Page 79 of Born a Queen

Chapter Forty-Two

When the shot came it wasn't Raina who was hit. Her eyes flew open. Daniela screamed in pain, released her grip on Raina's neck, jumped back and slammed a hand over her hip which was now pouring blood.

Raina looked around in confusion and saw Angela who had rolled to her side, pulled her gun and shot Daniela. Angela was about to shoot again when Daniela took off down the alley. Rather than shooting at her though, Angela dropped her gun and collapsed onto the pavement.

Raina peeled herself off the side of the building and lunged for the gun. It took her two tries to pick it up because her hands were shaking so bad and her head was still spinning. She covered Angela with her own body and turned to watch as Daniela disappeared around the corner of the building.

Thank god she didn't have to make the decision of whether or not to shoot the other woman. Raina had never killed anyone before and she didn't want to start now. Not that Raina would've actually been able to hit her at that distance, having never used a gun before.

As soon as Raina thought they were relatively safe, she turned back to Angela and assessed her. Angela was out cold. Somehow she’d managed to wake up long enough to stop Daniela from killing Raina. Now it was Raina's turn to protect Angela.

Hands still shaking, she picked up her purse, dumped it on the ground and rummaged until she found her phone. She called Mateo as she was running her hands over Angela's body searching for gunshot wounds. There was a hole in Angela's T-shirt over her heart, but there was no blood. Raina lifted her shirt and felt around. Angela was wearing a heavy vest, most likely bulletproof. Hopefully her vigilance would save her life.

"Raina."

Raina's heart soared as soon as she heard Mateo's voice. Hearing his deep voice reassured her like nothing else could.

"Angela's been shot," she said, her voice high-pitched and panicked. "What do I do?"

"Are you safe?" he demanded.

"Yes, I'm safe enough for now. Angela saved my life. But please, Mateo, help me. What do I do?"

"Where was she shot?"

"In the chest, over her heart, but I think she's wearing something bulletproof underneath."

"Yes, good, it’s part of her uniform." His voice was calm and cool, but she could hear the growing rage. Heads would roll over this incident. “Has she been shot anywhere else?"

Raina searched again and found another hole, this one on the left side of Angela's torso. This one had hit the bulletproof vest as well. "Yes, but in the vest again. I don't think she was shot anywhere else; I don't see any blood. Why is she knocked out?"

Raina's heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest. Her movements seemed slow and sluggish. She felt like an idiot, like she couldn't help Angela and she desperately wanted to.

Mateo's voice was calm and soothing. "Even though the bullets didn't penetrate her skin, there’s still trauma in getting shot through a bulletproof vest. The one that struck her over her heart likely put a vast amount of pressure on her chest. Danny is on his way. He'll help. Trust him and do everything he says.”

Tears trickled down Raina's face and she nodded even though he couldn't see it. "Okay, I'll wait for him." A sob escaped her throat. “Mateo… I don’t know where the other bodyguards are… what if…”

"Raina, mi amor, you cannot worry about that now.” His voice was gruff with concern, his accent thicker.

She swiped at an escaping tear and nodded. “Okay. I’ll take care of Angela; you can trust me.”

“Good girl. I’ll meet you at the house.” Raina garbled something in return and was about to hang up, but then she caught his last words. "I love you, Raina."

He hung up before she could return the words. She didn't know if she could yet anyway. With the events of the last few days, she felt burnt out, emotionally and physically. She wanted to lay down and turn the world off; no longer be responsible for anything, let alone her own feelings.

By the time Danny arrived she was a sobbing mess on the ground, one hand clutching her phone while the other tightly gripped Angela's hand. Angela still hadn't woken up and Raina was terribly worried. One of the shop employees had found her in the alley a couple minutes earlier and was sitting with her while they waited for Danny to arrive.

The shopkeeper had wanted to call an ambulance, but Raina had assured her that once her friend arrived, they would go straight to the hospital. She didn't know if it was true, but she figured it was the best thing she could say in the moment.

Two other men were with Danny. They covered the entrances to the alley while Danny checked Angela over, carefully picked her up off the ground, thanked the shopkeeper and strode to the SUV. After tucking Angela into the vehicle, Danny turned around and gave Raina a quick hug. “I’ve got you now, sweetheart. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Raina cried into his shoulder for a few seconds before pushing away. She insisted on climbing in the back seat with Angela and gripping her hand again.

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