Page 93 of Be Very Quiet

On cue, a wail of sirens grew louder.

“Quit hovering. I’m fine,” Luca muttered.

“Luca.” Tears spilled unchecked down Liliana’s cheeks. His eyes were closed, but at least he was conscious. That was a good sign.

“How do you feel?”

His lids blinked open, and though his eyes were clouded with pain, he smiled. “Ready to go. Help me up.”

Liliana firmly said, “No.”

“You stay there,” Christian ordered.

“Quit moving,” Audria admonished. “You’re making the bleeding worse.”

His lids closed. “Sheesh, you guys are mean.”

The room soon flooded with emergency crews. Paramedics came toward them, and Liliana had to relinquish his hand and stand back. They started an IV to replenish his lost fluids and stopped the bleeding. As they stabilized his arm in an air cast, he passed out again. He didn’t wake up when they transferred him to a gurney.

“I’m going with him,” she told Audria.

“Good. We’ll handle things here and meet you at the hospital as soon as we’re free to leave.”

Liliana hurried after the medics as they wheeled Luca through the house and outside. Once he was loaded into the ambulance, she climbed aboard and settled on the bench beside him. She picked up his hand, trying not to jostle the IV. A grin spread across his face.

“Are you awake, Luca?”

“Yeah. I was faking, so I didn’t have to deal with questions from the police.”

“Liar.”

He smiled, but it quickly vanished. “Hey, why are you crying? I’m not dying, am I?”

“No, but you scared me.”

“Right back at you, babe. When I saw Rader grab you . . .” He couldn’t finish the sentence. His voice was rough when he added, “I’d never felt incapacitating fear like that.”

“I was terrified at first,” she admitted, “but then I was furious at the lives he’d ruined. Plus, I trusted you to save me, and you did.”

“Babe, you saved yourself. You did it. You took Ted Rader down. I’m so damn sorry you were hurt.”

“I’m fine. If you hadn’t come for me, I wouldn’t have been able to get away from Theo. It’s all you.”

“Christian and Audria fired the shots, so it was a team effort.”

She clutched his hand. “It was.”

The ride passed quickly, and soon, the back doors whipped open.

“Make sure she gets checked out, especially her wrists,” Luca told the paramedic, who nodded.

He was the one who’d taken a bullet, yet he was worried about her. She loved him so much.

Aids were standing by to lift out the stretcher, and Luca was wheeled through a set of double doors that swung closed in their wake. She wanted to go with him, but the medic he had tasked with ensuring she was examined said something to a nurse who came for her. Knowing she had no choice, she followed and sat on a bed behind a curtain while the nurse cleaned and bandaged her wrists and applied an ice pack to her cheek. She hadn’t told Luca about Theo hitting her in the head and knocking her out, but she did tell the doctor. He ordered a scan and concluded it was a mild concussion.

Though her blood pressure was slightly elevated, her other vitals were fine. Once the doctor cleared her, she proceeded to the waiting room and informed the nurse behind the desk she was with Luca. Audria and Christian hadn’t arrived yet. She imagined there would be a ton of paperwork since two men had died at the house, not to mention Rex and, she swallowed heavily, Shonda. Reese and Detective Torres would now be able to close a wretched case that was a long time coming.

Half an hour later, Audria and Christian walked in and sat beside her.

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