Page 99 of The One Night Match

I reposition her head, making sure her airway is clear. “Breathe for me, Riley,” I plead. “Please don’t leave me.”

A few more compressions pass, and I’m getting ready to beg her some more when water starts pouring from her mouth, and I quickly tilt her head to the side, allowing it to escape without choking her.

A hacking cough fills the night, and a choked sob tears from my chest that’s as much relief as it is my worries forcing themselves to the surface.

Riley’s eyes flutter open, and I cup her cheek in my palm.

“Hey, Kitten,” I rasp.

“Am I dead?”

I scoff. “Not a chance. You think I’d let you die without me?”

“Okay. Are we both dead then?”

Hugo chuckles. “Neither of you is dead.”

I gather her in my arms and bury my face in her hair as I allow her weight to settle my racing heart. “You’re never leaving my sight.”

“But the note and the contract,” she murmurs.

“That was when I thought I could let you go to keep you safe. Now I know there’s no way in hell you’re ever going anywhere without me.”

FIFTY-TWO

RILEY

I’m in and out of consciousness on the way up the mountain, my body succumbing to exhaustion with a pile of blankets and my husband wrapped around me.

Everything is foggy, but at least the rain has finally eased. It just would have been nice if it had done so a few hours ago.

I’m semi-conscious when we reach the house, only aware of being loaded into an ambulance while still wrapped in Cruz’s arms, and Lexi being irritated that they won’t let her in as well.

“Sir, she needs to be examined,” a male voice says.

“You can examine her from where she is,” Cruz retorts.

The paramedic sighs. “It would be easier to assess her if she were lying flat.”

Cruz’s body thrums with barely contained emotions, and I bury my face into his neck, trying to soothe him as best I can while being mostly unable to move. “My wife has been through hell tonight. She needs me right now.”

“She also needs to be properly assessed before we reach the hospital to ensure the appropriate resources are waiting for her when she arrives,” the man argues.

A few beats pass before I’m carefully lifted and placed on the hard gurney, dragging an involuntary whimper from my throat.

A large hand envelops mine, and I know without opening my eyes that it’s Cruz. “I’m right here, Kitten. I’m not leaving your side.”

I squeeze his hand, unable to force words to the surface.

“You wanna know how I realized you were missing?” he says, his voice hoarse. “Mr. Whiskers was destroying my desk, knocking shit off, being his usual menace-to-society self, but then I saw the blood. He was trying to show me the calling card you left.”

A smile tugs at my lips, and tears fill my eyes.

“I thought he was just angry at me, but he was trying to save you,” he chokes on his emotions. “I never thought I’d be so grateful to that little dick.”

I scoff and turn my head, forcing my eyes open to look at him. “He’s a good boy,” I murmur.

“I’m buying him one of those trees for every room in the house and a truckload of those treats he likes,” he tells me. “That little fucker can have a whole house to himself if he wants. He can have anything his little demon heart desires, and I’ll still owe him the world for being the reason we knew who took you.”