Page 15

Stone

I rushed out of the apartment and straight to Julia’s desk. “I need the doctor here, now. Is Vanetti in his office?”

Her eyes widened, but she kept her cool demeanor. “Yes.”

While she picked up the phone, I hurried into his office, finding Vanetti sitting behind his desk. “We have a problem. Someone just tried to kill me. They shot through the window in my apartment. It must have come from the building across the street. I need to get over there now and check it out, but Serenity’s hurt.”

“How bad?”

“Not bad. It’s a head wound. I think from flying glass. She just needs a few stitches. I already told Julia to call the doctor. I had to leave my phone.”

“Is the apartment safe?”

“The kitchen is. ”

He nodded. “Good. Go back to Serenity. I’ll send Ricky over there with a team.”

“But I need to go.”

“No. It’s too risky. He’s downstairs. He can get there faster than you anyway.”

I huffed out a breath. He was probably right, and I’d left Serenity alone and bleeding. “Fine. But he needs to catch that son-of-a-bitch.”

Vanetti picked up his phone. “Go. I’ll come to the apartment as soon as I’m done talking to Ricky.”

I hurried out the door, slowing at Julia’s desk. “Did you get the doc?”

“Yes. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

“Thanks.” I rushed back down the hall and through the door to the apartment. I stopped short to find Serenity lying on the floor with her eyes closed.” My heart stuttered as a memory of a dead soldier crossed my mind. Dammit.

I rushed to her side, worry tightening my chest. “Serenity?” Was she hurt worse than I thought? No, she couldn’t be; she was still holding the cloth to her head.

She blinked her eyes open. “You’re back already? Did you catch him?”

“No… I didn’t go over there. Why are you on the floor? Are you hurt somewhere else?” She’d said she wasn’t, or I wouldn’t have left.

She shook her head and winced. “No. The sight of blood… especially mine… always makes me feel faint, so I had to lie down. I’m feeling a little better now. Can you help me up?”

“Maybe you should stay there.”

“No… I’m okay now. Besides, the floor’s hard, and the whistling is starting to get on my nerves.”

“Right.” I resisted the temptation to glance around the corner into the living room. I didn’t want to risk getting shot if the bastard was still waiting for me. That was too close. How had the shooter known I would be standing right there at precisely that moment? It made my skin crawl.

What about Serenity? The glass in the painting had shattered, sure…but what if the bullet had actually hit her? I swallowed. If so, she’d nearly died saving me.

“Stone? What’s wrong? You look a little pale.”

I shook my head. “Nothing. I just realized how close that was.” I met her gaze. “How did you know?”

She held out a hand, and I helped her back into her chair. “Oh that. You still have some chips left.”

“What?” I raised my eyebrows.

“I was clearing the table, and you hadn’t eaten all your chips, so I was bringing them to you.” She swallowed. “When I came around the corner, I saw a vision of you getting shot, just like before, only this time there was more to it. When the vision cleared… you were standing in the same spot.” Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t sure I’d make it in time.”

My breath came out in a whoosh. “Shit. I’m sure glad you did. But… you got hurt instead.”

“I’m fine… barely a scratch, right?” Her brows dipped. “I heard the glass shatter, so a piece of it must have hit me.”

“Yeah… looks that way.” I wasn’t about to tell her otherwise. From what I’d seen of the wound, it wasn’t that deep, but I was grateful that Dix, our doc on call, was on his way and could patch her up.

From my position in the kitchen, I could barely make out the hole in the wall where the bullet— bullets — had ended up, so at least they weren’t in her… thank God. Serenity let out a breath, and I noticed she’d slumped a little in her chair. “Do you need to lie down? I don’t want you to faint. ”

“I’m fine. My arm’s just getting tired from holding this cloth.”

“Here. I’ve got it.” I gently placed my hand over the cloth, and she let go. The cloth was pretty bloody, so I applied more pressure.

“Ow.” She tried to pull away.

“You need pressure to stop the bleeding. Were you just holding it there?”

“No. I put pressure on it.” She scowled. “Just not that much because it hurts.”

“Sorry.” I grimaced. “There’s just a lot of blood.”

“It’s fine.” She sighed. “I guess this means I have to go to the ER. I really hate hospitals, you know?”

“Actually… we have a doctor on call. He should be here any minute.”

“Wow… that’s… uh… really great. I guess it pays to be a…” She closed her eyes. “A… businessman .”

I chuckled. “That’s for sure.”

A knock sounded at the door, and Vanetti pushed it open. He gave me a nod before focusing on Serenity. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.”

“Good.” He motioned to the man who had followed him inside. “I brought Dr. Pettey with me. Dr. Pettey, this is Serenity.”

“Nice to meet you, Serenity. Call me Dix. Let’s take a look at this cut on your head.” He got right down to business, moving my hand away from the cloth. That was one of the things I liked about Dix, he was no nonsense.

“Okay. It doesn’t hurt too bad right now, but it’s still bleeding.”

“Head wounds bleed a lot.” He peeled the cloth back to get a look .

Vanetti came to my side and motioned me toward the hall where we could get a look at the living room wall without being in the line of fire. The guy was probably long gone by now, but assuming things were safe got a lot people killed.

Vanetti motioned toward the building across the way. “Ricky’s over there. He should be calling any minute, but I’m sure the shooter’s long gone.”

“Probably.” I gazed at the holes in the wall.

My phone still lay on the floor, but I could probably reach it with a broom. Grabbing one from the kitchen closet, I managed to retrieve it and found that I’d missed several calls, all from Aubree. She was probably wondering what had happened since I was talking to her at the time of the shooting. I’d have to call her back once things settled down.

The whistling sound coming from the bullet holes in the window was definitely annoying. I could patch the window with duct tape, but not if it was evidence for the police. Slipping my phone in my pocket, I turned to Vanetti. “You thinking of calling the police?”

“Not sure. I mean… if we want some answers, they could run prints on the bullets.”

I huffed out a breath. “Yeah… but I doubt there’d be any. Besides, Dino called me earlier and warned me off. He knows I was there when the trailer exploded, and I had to tell him about Serenity warning the gang about the raid. Their inside man identified me, so I’m on their radar now.”

Vanetti sighed. “Okay. We’ll keep it quiet, but I’d feel better if you let Dino know what happened here. It might help us catch the guy.”

“Yeah. I’ll tell him about it.”

“Good.” Vanetti shook his head at the painting on the floor. “Damn. I really liked that one.” His phone rang, and he quickly answered. “Yeah?” He listened for a few seconds. “That’s what we thought. Stay there. I’m sure Stone will want to take a look, and I don’t want anyone messing with the scene.”

Slipping his phone into his pocket, he nodded at me. “Looks like our guy left in a hurry and forgot to clean up. Ricky found the shells and the broken window. This might be what we need, especially if Serenity can get a reading on who the bastard is.”

Nodding, I glanced into the kitchen. Dix and Serenity had moved closer to the sink. With his medical bag on the counter, it looked like he was just about finished stitching up her wound, and I sighed with relief.

Stepping closer, I caught the last of Dix’s instructions to Serenity. “You need to take it easy for the rest of the day. Getting shot in the head can be traumatic, even if it didn’t do any major damage. You can shower in the morning, but try not to get it wet before then. Why don’t you come into my office in a week, and I’ll take the stitches out. And don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions. Here’s my card.”

Serenity took his card, but could barely nod. Her eyed had glazed over right after he told her she’d been shot in the head. It kind of shocked me, too.

Vanetti stepped beside him. “Thanks, Dix. I’ll see you out.” He ushered Dix out the door, leaving me and Serenity alone.

Serenity glanced my way, her eyes still wide with shock. “Did he just say that I got shot in the head? With a bullet?”

Her face had drained of color, and I hurried to her side, grabbing her arms to steady her. “Are you going to faint now?”

She stiffened, and fire lit her eyes. “Of course not. ”

“Good, because we need to take a look at the building across the street. Ricky’s waiting for us at the window the shooter used to take his shot. You might pick up something. Do you think you can manage a trip over there?”

“Oh… sure. That’s a good idea.”

I knew that made me look like a big asshole, so I quickly continued. “Once we do that, we can take the rest of the day off. Okay? I know you need to rest… but this might be the clue we’re looking for.”

She closed her eyes. “You’re right. Of course we need to check it out.”

“Good. We can go whenever you’re ready.”

She shrugged. “We might as well go now. My head’s numb, so I can’t even feel the wound, although I do have a slight headache.”

“I’ve got something for that.” I opened the cupboard above the sink and got out the pain reliever. I gave her a couple of pills, and grabbed a glass of water for her.

“Thanks.” She swallowed the pills and finished off the water before examining her hands. Bloodstains covered them. “I think I need to clean up first.”

“Oh yeah.” I glanced at my own hands, finding blood on them, too. “I guess Ricky can wait a few more minutes.”

She glanced at me with raised brows.

“Come on… I’ll help you walk to the bathroom.”

“What?” She waved me off. “I’m fine… really.” To prove her point, she stood and carefully picked her way across the kitchen. I followed behind, making sure she didn’t faint. Making it to the bathroom, she stepped inside and closed the door in my face.

Letting out a breath, I hurried into my bathroom, and washed her blood off my hands. As the red-tinged water ran down the drain, I tried not to think too hard about the close call, but the fact that she’d almost died saving me made something in my chest ache.

How had I been so blind to the fact that being stuck with me could get her killed? I wasn’t sure I was worth her life. In fact, I knew I wasn’t. She was kind-hearted and wholesome, with a bright future ahead of her… nothing like me. She deserved better than a hitman for the mob.

So why did she risk her life to push me out of the way? According to the contract, she still would have been paid if I’d died. Did that mean she cared about me? The ice around my heart cracked a little, sending a small drop of hope into my blood.

Did I want her to care? I wasn’t worthy of her, and I was pretty sure she knew that, but she’d saved me anyway. I sighed. I only knew one thing for certain… I’d have to make sure nothing ever hurt her again, because, if it did, I’d never forgive myself.