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“Was that the best apology you’ve ever gotten?” I waggled my eyebrows like an idiot. She laughed, and fuck, we didn’t hear that enough nowadays.
“No, but it was a very thorough one.” She grinned at Nate, then me. She didn’t ask if I felt better, because I think she knew I didn’t have an answer to that. Not yet. Letting me come to terms with it on my own was a blessing.
She gave me another long, slow kiss before cracking into a yawn so big her eyes watered.
“Time for bed, baby.” I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Get some sleep.”
“You’re not coming?” Her blinks were slow, her eyes obviously heavy. Good thing I’d used the gym on our floor for once. She didn’t have far to go.
“In a little bit.” Though I’d made peace with my decision, I needed space and a little more time to accept that Nate wasn’t going anywhere.
When he caught my eye, I jerked my chin toward Mari. “Take her up with you, please.”
I wasn’t one for big declarations, but I had a feeling Nate understood.
I don’t trust you yet, but I’m willing to try. Don’t make me regret it.
“This isn’t over,” Nate promised as he pulled her away from me. “I’m going to make it up to you one way or another.”
Seeing how gentle he was with Mari as he swept her near-sleeping form off her feet, that was what I was afraid of.
Chapter Seven
Mari
You take my family, I’ll take yours.
The words dripped crimson while Seattle General Massacre flashed on the headline scroller as news station after news station covered the catastrophe.
Dominic and I were huddled together on the couch, watching. The longer it went on, the longer his hand on my thigh felt like the only thing keeping me from floating to the ceiling. Even Two-Bit, who sat on the love seat across from us, seemed disturbed.
The news anchor looked broken as she recited her information again. “For those just tuning in, we’re covering a massacre at Seattle General this morning. According to police, the attack focused on the fourth and fifth floors of the west wing. A small group of terrorists came in quietly overnight, apparently searching for someone in particular. When they didn’t find their target, they turned their attention to whoever they could find. One of our anchors is on the scene. John…”
They were right when they called it a tragedy. Thirteen people dead and just as many injured because Cash was looking for us. We’d been out of the hospital for less than twelve hours when he’d decided to start ripping bodies apart.
“He’s devolving,” Greyson said through the phone. I’d never been more grateful that he was still at the medical center instead of the hospital. The idea that it could’ve been his blood on the wall made me sick.
“The look-alikes?” I asked Two-Bit. His pause gave me my answer, and guilt soured my stomach.
Sending us to the medical center to recover had made sense, so I’d agreed. When Two-Bit had suggested the look-alikes taking our places at Seattle Gen, I’d agreed to that too. Anything to throw them off the scent until I was sure Grey would live.
Now, we were alive, and they weren’t.
“They knew what they were getting into,” Two-Bit promised. “They trained for this.”
“I don’t think anyone could train for my brother,” Nate said from his place at the windows. He’d taken one look at the screen and promptly turned away. I didn’t know how, but he knew. The moment he saw those words, he knew.
Though the news wasn’t spreading it, Two-Bit told us Cash had bled out Nate’s look-alike and used the blood as paint for his gruesome warning.
You take my family, I’ll take yours.
We had no doubt it was retaliation for Nate switching sides, and I knew it was another weight he’d carry on his shoulders. “He’s not going to stop,” he said.
“Probably not,” I agreed.
“What I don’t understand is why he waited so long.” Dominic sat back on the couch, head tilted as he considered all sides of the situation. “It’s been over a week since the wake. Why now?”
Nate grimaced. “Knowing his twisted sense of family, he was probably waiting to see if he was avenging or attacking me. To do that, he needed to know if I was dead.”
