Page 90 of Never Give Up

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BRIAN

The ambulance is pulling awaywhen I see the lights flash on something in the woods.

“Jake!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

Why bother being quiet? It’s a body, in the woods.

He’s at my side in a second, and together we’re surrounded by the remaining deputies who didn’t escort Maya’s ambulance to the hospital.

“Get another ambo rolling,” I ordered someone. “There’s a victim in the woods.”

When we step into the woods, it’s not a victim I see. It’s Andrew Weiss. The man who tried to take Maya away from me. He’s leaning against the trunk of a tree with his mouth hanging open and his eyes closed.

There’s a knife… sticking out of his stomach, and blood is seeping out of a wound on his arm.

“Holy shit,” I mutter.

“She stuck him like he was a wild pig,” Jake whistles sharply. “I don’t even know if he’s alive, man.”

“No.” I shake my head and step back. “I don’t care if he’s alive or dead. We’ll drag his ass back from the gates of hell if we have to. He’s going to answer for what he did to her.”

That doesn’t mean I’m gonna be the one to save his life.

Instead, I take a step back and let the others get to work. They can keep his heart beating long enough for him to be sentenced to life in prison for all I care.

Jake and I are headed to see my girl.

* * *

Maya

Hospitals suck.Having an armed guard sucks. Being stuck and not being able to go home sucks. Not getting to see my boys is the worst.

You know what’s even worse?

Having the man who attacked you in the same hospital, on life support because they don’t expect him to survive.

Is it my fault?

Absolutely.

And I don’t regret a thing.

In fact, if I could get up from the hospital bed that I’m practically trapped in, I might be willing to figure out where he is in the stupid place so I can finish the job.

Which is probably why there are police guarding my door, even if they won’t admit that’s what they’re doing.

I can say that the morphine made me do it, but really… I don’t know if a judge would believe that.

What I do know is that I’m not being charged with anything since they have more than enough evidence collected from his house to arrest him for my attack and attempted murder, not to mention my abduction andsecondattempted murder.

Although, since my heart stopped twice, I’m pretty sure they could get him with a murder charge, but I’m not a lawyer.

“Hey,” Brian interrupts my dark and bloodthirsty thoughts. “The boys miss you.”

“You came to tell me that?” But a small smile breaks out on my face at the bashful expression in his eyes.

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