“A fake. Bethany was good at conniving people. She had her therapist fooled, and her family.” Leo explained more about what was found in Bethany’s apartment, including a list of other people at Malone’s she planned on killing, including Dante Perrone.
“Holy shit.” Jagger ran his hands through his crew-cut hair and stared toward the doorway where the doctor would hopefully, soon, emerge.
“Tia Rose has to pull through this. She’s fought for so much,” he added.
Hudson placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She will and then we’ll take care of her. No one will ever hurt her again.”
“Jett, did you find out about Tia’s brother? Is the situation fixable?” Hudson asked him. Jagger still wasn’t sure how he felt about Tia’s brother. Could the man be trusted? Did he really want to get help and straighten his ass out? Was he involved with the armed robbery and did he lie to Tia? Jett, Flynn, Cash, and Zane were doing their best to find out. Jagger felt so compelled to protect her, and especially now, after being shot.
“The detectives are examining the video surveillance tapes from the robbery. We’ll know more soon, but for right now, Sean is being held until the investigation is complete. He was so worried about his sister. He’s totally cooperating, so that’s a good thing,” Leo told them.
“We appreciate your help with this.”
Jett gave Hudson a tap to his shoulder and nodded toward the doorway. A grim-looking doctor, who appeared exhausted, stood there.
“Is the family of Tia Rose present?” he asked.
“We’re it. We’re her family,” Hudson stated.
“And where are Hudson, Jagger, and Sean?” he asked.
“I’m Jagger, and this is my brother, Hudson. Sean isn’t here yet,” Jagger stated, not wanting to go into great detail about the current situation.
“Okay, Tia Rose is in recovery now. She’s a very strong young woman. The bullet lodged in her chest bone. It appears that she was shot from behind, the bullet penetrated through to the front of her body where the chest and shoulder bone meet. Lucky for her, it was in a good position for me to remove it without causing further damage. X-rays show no splintering of the surrounding bone, but there was severe tissue, and cartilage damage. I did my best to clean that up, repair what I could, and quickly seal the wound. She currently has a breathing tube inserted to assist her in breathing normally. I hope to remove this sooner than later, but she was very panicked and I don’t want to take the chance of her injuring herself further. Right now, she is sedated, and the best thing for her to do is rest. It was quite the severe injury, and she’s lucky to be alive.”
“Will she recover completely?” Hudson asked.
“She’s a strong woman. As long as she rests and takes her time healing, she should be fine. She has a lot of resting to do. I don’t expect her to leave here too quickly.”
“Can we see her?” Jagger asked.
“I will have the nurse come for you to visit Tia Rose when she’s settled in ICU.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Thank you very much for everything,” Hudson said and shook his hand. Jagger then did the same thing. The doctor turned around and left the waiting room. It seemed like a sigh of relief swept through the room. One glance, and Jagger saw all their friends. All concerned, and all right there being supportive and caring for them, like a family truly was.
Jagger looked at Hudson.
“She’s going to make it, Hudson. Our woman is strong.”
Hudson smiled. “Thank God, because right now, I feel like I’m going to pass out.” Hudson fell down into the seat and covered his face with his hands. Jagger placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.
“We’ll get through this, and before you know it, Tia Rose will be home with us, and our new life will begin together.”
Chapter 13
“Jagger, why are you carrying me?” Tia Rose asked, as she reached under her thighs to make sure that her dress was in place and nothing was showing underneath.
“Because we’ve been carrying you around for the last three months, and we like it,” Hudson said as he caressed her hair, while she laid her head on Jagger’s shoulder.
“But we have a house full of guests arriving and there’s so much to be done.”
“Our friends know that we love you and adore you. Besides, they would carry their women around, too, if she needed pampering.”
She was going to argue, but truth be told, she loved them carrying her around as if she were light as a feather. Their big strong muscles had held her close and kept her safe since returning home to their penthouse after the hospital. Now, they were all celebrating with their friends at a weekend-long barbeque at Hudson and Jagger’s vacation home in the Adirondacks.
The house was spectacular, and it sat on a private lake with a beautiful beach they would enjoy all weekend long.
“There they are. What took you three so long?” Jett asked as he popped a cherry tomato into his mouth and smiled.