Page 84 of Tangled In Lies

Niko, one of our security guards, holds up his hands, his face remaining calm. “The ambulance is only a mile away. The fire truck has an ETA of six minutes.”

“Thanks.” Holden lowers his gun and nods at him. “I want you to call Detective O’Neal. Tell him what happened and to meet me at the hospital.”

“Yes, sir.” He nods at both of us and runs off.

“Phoenix?”

My name on Eve’s lips is almost drowned out by the noise around us and the approaching sirens in the distance, but I hear it nonetheless.

I touch the side of her face, accidentally smearing some of the blood from my hand to her cheek. “Please don’t move.”

“Phoenix?” She repeats my name and slowly blinks her eyes open. “My head.”

“I know, Angel.” I press a kiss to the back of her hand. “You hit your head, but you’re okay. We’ll get you to the hospital.”

As if on cue, the ambulance races up the driveway, several EMTs jumping out when it comes to a stop. They hurry over to us with a gurney, and I reluctantly let go of Eve’s hand to give them the room they need. Once she’s safely in the back of the vehicle, I’m back by her side, and I don’t let go of her once while we rush to the hospital.

“Why the fuckis it taking them so long?” I pace back and forth in front of the door.

They took Evangeline and told me I had to wait here.

If it wasn’t for Holden restraining me, I might have punched someone. I definitely wanted to.

Holden is a few feet away with his phone to his ear, talking to our guys and whoever else is helping us figure out this mess.

The door opens, and an older nurse strides toward me. “Sir, you’re injured. We need to get you to an exam room to check you out.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve seen my wife.”

She doesn’t flinch at my tone or react to my lie. She just sighs as if I’m nothing more than an inconvenience, which Iprobably am to her. “Let me get you something for your wound, at least. You’re bleeding all over my floor.”

“Fine,” I growl at her.

A moment later, she’s back and presses a thick gauze pad in my hand before guiding it to my forehead. “Keep pressure on it.”

I huff, and she must take that as confirmation enough to walk away, muttering something that sounds like “stubborn men.”

Holden lowers his phone and joins me. “She’s going to be okay.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.”

The nurse shoots me a dirty look from her station, but I ignore her and focus on Holden. “Any news?”

He shakes his head. “I called in the additional team like you wanted. They’re going to help ensure the property is safe and go over the security tapes again.” He pauses for a moment. “One of the guys saw a drone hovering nearby when the explosion happened, but that’s it so far.”

I clench my free hand into a fist at my side. “Someone was watching us get blown up?”

“Yup.”

A bomb.

A motherfucking bomb.

On my car.

And they watched it all go down.

I take my hand off my face, and Holden presses it back on.

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