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Doubt was starting to creep into her mind the further she flew away from Dominic. He was going to be so angry and worried.

You shouldn’t have left.

Shut up.

Great, now I’m talking to myself.

She had a feeling that bitter regret was going to be her constant companion while she was home. When they got to the hospital, she’d been terrified at having to see Dom struggle with his desire to make her leave and his overwhelming sense of duty to protect her. Even at the risk of everyone he held dear.

Half way through her nine-hour flight, she finally realized Dom wouldn’t have sent her packing, not when her life was officially at risk. They hadn’t known that their outing today would turn into such the catastrophe it had. But knowing it now didn’t make things any easier because the actual who, how, or why behind the incident still wasn’t clear. The why, though, was eating at her. Dom would have figured it all out, too, if only she trusted him enough to let him do his job.

“You’re so stupid, Deidre,” she groused to herself.

It was too late now, however. She had to face the situation she’d put herself in.

Two fears niggled at her going home…

Was her mam really trying to kill her?

Would Dominic forgive her?

Questions she would never get answers to because she didn’t think she’d last too long by herself.

*****

“Motherfucker!” To say Dom was shocked at the news Larry had just given him would be an understatement. He was furious. Not only did he have more bad news to deliver to Deidre, now he had to figure out exactly what the fuck was going on.

A knock on the door pulled him from his silent cursing. Turning, he was relieved to see Angela standing there, tears in her eyes but strong as the Berlin Wall once was.

“He’s still sleeping,” she told him. Making Dominic wonder how long he’d been in there.

“When did you get here?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Fuck!” He couldn’t believe he’d lost track of time so completely. Rushing out, he went to the nurses’ station asking, “Is Casey out yet?”

She clicked away on the computer before finally looking at him. “They just brought him to recovery.”

“Thank God. When can I see him? Is my girlfriend still up there?” He felt frantic at having lost nearly an hour processing the new information. Now he needed to see everyone at once.

“You can go see your friend in about twenty minutes, once they’ve got him settled in. But there’s no one up there with them.”

“She must be with my son then.” Now he was confused.

“I’ve been with Jaxson since I got here, and Miss Dee hasn’t been in there,” Angela informed him as she walked up behind him.

“What? Well, where the fuck is she?” Panic was engul

fing him again. He’d left her alone; he shouldn’t have done that. He knew she was in danger, but the hospital was crawling with cops and other officials, so he figured she was safe as could be there. Apparently, he was wrong.

“I need you to get security down here right away and call the sheriff. Someone tried to kill her today. She didn’t just walk out of here.”

He hoped...

*****

An hour later, and he had less answers than before he watched security footage. He observed as Deidre was bustled around, told where to go and to stay out of the way, and a hundred other things. She looked more lost then than the day he’d found her again. She’d been covered in Case’s blood, cuts and bruising on her face showed she probably needed medical attention too, but everyone—including himself—had been more absorbed in what happened with Case and Jax than her. She silently held in her pain, yet it was written across her face in every stiff move she made.