Page 129 of Heartless Game

Isaac

Breathing fucking hurt.

Actually, everything fucking hurt. There was a vise gripping my head in its claws, and brick covering my face. And I clearly had been run over by a Zamboni, and then run over again for fun.

Where the fuck was I?

And more importantly—where was Tovah? My last memory was of her hand leaving mine.

Of her no longer breathing.

It was a struggle, but I finally managed to wrench my eyes open, only to spot my sister sitting on the edge of my hospital bed, a worried look on her face.

Tovah wasn’t in sight.

“Oh, thank fucking god,” Liza said, shutting her own eyes for a moment in what I assumed was relief. “I wasn’t sure if you’d make it, and there was no one left to kill.”

No one left. Which meant my father had died.

Good.

I tried to swallow, to speak, but the words were weak when I croaked, “Where thefuckis my girlfriend?”

Liza’s face fell.

So did my heart.

“Liza, where is?—”

“She’s in surgery,” she said quickly. “So were you, by the way. Marcus flew The Doctor and his team in to operate on both of you.”

Marcus was Jack’s billionaire half-brother, and The Doctor was one of his partners. No one knew his real name.

“It was touch and go with you. Luckily, the bullet didn’t lodge itself in your heart. The Doc was able to repair the rest.”

“And Tovah?”

“The bullet pierced her lung. Doc put her in a drug-induced coma, completed multiple blood transfusions, and has been trying to rebuild her lung for three days now. But he’s not ready to close, and the risk of infection is high…Isaac, you need to prepare yourself for the worst.”

No.

No.

“No,” I said. “I’m not preparing myself for shit. Doc better save her, or I’ll kill him.”

Liza looked at me. “And how are you going to do that?”

“Dad’s dead, right? I killed him. Last I checked, that made me the head of this family and the Silver organization, and I will use every goddamn bit of power we have to destroy that man if I don’t get her back, alive and whole.”

A bitter look flitted over my sister’s face, disappearing quickly like it was never even there. I ignored it. “Now, take me to wherever Tovah’s being operated on.”

“You can’t leave your bed, Isaac. You aren’t recovered. At least let the other doctors come look at?—”

“Take me to my fucking girlfriend right now,” I roared at her, not caring that she was my sister.

Her eyes widened. “Youhavechanged.”

She was right. And even though I hated everything about who I’d had to become, and who I’d continue to become in the future as the new head of this family, if it meant protecting Tovah, it was worth it.

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