Until Her - Ami Van Page 0,42
to Stella right now,” he tells the man.
“You sure that’s a good thing?” Stella’s best friend asks. One of her best friends. The other one owns the safe house that Ariana is planted at.
Would he consider Gaston and McCullen friends? Probably not.
“Keeping her in the dark is never a good thing,” Gaston adds.
“It is for now. It’s late and she’ll be up with the baby soon anyway,” he replies.
Gaston grumbles and takes his leave without further protest. He can’t be sure if the man is going to take his advice though.
“So what the fuck happened and how bad is it?” Rory asks Chase who now pushes himself off of the wall.
“Those motherfuckers didn’t give a shit about the drop,” Chase tells them. “I’m one hundred percent sure they were there for blood.”
“Cristian?” he asks now.
“He was there. Untouched,” Chase replies. “They sniped Derrick. Fucking sniped him. I barely caught a glimpse of the red before shoving him out of the way. He took it through here,” Chase says and squeezes the fleshy part of his shoulder, too close to his neck.
“Fuck!” Rory says. Because it’s that fucking bad. Too many veins and arteries there.
“We lost some men,” Chase says. “I had to leave them behind but sent others for them once I was in the car with Derrick. I called you right after I sent them help.”
He nods. Chase did the right thing. Their men deserved that much.
“Let’s play this close for now,” he tells his siblings. “We don’t have proof yet that this was a setup. For all we know, Don Mazzilli was in on this himself.”
“Why?” Chase asks. “If he’s going to get what he wants with that fucking arrangement anyway.”
“I honestly don’t know. Get on the phone and have Mason and Elias pull up anything and everything about that fucking crew that we don’t already have. Members. Families of members,” he tells Rory. “Where the hell is Cristian now?”
“I don’t know but he’s been trying to call me,” Chase replies.
“I’ll take care of him then. But for now, no one knows how bad Derrick is hurt,” he orders.
It’s been over an hour of waiting when the door swings open and Heinz walks out. The doctor walks right up to him with an encouraging nod.
“Thankfully we brought enough blood,” Heinz says. “That was close. Too close.”
“Oh, thank fuck!” Rory wails, hands in his hair in relief.
“He’ll need some recovery time for the blood loss. Also, there is a possibility of some nerve damage. Won’t know for sure for some time. I’ll put you in touch with a physical therapist if he needs one,” Heinz bluntly informs everyone before heading back inside. “Give us a second more,” the doctor says before closing the door behind him.
Heels clicking on pavement scratches on his raw nerves. He’d know the sound of those heels anywhere.
“Stell,” he whispers. “Shit,” he says under another breath, looking from Rory to Chase before turning to face her.
He can see her silhouette moving toward them in the dark of the warehouse. He can hear the steady pace of her heels clicking on the cement, approaching them.
When she steps into the light, she’s dressed in black. Perfect from head to toe. Not disheveled and not looking like she’d just climbed out of bed in a rush of worries for her husband either.
No. Stella’s pissed the fuck off. Her stone-cold face says as much.
“Brought a party?” Rory asks her with a jut of the chin.
Within seconds he sees her merce-nannies, James and Jason, walking behind her. They’re not alone. A few more of Kings’ men follow, shoving three bound guys in front of them.
“How is he?” Stella asks when she reaches them, her voice cold as a Nor’easter.
“We were going to tell you,” he replies. “He’s going to be okay.”
“You were going to tell me but Cristian Romano beat you to it,” she retorts. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know where Derrick is. I found that out on my own.”
He nods at her and then eyes the men now sitting on their knees with the merce-nannies standing guard. He sees the leather vests that the men are all wearing and catches on. Chase and Rory must have too because they walk forward with him.
“Can I see him now?” Stella asks without so much as a glance at who’s behind her.
“No one’s going to stop you,” he replies.
Because right now, now that Derrick is going to be okay, there are things to be done. Information to obtain. Blood to be shed.
Chapter