Mark didn’t seem frightened at all. Even the best cop in the world freaked out with a gun at his head.
Mark couldn’t possibly be in league with my father. Could he?
I didn’t have time for this. I had to believe in Mark’s integrity. I’d get him out of this mess, even if it meant sacrificing the chance to bring down my father.
“Let him go, Dad,” I said. “I’ll get you money, if that’s what you need. I’ll convince Ryan to let this go. I’ll do whatever it takes. Mark is a good cop, and he’s innocent here.”
“No one in the world is innocent.”
I couldn’t help myself. “Certainly not you. Tell me, what turned you into such a sick bastard?”
My father faltered for a millisecond, and in a flash, Mark executed a perfect knife hand and dislodged my father’s sidearm.
But a shot rang out, and Mark went down.
By the time I was armed, my father had run out of the room.
“Go after him,” Mark said breathlessly. “I’m okay. You can get him. Take him down.”
He was bleeding profusely from his side. He was far from okay.
If I left now, I could get Mathias. Bring the bastard down. Someone had most likely heard the gunshot. Help would come…
But maybe not in time.
I had to stop my feet from taking off after my father. He wasn’t worth Mark’s life. I applied pressure to try to slow down the bleeding and then tore at Mark’s shirt for a makeshift bandage.
“Hang in there, boss. You’re going to be okay.”
“I’m so sorry, Ruby. He… He threatened my wife. I didn’t know what to do. Have to call…” His eyes closed, and he lost consciousness.
Blues swarmed in within seconds, and I called the paramedics. Mark was barely breathing when they arrived minutes later. They bagged him with oxygen and got him on a stretcher. I stayed to answer questions from the cops who’d burst in.
When the officers were satisfied they had all they needed, I stared down at my hands coated in Mark’s blood, shivering. Thoughts jumbled in my head, my mind shifting from one bloody image to another. His wife. I had to call his wife, Yvonne. I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Mark’s home number.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
And then a breathless, “Hello?”
“Yvonne? It’s Ruby Lee from the station.”
“Ruby, hi.”
On the force for eleven years, and I still hadn’t gotten used to giving out bad news. My stomach dropped. “You need to get to the ER. Mark’s been shot.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ryan
“You’re saying your love for my father destroyed you?”
“In some ways.”
“Then why would you keep pursuing him? Were you some kind of glutton for punishment?”