There was an incessant beeping somewhere nearby that was driving me up the damn wall. It had been infiltrating my brain for what felt like a thousand years and now I’d finally had enough. My hand reached up, clasping at the dark air around me, and my tired eyes blinked a little too hard as I desperately craved to annihilate the nuisance to my peace.
Granted, lifting my arm felt like I was trying to push a boulder up a hill. But it was nowhere near as shocking as feeling a soft hand grab mine, and a large pair of grey eyes appear before me, blinking down in what I presumed was shock. She might have been high for all I knew. Or just confused.
I was confused. I thought I wasdead.
“You’re awake.” Delilah hovered above me, dark circles beneath her eyes, her pale skin even paler.
She needed a good nap or something from the looks of things. Perhaps a trip to a sunny place to relax for a few hours.If she was real, that was. I presumed she was a figment of my imagination, even though I couldn’t work out why I would imagine her and not my daddy or something.
“Delilah?” I croaked.
“Yeah.” She grinned as she placed my hands down against what I was quickly realising was a hospital bed, before she hurried to hand me a bottle of water off a little wooden table on wheels. “Nice to see you awake, Sapphire.”
Blinking hard, I tried to get my bearings, unable to concentrate on anything but the noise and the dryness in my throat. Sure, the noise was from a monitor connected to little pads that were against my heart, checking for the pulse I apparently still had. But I didn’t care to see that I was alive. I just wanted the noise to stop.
I couldn’t handle so much sound after so long with nothing but silence, screams, and sobs. It was too much.
“Where am I?” It was a dumb question; I knew I was in a hospital. But Delilah hurried to let me know it was a local one in Vegas that Raya practically owned.
“It’s safe.” She said. “Don’t worry – there are Red Diamonds gangsters everywhere too, and we won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
I blinked at her a few more times, realizing what she meant a moment later when my sluggish brain connected the dots. She had a red diamond tattooed on her wrist. Fresh, shiny and cleanly done. She had a Glock in the waistband of her ripped black jean shorts. Plus, a thigh strap that held three different wickedly sharp blades – the kind of blades I always enjoyed holding on my body as a backup.
“You joined my gang.” My voice was rough and though I was sipping the water, it seemed I would need a bit of time before speaking became easy again. “Glad to hear it.”
I was glad to hear it, even if being in a gang probably wasn’t what every little girl dreamed of doing instead of being at school with her friends. Well, I had told her she could return to her fancy boarding school when things were safe to do so. But still.
“I blooded in with a shitty gangster – Widow helped me.” She twirled a lock of her newly purple hair around her finger, grinning a little wide for me to think she was saner than anyone else I knew.
Not that I had a problem.
I was insane now.
Plus, I didn’t need to know how she proved her loyalty – she hadn’t needed to show it. When I had offered her a new life with me, however long ago it was, that had waved away her need to show her loyalty with blood and death. I was kinda proud to know she had killed a useless shitty gangster, though. It was far better she take out someone evil inside.
Attempting to sit up, I tried to concentrate on the rest of the clean but bland white room instead of my aches and pains. When my head stopped spinning, I quickly realized there were three people in the room with me, none of which were my men, even if seeing other people warmed my heart and helped my brain come to terms with the fact I truly wasn’t dead.
“Yumi.” The little girl’s name rushed out with delight. Partly because I was quickly realizing I truly was safe and not dreaming, mostly because it meant my new friend had been looked after since our escape.
She looked better. A thousand times better. She was even smiling a little and everything about her screamed clean, fed and well rested. Her long black hair had been cut to her shoulders, her clothes were clean and new, and she had a flush in her cheeks too.
“Sapphire-san.” She bowed a little, then stopped, before she blushed red and straightened herself up, wiping away imaginarycreases in her flowy white summer dress. “Sorry – habit. Americans do not bow.”
Delilah ruffled the little girl’s dark hair with a savage grin. “You can bow at me any day, Yum Yum. It’s adorable.”
Yumi scowled and swatted away Delilah’s hand, her hazel eyes flaring. “I dislike this name.”
“But you’re as sweet as one – it fits you.” Delilah kept grinning at the younger girl and for a moment I almost wanted to laugh, but seeing as Yumi was mad, I did my best to stay straight faced.
Yumi scowled harder. “I have killed before. Do you wish for me to kill again?”
I wondered if she had killed more than the one gangster I’d watched her end before deciding I didn’t care. If my new little friend had slaughtered a few dozen people, then good for her. She fucking deserved it.
The pair descended into bickering for a moment as I turned my attention to the final person in the room; the only one I didn’t know. He was a man, a thing I already disliked. But he didn’t look as dangerous as some men I knew. He was tall and strong, but in a slender way; more like Kody than Price. His hair was golden blonde, his eyes a deep chocolate brown, and his skin held the same pale hue Beauhad. The one that spoke of too much snow and harshness embedded in their DNA. He was also covered in tattoos; even his hands, neck, and a few on the side of his face. It was a fun choice, considering he didn’t look much different in age to me.
I liked the idea of scaring him as much he no doubt normally scared other people in the world.
I glared at him, and he took that as an invitation to speak as he leaned forward a little, in the uncomfortable-looking hospital chair he sat in.
