“I didn’t steal her. You weren’t together anymore.”
“But we could’ve worked things out if you hadn’t come along. Now she’s gone and we’ll never get another chance.” Rossi turns his gun away from Tori to me while DeLuca keeps his aimed at Bastian and Jax. Maddox tenses at my side. I can feel him itching to pull the trigger of his gun.
I suck in a breath. Then another. I almost feel sorry for the sick son of a bitch. I can’t help but wonder what, exactly, pushed him over the edge. Losing Lacy? His father’s denial of him? Lacy’s death? His father’s?
The whirring sound of helicopter blades draws my attention for a split second. Long enough for me to realize it’s not just randomly flying over. I throw my eyes toward Bastian who looks just as shocked that there’s a helicopter about to land in the small space behind the event center in the middle of Chicago.
Rossi begins to smirk as he begins walking backward toward the chopper pulling Tori closer to him. I can’t let him take her. I won’t.
Fuck the nonexistent plan. Fuck keeping calm. Fuck it all.
Then I see a flicker in Tori’s eyes. Her mouth moves forming words with no sound.
I love you.
I’m sorry.
I see her take a painful breath.
Everything begins to move in slow motion.
I move toward her as fast as I can as she elbows Rossi. Somehow, she manages to get the gun away from him.
Stephano DeLuca hits the ground with a thud. Jax and Bastian scramble to put their guns on others who have made their way out to us.
I get between Tori and the shooter at the top of the building then quickly pull her away from Rossi. Another bullet flies catching him in the shoulder. It knocks him back, but he manages to get back to his feet and rushes to the chopper.
I’ve got Tori in my arms and feel like I can fucking breathe. Caught completely off guard, she pushes me out of the way, leaving me confused.
I see her legs wobble and know she is about to hit the ground. I grab her, easing her down.
The helicopter takes off with Bastian and Jax both shooting toward it. Maddox pops the last two guys that walked out. The shooter at the top of the building crashes to the ground.
Rossi may be getting away, but it feels like this shit is finished.
I look down to Tori lying in my arms and that’s when I see it. Blood pools and pours from beneath her hands. I look to her face that is so damn pale. Her breathing is shallow.
Jax comes sliding in beside me. He pulls off his jacket then this shirt. Bastian joins us on the ground. He lifts her hands to check the wound. Then turns her slightly in my lap. “Bullet’s still in there,” he grunts.
Jax presses his shirt over the wound to apply pressure.
“She’s needs a hospital. Now,” I hear Rory growl above us. He’s still panting and I’m not even sure when he reappeared. He must’ve been the one to get the rooftop shooter.
“I have someone coming,” I hear a heavy accent say.
I’m sitting here with her in my arms unable to move. The breath I had only minutes ago has left me, and the slower her heart gets the slower mine gets. “Zane,” I hear someone say but I can’t think. “Zane!”
I look up to see Jax staring at me with sympathetic eyes as do Bastian and Rory. I don’t want their sympathy. Sympathy implies she’s not going to make it.
She has to. Anything else is not an option.
I look at her pale face. She maneuvered that gun away from Rossi to protect me. She pushed me out of the way so I wouldn’t get shot.She saved me.
Anger that she would put herself in danger like that fills me. Anger that she thinks I’m more important than her fuels me. I’m fucking pissed because now I understand the I’m sorry and the I love you. How can she do that to me?
How can she think that I can even fucking survive without her? I just spent the last year trying to show her that we belong together. Winning her heart. Taking her as mine. And she thinks she’s going to check out on me now?
I look at her. I lean over placing a kiss to her lips. “Don’t you fucking leave me,” I demand. “Don’t you dare fucking think about it.”
