Page 49 of Stand: Part One

“You’re goddamn right if you want this contract to sta?—”

I stopped to turn and glare at him, my gaze hard enough for him to step back and shut his mouth.

“I’ll be in touch,” I said and moved back to the exit.

Daniel was rushed into the far back of the SUV as they worked to stop the bleeding while I quickly moved into the seat in front of them. Another soldier got behind the wheel while Scott climbed into the front passenger seat.

“Drive!” I ordered, not even waiting for the car doors to close.

The car sped off back to the estate, and all I could do was fucking fume over the fact that if my brother died, I would kill Matt all over again.

“Sid is prepping now,” Scott said as he turned around from the passenger seat.

“Good,” I replied, some relief finally sinking in.

His eyes then shot to my torso.

“You catch one too?” he asked, nodding at me.

Looking down, I noticed the left side of my shirt was soaked with blood. Lifting it up, I found one hell of a bloody graze had ripped right through my skin. Seeing it now brought back the searing fucking sting of being shot.

“Ah, just a paper cut,” Scott commented and turned back around.

Rolling my eyes, I lowered my shirt and tried to relax in my seat. Daniel would be fine. He was tough, and Sid was good at his job. There was no reason for me to panic now that we were on our way back.

Even with my ears still ringing, and my head pounding, all I wanted to do was collapse in bed with Jaden in my arms. Blood and grime be damned.

It was after one in the morning, so she would be fast asleep, which was probably for the best. It would give me enough time to clean and sew myself back up before Jaden could annoy me with questions she had no business asking but would do so anyway. I could just avoid her entirely if I wanted to. Keeping her bedridden certainly had its advantages.

Scott pulled out his ringing phone and brought it to his ear, listening intently for a few seconds.

“You’re sure?” he asked as he turned back to look at me.

“What the fuck now?” I growled.

“They haven’t found Matt’s body yet.”

Oh, come the fuck on.

I groaned internally and pinched the bridge of my nose to relieve some of the tension pulsing in my head.

“Have them check the security footage. Find out where he went. The fucker is bleeding out of his gut. He couldn’t have gotten far.”

Scott nodded, turning back around to relay my orders while I rubbed the stress from my eyes. Hopefully, Matt crawled out into an alley and died by a dumpster or something. That would be befitting for him.

When we were finally back at the house, I helped escort Daniel down to the infirmary and allowed Sid to take over. When I knew my brother was in the clear an hour later, I stepped back out into the hall and headed upstairs for my bedroom. I really needed to get out of these clothes before the blood dried.

Opening my bedroom door, I stopped short, surprised to see my wife sitting up in bed, wide-awake with her tablet in her hands and the bedside lamp on. Her narrowed eyes immediately shot to me, her body stiffening as she completed her assessment of my sudden appearance.

Goddammit.

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” I nearly growled, closing the door behind me.

She stared back at me for a second and then cocked a brow. “I’m supposed to do a lot of things,” she replied casually. “But we both know I’m not very good at it.”

I leveled her with a hard glare. “It’s nearly three o’clock in the fucking morning, Jaden. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

My ass was fucking exhausted, but I’d also just been in a serious gunfight not more than a few hours earlier, unlike her. Even still, her body needed rest, and by the looks of it, that clearly wasn’t happening.