Page 111 of Victorious Vice

Then a loud beep.

“I’m losing him!” one of the medics yells to his partner who is frantically pumping at a bag connected to an oxygen mask on my father’s face.

“No, no, no,” I whisper under my breath, my hands clenched so tight they hurt.

Then I know.

I know what to do.

I leave the room, grab my phone, and I call Vinnie.

38

VINNIE

My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket.

It’s Raven.

I don’t think she would call without having a good reason.

“Go back in there with Serena,” I say to Mario. “I’m taking care of everything. If she agrees, you and she will be out of here by morning.”

“But I have to alert the?—”

“If you’re gone, I’ll alert everyone. They’ll have no choice but to do as I say.”

“Vincent—”

“I have to take this call. I’ll be back.”

Mario relents and goes back in with Serena. I close the door of the room and answer the phone as Renée comes back up the stairs.

“Raven?” I say.

“Oh my God, Vinnie,” she sobs. “I don’t know what to do.”

My heart lurches. “Raven, what happened?”

“It’s my father,” she gulps. “Someone shot him. In our own house.”

“What?”

That doesn’t make sense. He has the best security out there.

“Who? What happened?”

“I don’t know. Paramedics are taking him to the hospital now. He has a faint pulse, but the shot was in the head, Vinnie.”

Damn. A shot to the head would take him out. It must’ve just grazed his skull or something. But God, the blood. Head wounds are the worst because of the many vessels close to the skin’s surface. Part of my so-called education when Mario was grooming me to join the family business.

Who the hell would have done this?

Then again, he’s working with some dangerous people. Perhaps Bellamy got in over his head.

“Raven,” I start, carefully choosing my words. “You need to get out of there now. We don’t know if they’re coming back.”

“But Vinnie, I can’t just leave him. He’s my father. I have to go to the hospital with him.”

---