Page 8 of Retribution

‘He has the Chief of Police in his pocket even more than my father does. He can make sure the gas leak story is theonlystory. Maybe it’ll get that detective off our backs for now, too.’

He opens Daisy’s door, and we walk into her room with a hard look at one of the nurses who’s been stopping us from seeing her for the past few hours. He doesn’t bat an eye at us now. Guess he was listening in on Novelle and Redel’s conversation.

I take in a quick breath when I see her. She’s in the middle of the bed, machines beeping, lines coming out of her.

Her head is bandaged. Her closed eyes are bruised. Her face looks almost as white as the sheets.

‘Daisy,’ I whisper, going to her and taking one of her cold hands in mine.

Shade drags a seat over to the bed and sits down on her other side.

I belatedly see that he’s holding a shopping bag and give him a questioning look. His jaw tenses.

‘She kept trying to give it to me when I found her in the tunnel. She was confused. She said she couldn’t hear me. I guess from the explosion. I took it because it seemed important to her.’

He lets out a long sigh and opens the bag for me to see.

‘Envy? She brought it all with her?’

Shade closes his eyes. ‘She barely got out, Mav. Look at her.’

He brushes his fingers against her cheek gently. ‘She wasted precious seconds saving it and she almost got buried in that fucking cellar. Because of these fucking pills. Because of me.’

I snort. I can’t help it, and his eyes snap to mine.

‘Your fault? Our fault? Her fault? Naw, bro. It was whoever did this. It’stheirfault. And we’re going to find the son of a bitch and end him.’

Shade goes quiet.

‘I’m going to check on Blake,’ I say. ‘Let him know we’ve seen her.’

I give Daisy a gentle kiss on her bandaged forehead.

‘I’ll be back in a little while, Tulip,’ I murmur. ‘I love you. Come back to us, okay?’

I turn away quickly to hide my glassy eyes, but Shade isn’t even looking my way. He’s just staring at Daisy, both his hands encasing one of hers like he’s praying. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was.

‘She’s going to be okay, right?’ he whispers.

I nod. ‘She’s strong. She’ll pull through.’

I turn away so he doesn’t see my uncertainty. My fear.

‘Helluva Christmas,’ I hear him mutter.

I leave the room and go up the hallway to find Blake.

He’s in a room almost exactly the same as Daisy’s. His eyes are closed. When he hears me come in, he opens them and pulls off the oxygen mask that’s over his nose and mouth.

‘How is she?’

I don’t sugarcoat it. He wouldn’t thank me for that.

‘Head injury. They’ve put her in a medical coma because her brain is swelling. We don’t know any more than that right now. But she’s alive.’

‘Fuck,’ he whispers, closing his eyes again. ‘I should have been there. I should have tried harder to get to her.’

‘You would have died,’ I say quietly. ‘The first floor caved into the cellar. She got out on her own, Blake. She’s capable and strong.’ I huff. ‘She even saved the fucking pills.’