I bit my lip to keep from crying, a thousand horrendous thoughts running through my mind. What if he had pulled himself into the woods, intending to get help, but no one had seen him? What if he had been taken by whoever had been firing at me, at us?
What if he was dead? What if birds were picking at his beautiful face?
I shuddered.Stop it.
“We have to find him.”
“I know, sweetie,” Rory cut in, glancing at Nico. “But trust me, your brother has all the feelers out there. He’s tried Lucas’s phone, but it just goes to voice mail.”
“Did you call Emil?” I asked my brother. “He’s Lucas’s second in command.”
“I had someone go to the house,” Nico replied gently. “Place was a mess, but nobody was there. They didn’t know where he had gone either. They had already reached the crash site by the time the ambulance got there for you, Leda. Lucas wasn’t there.”
I closed my eyes against the onslaught of tears, my mind replaying our last minutes together. I shouldn’t have left. I should have forced him to confront his feelings for me and refused to get in that car. If I had, Vincent would still be alive, and no one would be wondering where Don Valentino was. “He told me about Father,” I said, keeping my eyes closed. I felt someone press a tissue into my hand, and I brought it up gently to wipe my face.
“I know,” Nico growled. “That was why I asked Lucas to protect you.”
I opened an eye. “You didn’t ask him to send me away?” It had been in the back of my mind that my brother might have requested for me to come home, and Lucas had just decided to grant him the request. I wanted to cling to the hope that the love of my life hadn’t just let me walk out of the door without a darn good reason.
My brother shook his head, and my hopes were dashed in an instant. “He thought the safest place for you was by me.”
Devastation poured into every hole in my heart, and I cried harder, more for Lucas than for me.He’d been telling me the truth. He told me the truth and I threw it in his face.
“Oh, honey,” Rory said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and hugging me close, careful not to jostle the lines that read my vitals. “I’m so sorry.”
“I think he thought he was doing right by you,” Nico continued. “I mean, it wasn’t a stupid move. If Father came after you, Lucas wouldn’t be able to protect you, Leda. He was trying to keep you safe.”
“I was safe with him,” I blurted out. I hadn’t wanted to leave him, and now he was missing.
“I know,” Rory whispered, pressing my face into her chest. “I know.”
I cried until the machine started to beep frantically and a nurse came in, surprised to see me awake. “I will let the doctor know,” she stated, silencing the alarm. “You need to calm down, Ms. D’Agostino. Being upset isn’t going to help you get well.”
I gave her a watery smile and she walked out of the room, presumably to get the doctor.
“I’m sorry, Leda,” Nico said after a moment.
“It’s fine,” I sniffed, wiping my eyes. “I just don’t know what’s wrong with me these days. Tell me you will continue to look.”
“Of course,” my brother replied. “If he’s out there, I will find him.”
Leaning back on the pillow, I drew in a few breaths. Lucas was still alive. I would know if he was gone. Despite it all, I would know if he had been killed.
Which meant someone had taken him. Was it my father or someone else, like Adrian? I hoped it wasn’t either. I hoped that Lucas had gotten away somehow and was getting the medical attention he needed, just like I was. I could cling to the hope that he would call Nico as soon as he could, letting him know that he was okay and wanted to talk to me.
Even if it was some half-crazed fantasy of mine, I was going to hold onto it. I couldn’t give up right now.
I had to be strong. “Tell me about what you know again.”
Nico drew in a breath. “All I know is that someone called in the wreck, and when the ambulance got there, you were on the road, bleeding heavily. It took them a few hours to get the road cleared and back open, but you were brought here by helicopter. I received a call as your personal contact, and Rory and I came right away.”
I looked at my brother, seeing the weariness on his face. “It’s too dangerous for you to be out in the open right now.”
He gave me a half smile. “You know I would do anything for my sister.”
That was why I was in this mess to begin with, because Lucas had called him, and Nico had felt obligated to come after me. That was why Vincent was dead and Lucas was missing.
How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? Not that it was right, of course. Lucas had been facing the fight of his life, a war that I wasn’t so sure he could have won even with Nico’s full support, but then he had pushed me away and sent us both on a spiral into the unknown.