Twice.
“Jamie,” Bucky said, his voice hollow. “He’s dead.”
Jamie stood motionless, his hands rising to the crown of his head, elbows flared as he stared down at the body.
Blood covered his grazed knuckles and spattered his t-shirt, the breath heaving from his lungs like he’d just sprinted through hell.
“I killed him,” he murmured, disbelief crashing over him.
Shannon leant into the wall at the top of the steps, her body shaking, her vision feathered at the edges as the sky broke open.
Chopper blades cut through the silence and men with earpieces materialised out of the shadows.
Jamie’s security team swarmed the yard as he climbed the steps two at a time to reach her.
“I’m sorry, Shannon,” he said, taking her shaky hands. His voice drifted into the surrounding noise, lost beneath the shouts and orders barking through radios.
She blinked hard, trying to focus, trying to hold on. But the black spots creeping across her vision multiplied, blooming like ink in water.
Her knees buckled. The world tilted.
The last thing she registered was the distant echo of her name, then the ground rushed up to meet her, and everything went black.
47
Shannon
“Hey, Shannon.”
She looked up, blinking against the harsh hospital light. A stunning blonde approached with elegant grace, a woman who turned heads without trying.
Shannon frowned. “Hey?”
“I’m Lana.” The woman set a designer duffle bag on the floor and smiled. “Marcus’s fiancée. I’ve come to take you home with me. Marcus is sorting things out with Jamie.”
At the sound of his name, something cracked open in her chest. A weeping ache she’d been keeping in check splintered wide.
“Is he okay?” Shannon asked, sliding her legs off the bed. “Where is he?”
The nurse she’d been talking to before Lana arrived gave her a subtle nod. “Your friend seems like she’ll be a good listener.”
Shannon nodded, a ghost of a smile brushing her lips. “Yeah, okay, I’ll see you in a few weeks. Thanks for your help.”
When the nurse left, Lana moved further into the room. “Shannon, why are you coming back to the hospital?”
She wore sleek knee-high leather boots, fitted black jeans, and a camel-coloured wool coat that looked softer than cashmere. A woman worthy of the McGrath men.
“Where is he?” Shannon repeated, ignoring the question. “I need to see him.”
No one had told her anything. The female guard who’d stood outside her room gave nothing away, only telling her the brothers had deployed a full team of security to stay with her.
Lana didn’t push for an answer. Instead, she tucked her hand into the crook of Shannon’s elbow and tugged her close, hugging her as if they’d known each other for years.
“He’s with Marcus…and the police,” Lana said, lowering her voice. “Jamie wants me to take you to my place in Fermanagh. He doesn’t want you to be alone.”
Shannon’s heart thumped.
“They’re charging him with murder, aren’t they?” Her voice cracked around the edges, brittle and dry.
