Page 112 of Ruthless

“I have to…for a little while.” She swallowed again, that damnable throat lump even bigger than before. “You’ll let him know I’ll be back as soon as possible?”

“Of course we will.” Serena assured her, but Eve saw the confusion in her face. Why would the woman who loved Gideon more than life leave him like this?

Little did her friend know that it might not be just for a few hours. Eve might end up having to leave Gideon behind forever.

* * *

Awareness came slowly. Gideon heard vague murmurs and sounds, alerting him that people were close by, but since his eyes didn’t want to cooperate by opening, he lay still and worked to figure out what was going on.

He remembered gunfire. He remembered pain. More gunfire. Explosions. A soft kiss. A husky, feminine voice telling him she loved him. And then—

His eyes popped open as he whispered, “Eve.”

“There he is.”

He recognized Liam’s voice, but it wasn’t the voice he desperately needed to hear. He searched the area wildly for Eve. He saw Serena and Liam, but no Eve. Horror struck him hard.

She hadn’t made it. He’d lost her.

He struggled to sit up, his heart rate speeding up. Rapid beeping from machines filled the room.

“Whoa, buddy.” Liam pressed him back down onto the bed. “Eve is fine. She had to go see her father for a quick visit. She’ll be back soon.”

“But she’s okay? You’re sure?”

“She is perfectly healthy. I promise.”

Releasing a relieved breath, he willed himself to calm down. He knew he’d been out of it much of the time they’d been under attack and that Eve had had to fight on her own and protect him, too. So not seeing her at his bedside had sent a fierce panic through him.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Your friends will do just that,” a nurse with a kindly smile said as she moved from behind Liam. “But first, I want you to sit up and have a sip of water.”

Gideon nodded his agreement. Sitting up and getting rid of the dryness in this throat would go a long way in making him feel more human and hopefully more coherent.

While the nurse raised the bed and then gave Gideon a sip of cool, refreshing water, Liam and Serena talked quietly to each other. Serena was nodding and typing rapidly on her phone.

Thanking the nurse for her help, Gideon said, “Okay, you two. What’s going on?”

Serena glanced up. “Eve asked me to text her the moment you woke. She’s just now arriving at the castle.”

“Where’re Ash and the rest of the team?”

“They’re on their way back here. They went back to the building for cleanup.”

“I only have vague memories of lots of gunfire and explosions. What happened?”

Liam explained about the battle and the transfer of Bennett and Alexandre to their new abodes.

“I know Eve got some intel. Did Ash get anything more?”

“Not really. He agreed to allow the king’s investigators to question Eve’s brother. And Bennett’s having surgery to repair his damaged nose.”

Gideon’s gruff bark of laughter hurt like hell, but he couldn’t hold it back. The man had gotten his just deserts in more ways than one.

“Were we able to identify any of the dead? Link them to any terror cells or organized-crime families?”

“Not yet,” Serena said. “The ones I’ve been able to identify came out of Albania and Croatia. Lone-wolf mercenaries without any real ties to anyone.”