Page 9 of Rescued Heart

“Hang on tight,” Eddie whispered in Bianca’s ear. “Almost there.”

A muffled “thank you” came from under his jacket.

Eddie shouldered his way through the crowd and made it to the back of the ambulance.

Kianna opened the door, and Eddie helped Bianca climb in. “I assume she’ll need stitches. She’s lost a fair amount of blood and?—”

“Blood.” A gulp came from a girl with a beanie on and two braids resting on her shoulders who had snuck up behind him.

The man with the microphone returned. “Will Bia Pearl be disfigured?”

Someone wearing a ball cap shoved his phone in through the open crack in the ambulance’s rear door.

Kianna snatched the phone and tossed it out, then pulled Eddie inside.

Eddie shut the door. As he turned, he expected to see Bianca curled into a ball on the stretcher, but her eyes locked onto his.

She swallowed. “How bad is it?”

There was little good from the evening so far.

Eddie rubbed his hand through his smoke-scented hair. “Our crew will get the fire out. No one else should get hurt.”

Her eyes slipped closed. “Good. That’s really good.”

Kianna leaned in and inspected Bianca’s incision.

But Bianca didn’t lift her attention to Kianna. Her gaze remained on Eddie. “And my face?”

Eddie inhaled. He was afraid that’s what she’d really meant.

Kianna grimaced.

Bianca pulled the slit in her dress closed over her leg. “Give me the truth. Is this an end-of-my-career type of scar we’re looking at?”

Kianna wiped Bianca’s cheek with a cloth. “Several stitches. Not as many as I first expected with the amount of blood. The actual wound is near your hairline, which will be helpful to hide the scar. Bangs might help some.”

Bianca pressed her lips together.

Eddie cleared his throat. “My grand-ma’am used to say that scars give character.”

Fear filled her eyes. “Unfortunately, the entertainment industry believes differently. The world wants what it wants. Perfection.”

Eddie shook his head. There was only One who was perfect. He could still hear his foster mother’s voice in his head. “Doesn’t mean?—”

Out through the front window, a couple of guys rocked the front of the ambulance. “Let us see Bia!”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Kianna said to Trace, who sent a look to Eddie.

Eddie nodded. “I’ll clear them away.”

He jumped out and did as promised. Cleared a path for Bianca to leave. The ambulance’s flashing lights reversed back down the drive, and Bianca’s fearful words rang in his memory.

The world wants what it wants.

Eddie raced toward the mansion to help his crew. Raised his eyes to the sky.

He hadn’t gotten what he wanted in too long, but now, it looked like even the kids wouldn’t get the rest of the needed funds for their youth center.

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