Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
My little Snow White. Sweet and gentle. Fierce.
Then I turn and walk out before I change my mind. The door shuts behind me with finality.
I can't shake the feeling though. Can't shake the certainty that this will be the last time I ever see her, that she’s going to find a way out.
But she can't. She's still hobbling on that ankle, isn't she? She's not well enough. She still needs me to take care of her. She still needs… she still needs me.
Me, goddamn it.
I look at the time on my phone. I have to go. I have to go right now to get there before—
Christ.
I text Seamus, but he doesn't respond immediately.
I throw my phone on the dash, take one last look at the cabin in the rearview mirror, and can't shake the feeling that I shouldn’t leave her.
I can't keep fucking doing this—can't keep running from Bianca and running to my family. I won't.
Something needs to give. She can't hide forever, and neither can I.
Outside the McCarthy home, I kill the car's engine and sit there for three seconds too long, staring at the house.
Part of me—most of me—wants to turn around and go back to the cabin, to make sure she's still there, still safe, still mine. But Tiernan's inside, and I need to see him.
“Ash.” Lorcan jerks his chin at me and gestures for me to follow.
“How is he?”
Lorcan scrubs a hand across his jaw and curses. “Fuck's sake, not good. Took a bullet to the chest, shattered a kneecap. Lost a ton of fucking blood, brother.” His voice is hoarse as he shakes his head. “I'll fuckin' kill them.”
“Aye, lad, we all will, won't we? Let's see to Tiernan first.”
When we get to the room, my da's on one side of him and my cousin Declan on the other. There's so much fucking blood. His shirt's been cut away, and our family medic's bandaging his torso, muttering under his breath.
His eyes are open, alert and pissed off.
“There's the lad,” Tiernan rasps when he sees me. Christ, even half dead, he sounds like he's about to drag me back in the ring. “Took your sweet time, Ash.”
“Traffic. I came as soon as I could.”
“Bollocks.” He coughs, then winces and gives me the middle finger with a smirk.
I drop to my knees beside Lorcan. My hands hover over Tiernan's body, cataloging the damage. “Jesus, brother. What the fuck happened to you?”
“Didn't expect a fucking ambush,” he mutters, dragging his hand across his brow. He jerks his head at my father. “Christ, but this was easier when we were younger, Nolan.”
“Aye,” Da says, shaking his head and rubbing a hand across his face. Da married my mother when Tiernan was still a lad and half raised him. Tiernan's somewhere between his brother and son.
“Six came in, three left.” Tiernan grins, blood on his teeth. “Not bad for an old man.”
“Not bad at all,” Da agrees.
The medic straightens, wiping his hands. “This is beyond me. He needs a hospital, surgery. That bullet's too close to—”
“I don't need a fucking hospital,” Tiernan says. “Just give me a stiff drink and a nap.”
“You need surgery, you stubborn bastard,” my father insists. “Or you'll bleed out here on the couch.”
“Fuck that.” Tiernan shakes his head. “I'm meaner than this. Aye, a few bullets aren't going to put me down. We're McCarthys. We fight.”
“And sometimes fighting means compromise,” I mutter. “Means getting the help you fucking need.”
I've seen Tiernan survive worse than this. He'll make it. He has to.
But I can't stop thinking about Bianca, and that makes me feel like a fucking traitor.
Is she scared, wondering where I went? Is she peaceful, safe in my bed?
Fuck. It's useless.
“Why'd they hit us?” I ask.
“Message,” Da says grimly. “They're pushing back on the docks territory. Want to remind us they haven't forgotten about us, eh?”
“Right. Lovely.”
The medic looks at my father, then at Tiernan. “I'm calling for transport. You need an operating room, or you won't make it through the night.”
“Don't you fucking dare—” Tiernan starts.
“Or what? You’ll get your sorry arse out of bed and kick my arse? Do it,” Da says firmly. “Call them.”
Lorcan reappears in the doorway, his phone in hand. My younger brother looks fucking wrecked—hair mussed, jacket askew, his eyes a little wild. “Ambulance is on its way. Seamus is coming too.”
Tiernan promises a swift and painful death to all of us, but he’s not in a position to be issuing threats.
“Good lad,” Nolan says. “Thank you, son.”
I should feel something. Relief that Tiernan's going to make it. Rage at the Russians for coming at us. Something.
But all I can think about is whether Bianca's alright. How's her ankle? Is she warm enough? Does she need me, and I'm not fucking there?
Guilt eats at me. Tiernan's lying here bleeding, and I'm worried about a girl who's perfectly safe in a locked cabin in the middle of nowhere.