Page 97 of Savage Empire

“An eight-year-old girl’s father came looking for her. He was a family annihilator. He killed his wife and their son a month ago, but ran from police before he could be caught. He heard his daughter was sent to live at the orphanage and he came to finish the job. Yordan was helping her tie her shoes when he showed up.”

“Yordan shielded her with his body,” Ana says, tears falling faster. “Cassio got to them so fast, he tackled the guy and shot him but not before…” She swallows, lips wobbling. “We never expected him to be able to find her. We were so careful. She wasn’t posted anywhere online, we took every precaution.”

A random man did this?

Not an enemy?

I don’t know whether to be relieved that this act of violence wasn’t meant for Yordan, or remain sick with guilt that it happened at all.

“Where was he hit?” I ask again.

“Kidney,” Leon says, finally speaking up. His voice is weak with rasp, and his eyes haven’t moved from the wall. “On the left side, the bullet didn’t go all the way through. Went in through his back, no exit wound in the front.”

“But the doctors already removed it,” Cassio adds reassuringly. “It’s not still in him.”

“He’s still bleeding,” I gather, breathing hard.

“They’re working on stopping it. The kidney is a delicate area, you know this, Apollo. But he’s going to be fine. Leon kept him talking the whole way here.”

By the look of him, Leon did more than keep him talking in the car. He kept the bleeding under control, holding Yordan together with his bare hands. Gratitude hits me like a punch to the gut, and my brother and I share a knowing look. No words need to be exchanged. I would have done the same for him, or his sons.

“Where’s Leo?” I ask, suddenly concerned.

“Armani and Colton have him,” Ana says softly. “They came to be supportive of me. God, this is all my fault. Why does everything I try to do end so badly?”

“Don’t say that,” Cassio reprimands, pulling her close. “We’ve talked about this, love. You have to stop blaming yourself for the actions of grown men.”

I breathe out slowly, watching the intimate moment between them. Of course I don’t blame Ana. How would she have known that a fundraising event for such a good cause could take such an ugly turn?

How could I blame her for assuming it would be safe when I did the very same thing?

The sound of pounding, rapid footsteps pulls my attention away. Looking down the hall, my stomach sinks. Rayna’s face is wet and splotchy with tears, her hair a wild and wispy tumble of black and blonde waves as she sprints down the hallway. Elio trails right behind her, face stormy and guarded. They must have driven just as dangerously as I did, arriving so quickly.

I tense as Rayna approaches, expecting for her to try and slap me again. This time, I would let her.

But the hit never comes.

Rayna

Heart beating so wildly that I feel it in my throat, my hands reach out, wrapping around Apollo’s wrists.

“Tell me he’s okay,” I beg, voice broken.

I haven’t been able to breathe properly since Elio came to get me. He called me, minutes away from the apartment and told me to get downstairs for him to pick me up. Yordan was in the hospital, and he refused to tell me what happened until I saw him face to face.

Once I heard that my brother was shot, taking a bullet to protect a little girl, I understood why he withheld the information. Elio didn’t want to risk me fainting in a locked apartment, unable to get to me. I didn’t pass out in the car, but I felt like my soul left my body all the same.

“The last we heard, he was being stitched up and given more blood,” Apollo says, looking down at me with cloudy blue eyes. Gone is the overly cocky and stern demeanor he’s never seen without. He doesn’t look like a king lording over an endless kingdom any longer. He looksworried.

“I can’t believe this happened,” I croak, hands squeezing his forearms harder. “He was supposed to be safe.”

Apollo hangs his head, the height difference between us still allowing eye contact. “I should have been there.”

My heart stutters in my chest.Does he blame himself?

I swallow hard, shaking my head slightly. “Even if you were there, you wouldn’t have been attached to his side. You couldn’t have stopped it.”

The doubtful look in his eyes tells me that he doesn’t believe that for a second. He thinks that if he were there, he could have prevented this. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Apollo, it’s that with all of his cocky bravado, he carries the unrelenting burden of responsibility. He feels responsible for everyone and everything he cares about, no matter how unrealistic it is.