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Quinn

What was I supposed to do?

Silver left me no choice but to break into his rental car and dial Donny’s recent number from his burner phone.

I pled my case and told Donny I’m still mad at him for picking a fight on my favorite show set, and he seemed to like that.

The Valentinos came to the rescue, but I’m still crying my eyes out next to my unconscious father.

We hit a speed bump. “Can you not? ” I yell at the driver—Sal Dicey Matteo.

“Drive slow, drive fast, make up your mind, pale ass! God, Ghost, you didn’t have to literally find a female version of your nickname to complete my joke.”

“Drive, asshole,” Silver growls at him, holding the bandage over his leg while squeezing my hand comfortingly.

“You know, never in all my years did I get yelled at for saving the day.” Sal shakes his head.

“ Donny saved the day,” Silver says.

“No, actually, your girl-ghost did,” Sal says.

Silver’s jaw tenses. “I know, and I still can’t believe it.”

My chest keeps twitching with sobs. “Is he going to be okay?”

“They have good doctors on call twenty-four-seven,” Silver comforts me. “Back in the day, the Valentinos got into the deepest sorts of shit compared to the other four families, so we had to adapt.”

“The retired Ghost speaks the truth,” Sal calls from up front.

I look at my dad’s pained face, and I can’t take it anymore. Every day of the last few months has been a rollercoaster. But this is the worst drop.

“He got shot through the back, Quinn. The fact his gut is bleeding means the bullet exited. If no vital organs were hit, he’ll pull through,” Silver says the right things to give me hope. But if he’s wrong…

“What about you?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“That’s all I do these days.” I kiss him, then squeeze his hand.

The next hours are hard. We roll my father into an abandoned warehouse that turns out to be a five-room underground medical facility in east Jersey.

Who would’ve thought? I protest quietly to Silver, asking him to drop my father off at an actual hospital.

He assures these are trauma nurses and doctors, plucked from the best hospitals and paid double to do their bidding.

He’s in surgery now, and one look at Silver’s leg tells me he should be there too.

“Don’t give me that look,” he says. “I’m not leaving your side.”

“You’re bleeding through the wraps,” I protest. “This isn’t Chilling Desires . You can’t just walk off set after someone shoots you.”

“Quiet. I’m fine.”

“Stubborn old wolf,” I mutter. “Love you, Silver.”

“I love you too, kid.”

I nuzzle into his arm, noticing that he’s slightly tremoring. It freaks me out, though it seems like he’s been through this before.

“Your father isn’t great at following directions,” Silver distracts me.

“He’s usually the one giving them.” I smirk, tears covering my face.

“Yeah well, I guess I fucked up too. Had I not been saved by two rounds of guardian angels, not sure either of you would’ve been any better off. I’m losing my touch.”

“It’s okay to ask for help once in a while, you know. Donny didn’t even flinch when I called him.”

He grunts at that.

“You’re so used to being a lone wolf… that you would’ve died as one,” I say. “And I don’t care if you have a bullet in your leg, I’m still furious at you.”

“Didn’t like my letter?” He grins at me.

“It crushed me to my core.”

His smirk wipes, and his strong arms wrap harder around me. “I’m sorry, kid.”

I sob into his warm embrace. “If you ever do anything like that to me ever again…”

He’s quiet, squeezing me tighter.

One of the surgeons comes walking out, dumping his bloody gloves.

I shoot to my feet, and Silver winces while lifting to his, leaning on his crutch.

“He’s in recovery.”

The words echo six times in my head. I’m not sure I heard him right because my heart is choking me in my throat.

“Doctor?” I squeeze the words out.

“The bullet just missed the large intestine. He has slight internal bleeding, but we expect him to make a full recovery.” The surgeon pulls down his mask. “ You .” He points to Silver. “You need to come with me, now .”

“Alright, alright.” Silver winces, using his crutch. “Not going to lie, doc. The bullet’s still in there.”

“I can see that.” The surgeon is angry for Silver’s earlier refusal, as am I.

Despite leaving me in the middle of the night to try and set me and Dad free, despite the hell I’m going to give him when he’s better, I’ve never been more relieved in my life. I give him a kiss on the cheek before he limps away.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

“I know.” He winks at me.

xxx

As soon as the surgeon comes out with a smile, I know it’s over. The nightmare is over . Dad’s safe. Silver’s safe, and my life can return to some kind of normalcy.

Then again, not sure there ever will be a normal again, because I’m never letting that fox out of my sight. Do I sound crazy? Well, maybe I am, a little bit. But he freakin’ made me that way.

He’s the one for me.

The only one.

The surgeon leads me into the small recovery room, where my dad is awake and Silver is still in a groggy sleep after the anesthesia.

“Little Bear,” Dad’s voice is a raspy mess.

“I’m here.” I run up to him and kiss his cheek, unable to give him my full attention with Silver across from him, still hooked up to tubes.

“He’ll be okay,” Dad catches on. “He’s a tough son of a bitch.”

“Does that mean you finally approve?” My smile widens since I know I’m hitting a nerve.

He grunts.

“I’ll take that as yes in bear.”

“Don’t put me back into a coma, please,” he says, making us both laugh.

“Listen, hun. I had an epiphany after I radioed him at Nikolaj’s casino.

When I saw Ferraro running alongside the bratva pit-boss, I realized what you said is true.

There’s good and bad on both sides, and by letting Arosso act alone, I was condemning a… decent man to death.”

My smile is intact.

“Hey. Hey. ” He grabs my face with a weak grip.

“He’s not clean by any means. And I in no shape or form condone his past. But…

he was willing to die for us on a whim, for you.

Out of all the rookies I’ve seen, I’m not sure any of them would’ve had the guts to even take a bullet for you, let alone orchestrate a kamikaze operation to keep us alive. ”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Yeah, yeah. But he has to stay out of the game. Not sure I can trust a man like him to do that.”

“Trust? After all that?”

We stare at one another, and I notice his expression soften. He knows I’m right.

“Dad. I love him,” I reiterate.

“I know you do, bear. I won’t stand in your way any longer.”