Page 79 of Jasper

Soulless.

Could he become soulless? For Sloane, he damn well could.

“I’m in.”

“We’re all in,” Viktor said and Kade nodded.

“I’m not going to ask nicely,” Conner warned. “I’m going to make a point, a point they won’t ever forget.”

“Didn’t think it was going to be clean,” Viktor said, sitting down. “What do we need?”

“I have the tools for the job covered, but some surveillance would be useful. If I give you an address, can you get me intel?”

“I can.” Max stood. “The rest of the team is at the office dealing with the police. I’ll text them to start pulling video, and I can get the blueprints if we need them.”

“We will. The more information we have, the better. We’ll move out as soon as we know Sloane is out of surgery.”

“And Lydia,” Kade said.

“Who?”

“Receptionist. She got hit by a bullet too.”

“Why the hell don’t you have fucking bulletproof glass?”

“We were supposed to have it installed by now, but the shipment we got was defective. The brand I wanted is hard to come by, and I’m still waiting for a replacement. You can bet your ass I’m going to be having a talk with their customer service. I paid for shit already, and it should have been here long before now.”

Conner grunted and took a seat.

Jasper tuned them out after that.

He sank down in the chair and pulled his baseball hat low over his face. He needed to know Sloane was okay.

What if she blamed him?

The anger surged and tried to strangle him because of the guilt tearing away at him. He’d been right there. He should have seen her sit up. He should have…

No. She’d be pissed at him for doing this.

Mateo was right. He’d done what he needed to do. He’d made sure she was down, that she was safe. He’d asked her if she was good. He’d done what he needed to do so he could assess the threat and react accordingly.

His guilt wouldn’t get the best of him this time. Sloane deserved better than that. She deserved a man of action, not one who sat and berated himself for the what-ifs.

She’d get it too.

They all sat there for hours, people coming and going. He drank coffee and ignored everyone. At one point, Angel sat with him, but he ignored her too. He just wanted to see his pretty girl.

Sara took all the kids home with her, except for Mateo. Kade never let that kid out of his sight, and being injured, he was like a bear with a stick shoved up its ass. Mason and Josephine went with her to help watch the brood. Jo was fine, if a little shaken. Thank God for that. He liked that girl. She gave Mason hell.

When the surgeon stepped out and called her name, Jasper blinked. It took him a moment to get up. They gathered around him as he waited for the news.

“She’s holding her own. We removed all the bullets, but there was a lot of damage. We managed to repair her spleen and her kidney, but the biggest risk is infection. We’ll need to monitor her closely for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Can I see her?”

“Are you family?”

“She’s my fiancée.” She’d kill him later, but he’d tell whatever lies were necessary to get access.