Page 102 of Corrupted Empire

I try to heave the man off me, but he’s too heavy. I only succeed in pushing his shoulder away from my face. Silvano is in the doorway, and he shoves his gun into the back of his pants and rushes over to help me.

“I leave you alone for two seconds,” he jokes as I slide out from under the hefty corpse.

I glare at him. Now is not the time.

“Is backup actually here this time?” I say as I get to my feet.

Silvano has already started to lift Gabriel, and I go over to help him.

“They’re here,” he grunts. Gabriel is heavy.

Luckily, Dom and Antonio appear in the doorway, blood splattered across their faces and the front of their white shirts.

“Shit, is he alive?” Dom asks, running over to take my place.

“For now,” I say. “He needs to get to the hospital.” I grab Silvano’s phone from the floor and hand it back to him. “Silvano, go make sure all the injured are taken care of, and I want a list of the dead.” I gesture to Antonio. “You and Dom take Gabriel down to the car. I’m going to grab my phone, and I’ll run down to meet you.”

The men all nod, and Antonio and Silvano switch places and carry Gabriel out of the room. I expected maybe a little pushback from Silvano, who I’m sure is used to assuming the mantle of authority in Gabriel’s absence, but he doesn’t hesitate to start actioning my command.

I run through the penthouse, grimacing at the utter carnage the Cartel have left behind. Blood and broken glass is everywhere. One of the ballroom doors lies in broken splinters on the ground, and I pick my way gingerly through the mess, conscious of the many cuts I have already suffered to my bare feet.

The table where my phone was has been upended, but I manage to find it after only a brief sift through the detritus. I try not to look at the bodies. Silvano will tell me who is dead and who survived soon, and I can’t focus on that right now. Gabriel needs to get to the hospital, and I won’t be the one to hold that up.

I race to the elevator and then through the lobby, attracting concerned stares as I smear bloody footprints across the marble. Antonio and Silvano have just finished loading Gabriel into the SUV, and I hop in next to him. Silvano takes off just as sirens begin to ring in the distance.

I buttress myself against Gabriel, and his head lolls to the side, then rolls forward. He looks up, blinking blearily, as though he has just woken from a bad dream.

“Hey,” I say, turning to face him.

Gabriel smiles at me. It’s a woozy, drunken smile. He has lost a lot of blood.

“Hey, Tiger,” he says.

I hold his face in my hands. “Stay with me. We’re going to be at the hospital soon.”

Silvano is driving like a hellion through traffic. I’m surprised we’re not already there.

“Tiger, Tiger, burning bright,” Gabriel murmurs.

He must have really lost a lot of blood if he’s started quoting William Blake. I seize the opportunity to try to keep him awake.

“What’s the rest of the poem?” I ask.

Gabriel blinks in confusion.

“Tiger, Tiger, burning bright,” I prompt. “In the forests of the night…”

Gabriel’s eyes are unfocused, and his light smile rolls down his lips into a lopsided grin. He turns his head to kiss my hand.

“I’m proud of you,” he slurs, and it’s not the next line of the poem, but it makes my heart hiccup all the same.

Then he passes out.

36

Alexis

It’s a very long night. Gabriel goes into surgery as soon as we get to the hospital. No sooner have the nurses wheeled him away than I am approached by a nurse who tells me that Silvano has arranged for the baby and me to be checked out. I had been so busy worrying about whether Gabriel was going to make it that I’d forgotten how stressful of an evening I’d just had, and how that might have impacted our baby. I spend the next hour worrying about that nonstop until the doctor gives me the all-clear.

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