Page 135 of Mafie Kings

The second the boat docks, I’m running faster than I ever have. If she dies because we left her, I’ll never forgive myself. I run into the suite and it’s chaos. Nessa and Laney are each fighting masked intruders. Evie is clutching her side, trying to fight one off as well. I step up behind him and let three bullets bury themselves in his chest, but I'm too late, he's already sunk a blade into Evie's stomach.

Her eyes glass over as she falls to the floor. I hear the other two men drop behind me, but I can’t move. Alexi and Damien run in as I fall to my knees in front of her. Blood is already pooling around the knife while her body begins to pale.

“I…” she chokes out, and it’s just enough to kick me into action. I grab her, pull her into my arms, and run.

I don’t look down at her, but I can hear her breathing become raspy, and I know the knife has punctured her lung. She’s still holding onto it, even though I’m sure it hurts like hell, but we both know that we can’t pull it out.

“I’m so… sorry,” she rasps, and those words feel like goodbye. I can’t accept that right now. Her head falls into my chest as her body weakens in my hold. I’m so close to the hospital. I can only hope Alexi has called them and is making arrangements.

I see Doc running towards us with a stretcher and a team of nurses. Evie’s head is swaying on my chest as she whispers, “I loved you, all of y…”

She starts coughing, choking on blood. Doc rolls her on the stretcher, looking her over before barking orders to his team.

“Alexi called, the OR is ready.” He looks down at his hands that are coated in Evie’s blood. “But you need to prepare for the worst here.”

I pull my gun from behind my back. “You will save her, or I will kill you.”

Alexi and Damien come running behind me just then as Doc raises his hands.

“I’m going to do everything I can,” he swears, but that’s not enough. I level the gun with his head, making my point clear. If she dies, he will be the first to go. Alexi places his hand on the gun, forcing me to lower it as I stare daggers at the only man who can save her now.

“Go,” Alexi tells him.

This probably isn’t the first time he’s been threatened with this sort of task, but it could very well be the last. None of us move. We just stand outside the doors without a word. Eventually, Laney and Nessa reach us looking wide-eyed and out of breath.

“What happened?” Laney asks, shoving Alexi back. He takes her anger, letting her shove him around as she yells. “She was coming to talk to YOU! I was the one who made her stay. I was the one who begged her not to leave!''

Laney is screaming at him now with tears running down her face, but none of us can speak. Alexi’s arms go around her and she sobs in his chest. Nessa doesn’t say a word as tears stream silently down her face. It’s like we’re all suspended in time. Waiting. Hoping.

I look at Damien, but I don’t recognize him. He doesn’t look worried or scared, just pissed off. “D?” I ask, needing to know what’s going through his head. He’s always been there for me, and I want to learn to reciprocate.

I reach out, trying to take his hand, but he shakes me off and pulls away. “She deserves this,” he says spitefully, then he turns and walks away.

I look down at the blood coating my shirt and part of my shorts. The heat of her body curled up against me is long gone and replaced with a coldness I don’t know how to handle. She doesn’t deserve this; she didn’t deserve anything that happened to her.

The woman we have grown to know is kind and fierce; she is fair and just. She may have lied, but she sure as hell doesn’t deserve whatever the hell just happened to her. I raise my gun and shoot the tree right by Damien’s head. He jumps, turning to face me, his face utterly shocked.

“Say that again.” I dare him, my gun still raised. Alexi moves to intercept me, but I aim at him. “He doesn’t get to do that, he doesn’t get to treat her like nothing. If what we just witnessed showed us anything, it’s that there is a lot more going on here than we realized.” Alexi steps back, giving me room to approach Damien.

“You and I both know she didn’t deserve that any more than you deserved every single scar on your body.” Damien's fists clench as he moves to come towards me, but I’m not done. I cock the gun, keeping it aimed at him. If he wants to act like a child, then fine. I’m sure as shit going to put him in his place if he says that again.

He freezes, sensing how serious I am. I don’t love Evie more than Damien. I love them the same. I’d do the same thing for him if Evie said what he just said too.

“Do you want to know what her last words were, D?” I ask, my voice shaking as I threaten to break right here. Maybe I’ll turn the gun on myself next.

“Her last words were that she’s sorry and that shelovedus.” My voice breaks. “She loved us. All of us. And we just left her. We didn’t give her a chance to explain, we didn’t listen to her. Hell, we hardly even asked her to confirm what we already knew. She saved Alexi’s life, and we still chose to push her away.”

Tears are falling now, but I’m not backing down. This is the new me. If I have to aim a gun at someone I love to get a point across, then I will. His face falls as he finally understands. The bastard can be more stubborn than Alexi when he’s hurt, but I’m drawing a line in the sand about how far those actions will go when it comes to Evie.

I lower the gun and turn around to walk into the hospital, but the last person I expected to see here is standing on the steps in front of me.

“Father?” Alexi asks from behind me.

Boris walks down the steps, his face as somber as ours. “What happened to her?” It’s all he asks.

The three of us exchange glances, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“I don’t know, Father,” Alexi says, stepping around us, almost like a shield. Laney and Nessa move behind Damien sensing the mood. “Do you want to tell me why a team of Russians attacked an innocent woman in our suite?”

---