going to be okay. The bullet didn’t hit her organs.”

“That’s what they said,” Rainer repeated hollowly.

But Georgia had lost a lot of blood. The pool under her body had been so big. Intellectually, he knew some of that had to be Mack’s. Powell had said something about angles, trajectories. Enough for Rainer to get the gist.

The bullet that hit Georgia had passed through Mack first. He’d had his arms around her, had been shot in the back…as if he’d been trying to protect her.

The hospital staff had been giving him regular updates Rainer barely registered because they had not yet said the words he needed to hear.She’s going to be fine.

Rainer buried his face in his hands. “She kept them from getting to me.”

Mason’s hand landed on his shoulder. It stayed there, trying to steady him. “I know. Powell says she sacrificed the car she was restoring to do it.”

Rainer hadn’t even known the engine was running. It hadn’t been working yesterday.

He raised his head. Mason flinched at his expression. It was subtle, but Rainer still caught it.

“She can fix it,” he said, throat so tight he sounded as if he were strangling. “George can fix anything.”

Except herself.His heart squeezed so tight it felt like he might be dying. But he forced himself to take a labored breath, and then another. He wouldn’t stop until George woke up.

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