Page 88 of The Woman with the Wallet

“It’s alright,” I said automatically as I pulled apart Lil’s blood-soaked hair.

“It doesn’t look alright.”

“Head wounds bleed like a motherfucker,” I told her. “How far out was Sal?” I asked Zeno.

“He said he just needed to grab his kit. Twenty minutes, max.”

In the meantime, Zeno and I carefully wiped away as much blood as possible as Max put ice into bags for Lil to hold to her face and ribs while Max held one onto her worryingly swollen knee.

“It’s Sal,” Salvatore called through the door, making me move away from Lil to answer. “How is she?”

“It’s not great. But I’m trying not to worry anyone. She’s gonna need scans.”

“That’s not a problem,” Salvatore said, waving my worries away as he strode confidently into the room, completely unfazed by the mess.

Salvatore “the Surgeon” Costa was the Family’s one-man medical team.

He wasn’t formally a doctor or anything, but he’d always had a knack for it. And the stomach to be able to look at some of the gnarliest shit without a blink.

“Hey, honey, let’s get a look at you, okay?” Sal asked as he set one of the desks back on its feet so he could put his kit down.

“Come here. Let’s give him some space,” I said, pulling Max with me over to the other side of the room.

Each time Lil whimpered or cried out as Salvatore carefully inspected her injuries, Max jumped.

“She’s in good hands,” I assured her.

“I get that you guys use battlefield medicine, but she needs to get that knee looked at. Like… the inside.”

“I know. Salvatore has his ways. Trust me. But if she wants to go to a normal hospital, she can.”

“I don’t,” Lil called, making my brows raise at her hearing.

“Tell me what happened,” I demanded of Max.

“I was trying to call Lil to check in. And when she answered… she asked for help. So, I ran here.”

“And interrupted a robbery?” I asked.

Lil worked a job that had a lot of inherent risk. From clients. From people who got wind of how much money in precious gems she had just lying around at all times.

“It was him, Miko,” Max said, face going hard.

“It was him, who?”

“Him. With the blue eyes.”

“What? How the fuck did that happen?” I asked, glancing over toward Lil, knowing she was the only one who might have that answer, but knowing she was in no shape to answer questions.

“I shot him,” Max said, making my head whip back toward her.

“What?”

“I shot him. In the thigh. I don’t know if that… helps at all.”

If it was bad enough to need to go to the hospital, maybe. But if he just tried to take care of it himself, probably not.

“Maybe,” I said. But it was right then that Salvatore started to speak again.

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