Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
He took her hand, and his men must have sensed something as well, as they gathered close. Elias didn’t say a word as they started to walk out of the casino. He held her hand tightly, and that was when she saw it. The man with stained clothing suddenly had a gun.
She didn’t think, she reacted—by throwing herself in front of Elias. The gun went off, and she felt a burning in her shoulder. It was instant, and she couldn’t help but cry out.
A second bullet rang through the air, only she didn’t feel any more pain. There was no need to feel more, as she had already been shot.
Elias wrapped his arms around her, and she didn’t quite know what happened next. One moment, she was stopping him from getting shot, and then they were in the back of the car. He had pulled her sweater off, and his hand pressed against her shoulder.
“I’ve been shot.”
“It’s okay, Winnie,” he said.
“I told you,” Winnie said, and she let out a gasp. This was a lot more painful than even the movies made out.
How did they get away with the hero being shot and still being able to save the day? She’d been shot in her shoulder and it hurt like fucking hell.
She closed her eyes as he pressed something against her shoulder. He shouted directions, and the car suddenly jerked.
“How did you know?” Elias asked.
“It’s … something I’ve had being in foster care. Even with my mom. A sixth sense, maybe, where I feel something isn’t quite right. It’s nothing but a defense mechanism, at least according to the books.” She groaned. “I’m not a witch with mind-reading abilities, but could you imagine if I was? That would be totally awesome.” She giggled.
The silence in the car was uncomfortable and making her very aware of the pain in her shoulder.
“It stopped me getting hit, kicked out, or hurt. I tried to tell some of the other kids. Some would listen to me and get out of there. Others thought I was talking shit. I wasn’t. We’d come back to a mess, and the ones that stayed behind often had a few bruises along the way.” She winced. “None of them shot me before. Why was he shooting you?”
“I’ve got a lot of enemies.”
“I don’t know why. I think you’re a nice guy.”
“I’m only a nice guy to you.”
She giggled and then moaned. “Is that because you’re my husband?”
“There are a lot of reasons.”
She gritted her teeth, and then all too soon the car came to a stop and they were out. Winnie saw an older man, who had a door open. He was dressed in a suit, and he didn’t look impressed.
“Winnie, this is Mansell, the doctor. Mansell, this is my wife, Winnie.”
She nodded her head, not interested in making a good impression. They were escorted into the house and taken to a room that looked like a doctor’s office. There was a bed with a single white disposable sheet.
“Is he a good doctor?” Winnie asked, attempting to whisper. “Or a bad doctor?”
“I’m a good doctor,” Mansell said.
“You’re in good hands, Winnie. I would never bring you to anyone that wouldn’t take care of you.”
She offered him a smile, and then she cried out as something jabbed into her arm. She turned to find Mansell had injected her.
“I find it easier if the patient is not looking. You won’t feel pain very soon.”
“I took a bullet for him,” Winnie said. “That’s why I’m here. Someone tried to shoot him.”
And everything was getting blurry.
“I don’t want anyone to shoot my husband, because I think I might kind of love him.” And with that, the world went dark.
****
“Your wife is taking bullets for you now?” Mansell asked.
“I have a lot of enemies, and they will be dealt with.” Elias sat with Winnie as Mansell got to work. The bullet hadn’t hit any major arteries, and the damage was not going to cause further problems. However, the bullet couldn’t stay there. He was in the process of removing it.
Winnie was fast asleep, hooked up to a heart monitoring machine. Once she had passed out from the first medication, Mansell had gotten everything ready to perform the extraction.
“I never thought I would see the day a woman would jump in front of a bullet for you,” Mansell said.
Mansell and Elias’s friendship went way back. When Mansell was at the hospital, he had been being blackmailed by one of the cartels to perform surgeries on people. Some of them were to give women bigger breasts, others were to take babies out of girls. It was an ugly mess.
Mansell was at the end and couldn’t stand it. He had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, which had resulted in him using his medical skills for evil.