Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
People crowded around someone.
A gap in them revealed what I’d dreaded from the moment Akiva tore away from me.
A familiar blond head on the concrete.
The engine roared, drawing my attention back as the hooded figure zoomed across the water in the speedboat.
Blood rushing in my ears, I searched the harbor until I spotted Jack, the harbor master. His face stretched with worry as he walked toward the noise. “Jack, call the police!”
His face leached of color. “What’s going on?”
“That boat!” I pointed at its quickly disappearing silhouette. “That’s our perpetrator! Call the police, now!” There was no time to wait. My boat wouldn’t catch the fucker.
And she was the priority.
I ran down Main Street. “Move!” I bellowed and the crowd around her parted.
Silver’s wide, shocked gaze met mine as she lay there panting hard, her hands covering her blood-soaked stomach. Rage and another feeling I couldn’t acknowledge filled me. Memories of another woman staring up at me, eyes begging for help tried to intrude. Tried to fuck me up. I held the memory back. Forced myself to calm. For her sake. Akiva licked at Silver’s face, whimpering.
“Akiva, back off,” I commanded, and she did. But she sat on her rump like a guard dog at Silver’s side as I lowered to my knees. “Ambulance?” I asked the crowd.
“On its way, Ramsay,” a shaking, female voice said behind me. “They’re going to get her to the helipad to airlift her to Inverness.”
“Ramsay,” Silver gasped out.
I pulled off my shirt and bundled it into a wad. “I’m going to put pressure on the wound, Silver. Okay?”
Her panting grew faster.
She was hyperventilating.
“Breathe with me, Silver.” I took a deep breath in and out as I gently moved her bloody hands so I could quickly cover the wound.
Her breathing increased as I pressed down on it.
“Breathe.” I breathed in and out. “Like me. Look at me, angel.”
The pleading in her eyes almost undid me.
“Angel, breathe,” I begged.
She took in a slow breath and released it.
“That’s it. That’s it. Good girl.”
“They’re here, Ramsay.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the island’s only ambulance stop at the scene. Inside were our two paramedics—Forde, who was driving, and Laurie, the second medic. Forde managed the ambulance and volunteered to drive it when he could.
His face slackened when he saw me and Silver. Then he covered his shock and dismay as Laurie pushed forward. “What do we have?”
“Possible knife wound. I’ve kept pressure on it.”
Laurie nodded grimly. “Keep the pressure on while we get Tierney onto the stretcher.”
It was quick, efficient, though I nearly lost my shit when Silver cried out in pain as she was rocked a little too hard going up into the ambulance. Akiva barked from outside it and I frantically scanned the crowd.
Cammie was there.
I hadn’t seen her arrive.
Her face was chalk white.
“Cam, can you watch Akiva?”
She blinked rapidly, tears falling down her cheeks. “Aye. Call me as soon as you can.”
I gave her a jerk of my chin. “Thanks.”
Then the ambulance doors closed.
“Ramsay.”
I looked to Silver. There was so much blood drenching my hands. So much fucking blood, I was terrified a major artery had been punctured. “I’m here.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “So … sorry.” Her eyes closed and her hands went limp at her side.
27. Ramsay
I’d lied.
Knowing there was no way the doctors would tell me what was going on with Silver. Knowing she had no immediate family left.
I’d informed the hospital in Inverness that I was Silver’s husband.
Lucky for me, I was a paranoid bastard with a photographic memory. When I’d looked into Silver, I’d memorized small details, like her date of birth, without even trying. A quick glance at it and that information was stored in my brain.
I couldn’t sit around. I’d been in contact with Jack. The police didn’t catch the bastard who robbed and stabbed Silver, but a tourist had come forward to say he’d snapped a photo of the perpetrator and the boat. He’d handed over the information to the island police who, in turn, shared it with mainland investigators.
After that phone call, I’d called Jay and asked her to hack the island police to get the photographs.
Quinn, Cammie, they’d all called for an update, but I didn’t have anything yet. I told them there was no point in them traveling the five hours it would take to get here without more information.
I tried to detach myself from the situation.
Think on it as if Silver were a stranger.
Reevaluate her situation with my emotions removed.
Was there as much blood as I’d thought?
Surely, if there had been, wouldn’t she have bled out in the helicopter?
But she was still alive, if unconscious, when the paramedics wheeled her into the hospital.
As much as I attempted to rewind the last few hours … my mind kept conjuring horrifying images of Silver drenched in blood.