Page 113 of Shattered Hearts

It’s only now that I see it. The sun-glinted blade sticking out of his abdomen. A strangled cry tears from my mouth.

In my chest, an avalanche crushes my heart to dust as Finn clutches at the knife his assailant ran through him. The bastard with the knife stabs him two more times, killing both Finn and me a little more with each strike.

Frozen in a silent scream, I pray to God for an end to this nightmare.

Chapter 28

Finn

Soft, gentle fingers tickle my forehead as they sweep into my hair.

Consciousness returns to me in waves, though my eyelids remain too heavy to lift. Clinical smells invade my nose, and soon, the noise of a hospital room offends my ears, bringing my attention to my pounding head.

“Finn?”

Riley.

My eyelids peel back.

“Can you hear me?”

I blink until Riley, perched at my bedside with tears in her beautiful blue eyes, comes into focus.

“Your loving wife impression is really coming along.” My throat is dry.

Riley glares. “Stop it.”

My happiness at seeing her alive and annoyed with me is like helium in my lungs.

“I want to…play a game.” I flex my stiff fingers. “It’s called Kiss the Patient.”

“Do you know how terrified I was?”

“Yes.” I try to smile, but my lips mold into a grimace instead. “I…do.”

Riley fills me in on what I’ve missed while unconscious, but I don’t hear a word she says because I’m lost inside my own head.

I almost lost her. And she’ll never be safe until the De Lucas kill me and satisfy themselves.

All these years, I’ve been waiting for the De Lucas to come for me. So many times in the past, I yearned for them to make me answer for the suffering I’ve caused and finally end my misery. But things have changed.

My eagerness for death has flatlined, as though Riley hit pause on a horror movie that used to play in an endless loop in the background of my mind.

While I can’t bear to put her in any more danger, I also can’t let her go either.

Conflict rages in my spirit as my weary eyes trace her angelic, tear-slicked face. What if she’d died in that car bombing? If she’d gone downstairs just moments sooner, she might have. And I never would have forgiven myself.

There are so many things I want to say to Riley, but I don’t get the chance. Cian and Rory come through the door. They see my open eyes and step up to my bedside. Cian’s face is covered in little cuts and bandages.

I lift half my mouth. “You look like shit.”

“Look who’s talking.” I recognize the palpable relief in Cian’s tone.

“Where’s Darren?”

“On an assignment.” Rory shoves a hand into the pocket of his jeans. “How you feeling?”

Glad to be alive. Even grateful for the dull, well-numbed pain in my abdomen.

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