Page 86 of Final Installment
“He betrayed—.”
Luka didn’t get to finish his sentence.Zec fired three bullets in quick succession into Kristo’s chest.No discussion.No arguments.He acted as judge, jury and executioner without even blinking.
The realization that Kristo, his best friend, his brother, was dead finished what little strength Luka still had.He collapsed, his lungs suddenly tight and his gut heavy and hot.Elona cried out behind him, grasping at his body, trying to soften his fall.He opened his mouth to tell her what he desperately wanted her to know, but the only thing that came out was blood.Thick.Salty.Metallic.
And then everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty
“Elona,it’stime.”Mystepfather gently called from the doorway of the ICU room.Sixty-one, over six feet tall, broad shouldered, Brett Cartwright commanded attention wherever he went.Even now, in this foreign place, everyone deferred to him.Part of it was the money, but mostly, it was the way he carried himself.
I shifted carefully in the uncomfortable wheelchair.“A few more minutes?”
His gaze traveled from my face to Luka’s.With a reluctant shake of his head, Brett said, “No.We’ve delayed as long as we can.”
I tightened my hold on Luka’s hand.I’d been sitting with him for a few hours, hoping he would wake up before I left.There were so many tubes and machines around him.I understood enough about the numbers on the display to know his blood pressure was too low, and his heartrate was too high.There was more blood hanging from one of the stands next to the bed along with bigger bags of saline and smaller bags of medications.
The gunshots had torn through his intestines and made a mess of things, but he’d already been suffering a long and slowly bleeding ulcer for months.Apparently, he’d been ignoring it, taking a little medicine here and there, not following up with his specialists.Now, he had nearly fatal anemia and a raging infection that the hospital team was valiantly trying to fight before it became full-blown sepsis.
Stupid, arrogant idiot.
I desperately wanted him to wake up so I could tell him off to his face for being so dumb.I wanted to scold him, to see his eyes flash with the angry fire of being chastised.I wanted him to wake up and fight me, argue with me, and then kiss me until my lips were numb.
Wake up, Luka.Please.
There was so much I wanted to tell him, to explain, but the universe seemed to want to keep us apart.Accepting that I couldn’t wait much longer, I finally said, “I’ll go as soon as his family gets back.”
“Drita is here.”Brett mentioned the Beciraj family housekeeper.She’d been at the hospital nearly as much as I had, moving between Luka’s room and mine.Whatever prejudices she had against me seemed to be long forgotten.I suspected Zec had given her a rundown of what had happened on that boat.I seemed to have earned her respect.She’d even smiled at me—twice!
Drita stepped up next to Brett.Even after practically living in the hospital, she looked so polished and put together.Bootcut jeans.A white shell top.Blush pink twill jacket that looked like it had come right off a model at a St.John’s runway show.Gold Aquazurra sandals I recognized from boutique I’d visited a few months ago.They ran impossibly small and narrow and had gone right back onto the display shelf.
Seeing her there next to Brett, I couldn’t deny that they made a pretty pair.Considering the way Brett glanced over at her, I suspected my stepfather had more than casual interest in Luka’s housekeeper.I didn’t want to accuse him of having a type, but first my mother and now the lingering looks at Drita?He definitely had a thing for mafia adjacent ladies.
“I’ll take care of him, Elona.”Drita quietly entered the ICU room with her handbag and a bottle of water.“He’ll be in good hands.”
But not in mine.
I didn’t want to let go.I wanted to stay here, right here next to his bed, until he woke, but if I didn’t leave today, things were going to get very, very uncomfortable.
So far, I'd managed to avoid the journalists lurking outside and the policemen and detectives and federal agents who wanted to question me.Brett had used his connections and his money to shield my brother and me, but that shield couldn’t stay up forever.
Slowly, I let go of Luka’s hand and lowered my arm back to my lap.I kept my gaze fixed on Luka’s sleeping face as Brett wheeled me out of the ICU room.When he turned the wheelchair toward the hallway, I gulped around the ball of emotions clogging my throat.Somehow, I managed not to shed a tear until I was stepping out of the wheelchair and sliding into the sleek black sedan driving us to the airport.At least then, I was able to blame it on the discomfort of moving from the chair to the car.
Truthfully, I had hardly any pain at all with my stab wound.Kristo had cut and damaged enough nerves in that area that it felt mostly numb.Deeper inside, there was tenderness if I coughed or moved too fast.Overall, I’d been incredibly lucky that Kristo had chosen that spot to drive that blade into me.
And he was not so lucky.
I didn’t dwell on what happened to him.Nothing good would come from it, and there was no changing what had happened.The moment he’d chosen to betray Luka he had signed his death warrant.
“I spoke with Zec this morning,” Brett said as our driver navigated the streets of Tirana.
“Oh?”I couldn’t even imagine the two of them in the same room together let alone sitting down to talk.
“I was very clear that all of this,” he made a circular gesture in the air, “is done.It doesn’t touch you or your sister or your brother ever again.”
“And he agreed?”I asked skeptically.
“He saw reason.”Brett slid his thumb down the screen of his phone and opened a message.“I should have taken care of this years ago.”
