Page 137 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

“Motherfucker,” I breathed. The bastard had tried to strangle her.

She flinched at the gentle touch, and I saw red, ready to personally murder this guy.

“Ma’am?” the dispatcher’s voice filled the speakerphone. “You have others with you now, right? Do any of them happen to know the assailant’s last name?”

“Trick?” Lucy asked, looking up at Chloe’s brother.

“Freston,” he immediately supplied. “Dax Freston. And I know exactly where the fucker lives.”

When he glanced questioningly toward Luke, Luke immediately nodded. “Let’s go.” He looked my way. “Uncle?”

I shook my head. “I’m staying with them. Just go. Get that son of a bitch.”

The two men nodded and raced from the house. A second later, the engine to Luke’s truck gunned and they peeled out of Lucy’s yard.

She didn’t even notice their departure. I took her hand, and she squeezed my fingers as she studied Ava’s face and started crying all over again. Her hand shook as she reached out and gently touched Ava’s hair. “They told me not to pick her up,” she explained from a trembling voice. “In case of spinal damage. Oh my God...” Slamming her eyes shut, she hugged herself and sobbed, “What if she has spinal damage? Or brain damage? Or—”

“Hey, hey...” I said, reaching for her. “Come here.”

She bobbed her head in immediate compliance and crawled into my lap, where she rested her cheek on my shoulder, and sobbed, “I just want to hold her.”

“I know.” I curled my arms around her and held her tight, rocking us both as we kept a silent vigil over the unconscious baby.

I didn’t give her any platitudes, saying Ava would be okay and everything would be fine. I’d been present too often when things weren’t fine.

“The ambulance should be there shortly,” the dispatcher spoke up, staying on the line. “They’re only a few blocks away now.”

Lucy lifted her face, and we both strained our ears, glancing toward the broken doorway.

“I can hear them,” she gasped a moment later and shoved her way to her feet so she could race outside and meet the EMTs, waving them forward as they slowed in front of her house. More sirens blared in the distance.

From there, the night became a terrifying blur.

We were asked to stay back and give the paramedics space as they knelt before the still baby. They immediately went about shifting her legs and head. I’m not sure what else they did after that—Lucy and I lost a visual through all the people working on her—but a second later, she gave a mighty howl and started crying.

I swear, it was the most amazing sound I ever heard.

“Oh God. Oh God,” Lucy sobbed and turned to me, seeking comfort and celebration.

“Thank goodness,” I breathed as I pulled Lucy close, even as a part of me hung on to the knot of doom clenching my stomach as the paramedics continued to work.

More people arrived: the fire department, police, Beau and Bentley, along with various family members.

Lucy was swamped with questions, and she clung to me as she answered them, moaning when a full, adult-sized gurney was brought into the house and then a small, tiny-sized brace was fitted around Ava’s neck after all the clothes were cut off her with scissors.

Then Lucy hid her face back on my shoulder, unable to watch as her child was lifted onto the stretcher, only to immediately whirl around again to follow them as they wheeled her into the night.

“Can we go with you?” she asked.

The EMT nodded. “Usually, we only let one family member ride up front, but for a child this small, I’ll let both of you parents come along. Climb up this way, ma’am.”

My heart sank, knowing I wouldn’t be allowed to ride with Lucy since I wasn’t a parent. But she clamped her hand around my forearm and forcefully dragged me along with her as she surged forward, intent for both of us to climb into the back of the ambulance together.

“Thank you,” she told the paramedic, not even glancing my way as she kept me plastered to her side.

I swallowed, keeping quiet and silently grateful that Ava looked so much like me that it would naturally be assumed I was her father.

The poor little child cried all the way to the hospital. Lucy and I crouched next to her and tried to soothingly talk to her and keep her calm, but Ava only watched us as if begging us to stop the pain. It broke my heart and caused Lucy to cry all over again.

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