Page 84 of Bleeding Hearts

“Do you want me to come?”

His offer breaks the dam that was keeping me together. It’s been a long time since anyone who wasn’t Alicia or Jodi proved they would move heaven and earth to get to me. I’m sobbing and there’s no way I can speak to tell him how much that means to me.

My sister must have heard me, because I feel her hand land on my back as she takes the phone from my grip, places it on thecounter, and puts it on speaker. “Nolan, this is Alicia. I’ve put you on speaker.”

“Hey.” His voice, usually steady, now shakes with barely controlled emotion, a thin, reedy sound. “I can’t leave until after my shift. We’re already down a few guys.”

I hiccup. “You don’t need to come. It’s fine.”

When I get choked up and I struggle to go on, Alicia steps in to complete my thought. “Right now, we don’t really know what to expect. He’s alive. They… they’re measuring his brain activity.”

“Shit. Okay. As soon as you know, let me know.”

“I will.” I manage to get out.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” My voice is so quiet, barely audible, like a breath of wind rustling through leaves. When I glance up, I realize tears are streaming down my sister’s face, too. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay. I’ll keep my phone on. Call me no matter what. Keep me updated.”

“I will.”

Saying our goodbyes, a lump forms in my throat, and I reach into my pocket, pulling out a tissue—rough and slightly damp from earlier. Alicia quietly waits for me to explain. Her stare tells me everything.

“What?”

“Don’t youwhatme.” With a tug on my arm, she pulls me in for a hug. “When did this happen?”

“Shut up,” I sob into her shoulder. “He ambushed me.”

Before I can explain more, the doctor walks into the room and motions for us to have a seat. This doesn’t look like good news.

Chapter 39

Bethany

Chad didn’t survive.

His body couldn’t recover from being thrown off a five-story building. I’m not sure how he survived the initial fall to begin with.

We had so many questions, but no answers. Authorities were sifting through the evidence to ascertain the chain of events that culminated in his death. My head hurt from the implications that my brother had gotten messed up with the mob.

The fucking mob!

My brother was a smart man. He’d worked his ass off to get where he was. I can’t figure out how he got tangled up in that kind of mess. We talked regularly—and by that I mean once a month. Not once had he hinted he was in trouble. He always bragged about how well he was doing, and I had no reason to question him.

Now… I kind of wished I had.

Alicia cautioned us that the case might remain unsolved. As a former law enforcement officer, she understands more about how these cases go. Mob cases are often complex and buried under a pile of other cases that take precedence. I know Alicia well enough to know she won’t let this go. She’ll dig up what shecan in her spare time, determined to make the guilty pay. But there is no guarantee that will happen, and we have to figure out a way to live with that.

We have to wait for the medical examiner to complete the autopsy before making funeral arrangements. That will take at least a week. It’s already been a couple of days and Dillon needs to get back to Savannah. The Coast Guard’s flexibility isn’t the same as other jobs. They can’t just do without him or call in another pilot to cover for his shift. Which is why he flew back this morning and took Brinkley and the twins with him. His mother is coming to help with the baby. Jodi agreed to take the boys for me. I didn’t see a reason to keep them out of school while we waited. When we knew more, they would all fly back for the funeral.

With nothing else to do, Alicia and I decide to stay at Chad’s apartment, hoping to learn more about what he was involved in. The detective in charge of his case has our full cooperation and permission to conduct a thorough search of his property. It wasn’t like Chad would get into more trouble if they found something, so we saw no reason to not work with them. With any luck, they’d find what they needed to make those responsible pay for what they did.

It took his team about an hour to collect the evidence he needed to build his case. We weren’t told what that evidence was. Ongoing investigation was the term I believe he used when Alicia tried to pull it out of him.

The cops are gone now.

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