Page 60 of Secret Revenge

“We need to get this patched up,” the paramedic said, shining a thin flashlight through my hair. “It’s stopped bleeding, but you’ll need a few stitches and a CT scan just to be sure…

The paramedic's voice became a distant murmur as my thoughts drifted to a singular desire – to find solace in the deepest sleep, with hopes of waking next to Emily, safe and healed.

29

EMILY

Beep…beep…beep…

It took me a moment to recognize the sound of a heart monitor as I slowly returned from sleep to the sound of a heart monitor. I blinked, then squinted as bright light stung my eyes.

Where am I…?

It took me several seconds to adjust to the light in the room, and for my eyes to focus properly on the ceiling tiles above my bed. I was in a hospital room.

“Hey, welcome back.” I turned my head slowly and saw Travis sitting in a chair beside my bed. A smile dawned on his face when his eyes met mine. “How do you feel?”

The concern in his voice made my heart ache. I opened my mouth to reply, but found that my mouth was as dry as old leather. “Water,” I managed to say.

Travis reached out and poured a glass from a jug beside the bed. “Here you go,” he said as he put the cup between my clumsy fingers and helped me sit up straighter.

I drank slowly, feeling the water slide down my throat. My memory was fuzzy and I was confused. I didn’t quite rememberhow I’d gotten here, but for some reason I wasn’t shocked to find Travis Ross beside me. I had a feeling I could remember what had happened to me, but the more I grasped after it, the more the memory eluded me. My mind felt like a child chasing a butterfly that bobbed through the air.

“What happened?” I whispered to Travis.

“You don’t remember?”

“Not enough.”

“We were kidnapped by Bryce Blackwell, you saved me and we got away, thanks to you. Do you remember that much?”

Now that he reminded me, I did. I remembered the escape from captivity and the car chase in the middle of the night. The memory brought back intense feelings and I took a deep, painful breath to steady my mind against the flashbacks. I nodded slowly. “Yeah,” I rasped. “I thought we were dead for sure when the car crashed.”

“Same here,” Travis murmured. “I was terrified for you. We have your friend, Michael, to thank, for our lives. He got your message and went to my brothers for help. He was able to give them our location, and he called the police as well. They arrived just before Kurt could finish the job. It was that close.”

“And Blackwell?” I asked expectantly, although I knew what the answer would be. “Did they catch him?”

Jackson Ross, Travis’s brother, poked his head into the hospital room door. I hadn’t been able to see them so up close before, and I’d been too distracted by Travis anyway.

He was just as handsome as the tabloids made him out to be. It was like another Travis, except in a different flavor… A military flavor? He looked like he could break a man’s ribs just by bumping into him. I shook my head when his broad chest came into view.Can a bullet even pierce through that?

I was still thinking this when yet another flavor of Travis stepped in. A grumpy, glasses-wearing version holding a tablet.This must be Brendan.

How are all the Ross boys so attractive?

I turned back to Travis only to see that his expression was bad. “What? They didn’t catch him?”

Travis looked frustrated. “Unfortunately not. By the time the police got there, Bryce Blackwell had miraculously escaped. He and his son both.”

I gritted my teeth, remembering what they had planned to do to Travis.

“All the cops found were a bunch of thugs,” Jackson agreed bitterly, “who had probably been ordered to stay back to destroy evidence. They ‘confessed’ — he made air quotes with his middle and index fingers— “that they had only kidnapped Travis for a ransom, and that no one else was involved.”

Travis cracked a grim smile. “You, it turns out, were taken erroneously because you were with me. The police had no choice but to arrest the men who had already admitted to the crime. “

He sighed. “Sadly, there’s nothing tying Bryce Blackwell to the crime or the scene. We’ve been trying to get the men to flip on Blackwell, but their mouths are shut pretty tight. They’re willing to go to prison for Blackwell. Maybe they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t.”

I remembered Jonathan threatening my family and shuddered.