“You stupid bitch. You should’ve listened to me. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you’ve left me no choice. They want to lock me up again, but I’m never going back.”
Her stomach felt warm and wet. She placed both hands on it. She tried to fight the feeling of wanting to let go, but her limbs were getting heavy with exhaustion. Suddenly she heard Caitlin shouting something at Tom, but she sounded as if she was underwater. Darkness crept into Kayla’s vision, and the image of Caitlin swayed. Kayla blinked, trying to focus. The loud bang of a gun firing pierced her haze and shook her to her core. Tom shouted as he tripped over her and stumbled to the ground. A distinct gurgling sound stopped his screams.
“It’s okay, Kayla. You’re safe. It’s okay,” Caitlin’s muffled voice tried to reassure her. Kayla felt a weird tugging at her torso, and she realized Caitlin had ripped her shirt open before pressing firmly on Kayla’s stomach with the torn fabric. “Try to hold on, Kayla. Help is on its way.”
“Dunc, have you spokentoKayla?” Donovan said before Duncan could greet him. He walked up to Duncan in the dojo, and something about the way he behaved was alarming. He was talking to Duncan and held up his phone against his ear at the same time.
“What’s going on?”
“I can’t reach her. I’ve tried to call her as I parked my car just now, but she isn’t answering the phone.”
“Have you—”
“Yes, of course I’ve tried calling Ro. He’s not picking up either.”
“Fuck!”
“You call Cait. She lives next door. Let her have a look. I’m calling 911. They should’ve been there already or certainly be picking up the phone. Ro knows how important it is to stay in touch on the job.”
“This is no fucking job, brother. This is Kayla. She’s my fucking life.” Duncan lost his shit and roared, which caused several disconcerting glances to be thrown his way.
Duncan tried calling Kayla, but she didn’t pick up the phone. “Pick up, pick up, pick up, Kayla,” he chanted, trying again. “She won’t answer the fucking phone!” Duncan panicked. “I’m going to her apartment.”
Before he reached the door to go outside, his phone rang.
“Kayla?” Duncan hadn’t looked at the screen when he answered.
“No, Duncan. It’s Cait. I... I... don’t know how—”
Duncan lost it and shouted, “Is she all right? Tell me now, Cait.”
“She’s been hurt real bad. I’m going with her to the hospital. Ro’s been hurt too. We’re going into the ambulance as we speak. I’ll text you which hospital when the paramedics tell me.”
Duncan got into his car with Donovan, who called Declan to ask if he had more information about what happened. Declan told them that there had been an incident in Kayla’s elevator, but that his colleagues couldn’t tell him more at the time. When the text came from Caitlin about the hospital, he went as fast as he could. Donovan called Brennan on the way and asked him to inform the rest of the family.
Duncan sat in the waiting room with Donovan, Brennan, Declan, his dad, Pops, and Maureen, when suddenly Bree and Caitlin rushed in. He immediately stood to hug Cait. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did. If you hadn’t been there to save their lives...”