Triplets for The Millionaire - K.C. Crowne Page 0,74

hand to someone trudging past him, the snow up to her waist. The person reached out her hand, struggling to connect.

Then more rumbling sounded.

Gasps filled the lobby as everyone turned their eyes toward the source of the noise – the top of the mountain. More snow rushed down, another avalanche barreling forward.

“Oh my God.”

It was all I managed to say before the snow cascaded down. Patrick vanished among the tidal wave of white.

Chapter 23

PATRICK

The first thing I noticed when I came back to the world of the living was that I was comfy. I was on some sort of soft bed, covers pulled up around me. It was a stark-as-hell contrast to what I remembered from before – nothing but memory swatches involving cold and pain.

I didn’t enjoy the warmth for long. A dull pain radiated out from a point right behind my eyes, the feeling forcing a groan out of me. “Fuckin’ hell.”

“I think that means he’s up.” I recognized Finn’s voice.

“Hey,” spoke another voice, this one soft and reassuring. “How are you feeling?”

Lola.

It hurt to move, but I forced my eyelids open to look at her. When I opened my eyes, I realized something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

In the center of my vision, in both eyes, were two large, black spots. I flicked my gaze around, but the dots followed, covering up whatever my gaze tried to focus on.

“What the hell?”

I wanted to see Lola’s face, the face of my brother. But it was impossible. Whenever I tried to look at them their faces were covered up by those damn dots.

“Patrick,” Finn spoke softly, stepping over and putting his hand on my shoulder. “You need to stay calm.”

“Stay calm? What the hell is happening?” Something was happening, something terrible, but freaking out wasn’t going to solve it. I sucked in several breaths and asked, “What about that woman? The one I was reachin’ for?”

“She’s fine.” Lola sat on the edge of my bed. “The avalanches caused some major injuries, but none of them were fatal.”

“Thanks to brave souls like yourself, brother,” Finn added.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Memories came back in bits and pieces. I remembered Lola, the expression of fear and apprehension on her face as I ran back into the fray. I remembered climbing up on that rock to get a better sense of the scene. And I remembered that poor woman trudging through the snow, calling out for her missing boys. I’d offered her my hand, telling her it’d be a better spot to get a look out.

But I remembered nothing after that.

Panic hit me at the thought of her boys, but it was followed by cool relief as I remembered what Lola had said, that there’d been no fatalities.

“A second one hit,” Lola explained. “That’s why you’re here right now.”

“You’re lucky as hell this happened at a major hotel and not somewhere more remote. They had a whole staff on standby ready to pull people out of the snow.”

The first matter was addressed. Now it was time to move on to the second.

“What the hell happened to my vision? Why can’t I see anything?”

I couldn’t see Lola or Finn’s face, but I did see their bodies turn toward one another. I was certain they were sharing a look of apprehension.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” I tried to sit up, but a rush of pain exploded from my chest.

“No-no-no,” Lola cooed as she hurried over to me. “Don’t sit up like that.”

Part of me wanted to panic, but I pushed that aside, wanting to know what the hell was going on.

Lola put her hand on mine, her touch calming me. “When the second avalanche hit, it knocked you down onto that rock you were standing on. You broke three ribs, and there’s a hairline fracture on your collarbone.”

“And my eyes? What happened to them?”

“You sustained some head trauma. You have a mild concussion, and you…detached your retinas.”

I was confused more than anything. “I what? You mean I cut the damn things that attach my eyes to my brain?”

“No,” Lola said calmly. “You’re thinking of the optic nerve. If that had been detached…it’d be a lot worse.” Her tone was crisp and professional, as if she were talking to some random patient and not the man she was involved with.

“Lola explained it to me while you were out, lad,” Finn said. “The retina’s the tissue inside your eyes that connects to the blood vessels. If you get dinged in the head hard