Page 184 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

“Then we’ll have to take him into surgery immediately.”

Anxiety sinks its claws into me.

“Surgery? Is it dangerous?” Vera asks.

“There are risks, but if there’s internal bleeding and organ damage, not having the surgery would be much more dangerous. It could lead to all sorts of life-threatening complications. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more.”

“Okay, thank you, Doctor,” Vera says.

The doctor gives us a polite nod and walks off. The floodgates are blown wide open from the moment he leaves my line ofvision, and a wave of relief crashes into me, my shoulders releasing all tension.

“Oh, honey. Come here.” Vera wraps me into a hug, rubbing my back to bring me comfort.

I sniffle. “I’m sorry, I just had the worst dream. I thought we lost him.”

Vera squeezes me tighter. “We didn’t. You heard the doctor. He’s confident that TJ’s going to be fine.”

I dry my face with the sleeve of my shirt when we separate, the painful pit in my throat decreasing in size.

He’s going to be okay.

Hehasto be okay.

We rejoin Finn and Dia in the waiting room, the two of which are impatiently waiting for updates. I put them out of their misery as soon as I sit down, relaying the information over to them.

“I’m going to go get some coffee. Do you guys want some?” Vera offers a minute later.

I sniffle again. “Yes, please.”

Dia glances at Finn who shakes his head in response. “None for us, thanks.”

Dia has no idea how grateful I am for her. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done if she hadn’t picked up the phone last night. I couldn’t even go with TJ in the ambulance when they took him away because I had to stay back and speak with the police. I desperately needed to talk to someone after the cops took my statement, and she took my call on the first ring.

She didn’t even hesitate once I told her what happened. The next thing I knew, she and Finn were on their way to meet me at the closest hospital.

The bright side? The cops arrested one of the dirtbags who was working with Aaron and my sister’s almost kidnappers. TJ knocked him out early on in the altercation, and Aaron and theman who stabbed TJ were in such a hurry to get away when they heard the police sirens that they left him behind.

The police are hoping he’ll rat his buddies out to save himself, hopefully pointing them in the right direction.

“Did you get in touch with Daniel?” Dia asks.

“Yes. He’s going to watch the kids until we know more.”

I called my stepdad a little after we got to the hospital, and in typical Daniel fashion, he picked up immediately. We agreed to let Oli and Sierra sleep, but he’ll be telling them everything when they wake up. As for Kelsea, Vera’s husband, Don, will be picking her up and driving her here first thing in the morning.

“We still can’t get in touch with Theo and Chance. Their phones must be on silent. That or they’re completely trashed from last night,” Dia guesses.

I scoff. “If you ask me, it’s both.”

“What about Xavier and Aveena?”

Her mouth curves into an O shape at the mention of Aveena’s name. “Oh my God, that’s right, I didn’t tell you.”

My stomach does a whole backflip. “Tell me what?”

I don’t think I could take it if she told me something happened to them. I’m having enough trouble worrying about the well-being of one person I love as it is.

“Finn reached Xavier when you were sleeping. He and Aveena got in the car as soon as he told them about TJ, but then… Vee went into labor.”

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