Page 27 of Caught in the Crossfire

My palm pressed against my stomach as I tried to sit up, but all it resulted in was a weak thrash before I settled back in the strange bed. A hospital room came into focus around me, with monitors, cabinets, a sink, a hand sanitizer station, and pale walls painted to give the impression of calm—but it wasn’t Willow’s clinic in Philadelphia, and it wasn’t my room at the penthouse. Where the hell was I?

She sighed and finally faced me again, face hanging in sorrow. Immediately, my eyes clenched closed.No, no, no.

“Please don’t. Don’t tell me she’s gone.”

She sat back down beside me and took my hand. Her bottomlip quivered like it did whenever she was trying to protect me from something. She’d done it all our lives. “They will find her.”

“How long?”

“It’s been a little over two days. You’ve been recovering after surgery and fighting for your life.” She squeezed my fingers, and her voice dropped low. “It’s not your fault, Wynn. Ciel told me how you and Leona left the penthouse together that morning. It isnotyour fault.”

I tried to pull from her grasp, but I was too weak. Instead, I shook my head. It was my fault. It was my job to keep her safe, and I let her get taken. I never should have let her leave the penthouse. I should have been strong enough or smart enough to get us out of there.

“Do they know who took her? Was it Max?” I asked, fearing the worst. I struggled to sit up again. I had to go after her. I should be with my brothers, searching for the love of our lives.

Willow pressed a gentle hand to my shoulder to keep me down on the bed, and my gut twisted with shame that I wasn’t even strong enough to fight her.

“Take a breath, Wynn.” She leaned over the bed. “With me.”

I inhaled and exhaled slowly to her count. My heart rate slowed slightly, but my brain still raced. I looked around the room for my clothes or shoes. “Where are we? How soon can I move? I need to help.”

She sat down, twisting her hair around her finger and then pushing it behind her shoulders. “I will tell you what I know, but it will upset you. Are you ready for that?”

Dread curdled in my stomach, but I nodded. I needed the truth.

She closed her eyes, then steeled herself. “Albanians.”

It took less than a second for it to sink in.

Albanians.

Traffickers.

The machines started beeping again. My entire body tightened with terror. My heart spasmed inside my chest. “No.”

She was going to live through the same horrors I had.

They would hurt her, scar her, traumatize her because ofme.

“They know where she is, and they’re going after her. They will find her, Wynn.”

I shook my head and finally forced myself to sit up, gritting my teeth against the unbearable pain. I couldn’t let her experience that. I couldn’t let them break her the way it broke me. Willow and I were never the same. My soul was stained and rotten because of what I had to do in that place.

How could I have let them take her? How could I have failed her so spectacularly?

And what could I ever do to make up for it?

“You’ll tear your stitches,” Willow said, voice stern. Her doctor voice. “No, I won’t let you hurt yourself. You have to heal.”

“Willow,” I whispered. A tear fell down my cheek. “Willow, we have to get her out of there.”

“I know,” she responded, voice soft. “They will. All you need to do is rest and get strong. When you’re strong, I’ll take you home.”

“Take me home now, Willow,” I pleaded. “Fix me. I can’t sit here while they’re out there. Please. I can heal at home. I have to be there?—”

She raised a hand. “Okay.”

I swallowed. “Okay?”