Page 177 of Damián

“Is anyone hurt or in pain?”

“No, no one is hurt here, but…” María reaches across the center console, her hands hovering over my left arm. “Oliver, you’ve been shot.”

“Ah, that? Yeah, that happened when I went out for Carlitos.”

“Since then? You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Fernanda grunts, and I try not to laugh at how much she reacts like her brother.

She rips a thick section of fabric from the hem of her scrubs, reaches up, and wraps the fabric tightly around my upper bicep.

“Hold still. This is going to hurt, but we need to stop the blood flow.”

Sweet mother of—

Arrgggg!

I grunt, grinding my teeth together as Fernanda tightens the knot.

Once she is done with her damn medieval torture, I reach into my pocket, pull out the emergency Burst, and pass it to María.

“Press the red button on the side,” I instruct her. “Hold it down and send a voice note to Alexios. Tell him we are all okay, we are together, and ask him where we need to go.”

And I really, really want to tell her to ask Alexios if they found Damián, but I don’t want his family to hear he’s missing or think something happened to him…

So I don’t.

María does exactly what I tell her, and luckily, it takes less than a minute for the Burst to vibrate with Alexios’s response.

“We have an address,” María says. “Greenwood 24.”

“Perfect.”

“Oliver, you need to find a place to stop right now,” Fernanda insists, her hand pressing firmly against the bleeding fabric on my arm. “You can go into hemorrhagic shock if we don’t get this wound properly cleaned and cauterized within the hour.”

“Thanks, but I will stop and take care of my wound once you are completely safe.”

Fernanda bursts out laughing. “You sound just like Damián.”

And with those words, my heart feels both full and terrified, hoping that wherever he is, Damián is alive and safe.

CHAPTER 21

DAMIÁN

I’m half asleep when my phone buzzes on the nightstand. I reach for the phone, blinking against the glare. It’s already eight in the evening.

Oh, man… Oliver must be freaking out that I haven’t contacted him today.

But I’m exhausted.

Preparing all the paperwork needed to arrest Elijah while simultaneously playing as Ollie’s right-hand man and sleeping with my boss whenever I get the chance has left me completely drained.

I’m so tired my eyes beg me to sleep for at least ten more minutes, but I know better. My man would freaking kill me.

Okay, Damián. Let’s text Oliver before he sends SWAT to the apartment.

After that, we can go back to sleep.

I unlock the phone and see eleven missed calls and fifteen unread texts.