FALLON
Bianca wouldn’t wake up despite Natalia shaking her. Seeley was barely breathing. I wheeled his car down the two-track road and raced to the end of the road through the dark forest as Natalia leaned in the back and took on Bianca’s job of applying pressure to Levin’s wound. When I reached the large, log cabin, there was a middle-aged man standing in the driveway. I got out with my gun raised. I knew this fucking place. This was where I’d been held captive in the basement when I’d thought Bianca was dead. They’d led me out and stuffed my head in a bag before we’d left. Call it PTSD or whatever, but I was on high alert.
The man immediately lifted his hands. “Dominic sent me. I’m a doctor. Name’s Alan.”
I lowered my gun and nodded for him to help me.
“We have two. He’s been shot in the stomach. She’s hurt. Head injury. Neither can die.”
“I’ve been told as much.” Alan grunted, helping me get Levin out first.
It was a struggle, but the doc, Natalia, and I managed to get him inside. The doctor led us to a room off the living room filled with medical equipment.
I guessed this wasn’t a first for De Santis. I had to admire his preparedness.
I helped heave Levin onto a bed and ran back out to grab Bianca out of the car while Natalia stayed to help the doc. Bianca’s small body was easy enough to carry. Her head lolled against my chest as I carried her in her blood-soaked, white dress into the house.
“You’re OK, princess,” I murmured, rushing her inside. “You’re going to be OK. I fucking swear it. God, please.”
I lay her on the couch since there wasn’t another bed in the room Levin was in. Natalia came in with an ice pack and a damp rag.
“I-I don’t know what else to do,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Fal.”
“It’s OK,” I said, swallowing hard as I dabbed at the ugly, purple mark marring the side of Bianca’s face and head. It was swollen pretty badly. I wrapped the ice pack with the rag and pressed it to the side of her head. “Stay with her. I’m going to go see if the doc needs help with Seeley.”
I got up, and Natalia kneeled beside Bianca, holding the cold pack to her head and face. My mind raced with worry. Maybe my distraction had been too much. At least they hadn’t died. God, please don’t fucking die. If Seeley snuffed it, I definitely wouldn’t get my girl back. I needed that German fuck to pull through.
“How is he?” I asked, going to Levin’s beside and staring down at the pale, shirtless fucker in front of me on the cot.
I glanced around. There was even an x-ray machine in the room. Fucking De Santis really was locked and stocked. An x-ray of Seeley’s abdomen was on display, the bullet clearly still inside.
“Missed all the vital bits mostly. He’s lost a lot of blood.” Doc moved to a small refrigerator and removed a bag of blood.
I watched as he set everything up, truly impressed with the small hospital in the cabin. Hail didn’t have anything nearly as elaborate. If someone got shot, there was a pretty good chance he’d die if Hail didn’t get to dump him in front of a hospital in time. Or he’d bring you to the old guy on Ninth, who ran a questionable restaurant I wouldn’t feed my enemies in. Sometimes he’d patch people up if the restaurant wasn’t too busy.
I watched as Dominic’s doc finished hooking up the blood and IV.
“Can you hand me that?” He gestured to a pair of plier-looking things.
I grabbed them and handed them over, watching as he peered down at the bullet hole in Seeley’s abdomen.
“Aren’t you going to give him pain meds or something?” I asked.
“Already did. Hand me some gauze.”
I handed it to him. He dug the pliers into the wound and searched around for a moment before he unearthed a bullet and dropped it into the bowl I held. Then he cleaned and stitched the wound with insane speed and precision. Satisfied, he adjusted the oxygen mask on Seeley’s face and pulled a blanket up over him. The monitors beeped, claiming the big bastard was still alive.
“He’s stable. I’ve given him enough meds to keep him under for a few hours. Let’s go get a look at this girl now,” Doc said, bustling from the room and tossing his gloves into the trash on the way out.
I followed him to where Natalia still held the ice pack to Bianca’s face. Doc kneeled beside her and gave her a once over.
“She needs stitches. Grab the tray and needle.” He grunted, checking her pulse. “It’s in a package on the metal tray beside his bed.”
I rushed back to Seeley’s room and grabbed the tray with all the stitch shit on it and brought it back out. Doc took it and began cleaning Bianca up. He gave her a shot before he stitched along her hairline. My guts wobbled. She’d be scarred from this fucking shit.
The front door banged open. Dominic and Vincent rushed into the room, both looking like they’d just survived a plane crash. Disheveled hair, torn clothes, bloody as hell, faces dark with smoke residue.
Dom dropped to his knees beside Bianca as I shuffled aside for him. He gripped her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it.
“How is she?” he asked tightly, his green eyes raking over her as Valentino loomed nearby, looking like he was going to throw up.
“She’s going to need her head scanned. You don’t have one of those here. It looks like she hit it pretty hard. She may have some bleeding on her brain. I won’t know until I look. I’m hopeful everything is just superficial, but she did have a large wound I stitched up.”
A muscle thrummed along Dom’s jaw. “Can you get it done?”
“Yes. I’ll need you to bring her around back of the hospital. I’ll let Jackie know we’re coming.”
“How’s Levin?” Dom asked, staring down at Bianca, her hand still in his.
“Stable for the moment. I’ll come back in a few hours to check on him. In the meantime, let’s get this young lady checked out.”
Dom didn’t need to be told twice. He scooped Bianca into his arms and looked over at me.
“Thank you. For saving them.”
I nodded, my throat tight as I gazed at Bianca. “Please make sure she’s OK.”
“I will.” And with those words, he left, following the doc outside.
“I’m going to check on Levin,” Vincent mumbled, leaving Natalia and me alone in the living room.
We sat in silence for a long time before I finally spoke. I looked over at her. “I missed you, Nattie.”
“Missed you too.”
Her eyes misted over, and I pulled her into a hug, clinging to her. She was the only family I had. We’d always been close. We only had one another. When I’d spotted her at Matteo’s, I’d killed two people trying to get to her while she cowered behind a large potted plant like she was lost.