“Ari, wake up,” I pleaded. “Stay with me. I won’t fucking lose you now, goddammit!”

Rix skidded to a halt beside me. “Ambulance won’t be quick enough. We gotta get her there now.”

I ripped my shirt off and wrapped it around her neck before we lifted her and carried her to the SUV.

“Five minutes. She’ll be there in five minutes.” Rix met my eyes. “She’s gonna make it.”

* * *

It was the longest five minutes of my life, and then the longest two hours.

Rix, Valentina, and I sat there with Carver and the security guys, waiting for an update on Ari’s surgery.

“Any word?”

I jerked my head to the side, shaking off my stupor as Con Leahy sat down beside me.

“Where’d you come from?” I asked, shocked to see him here.

“Valentina called Vanessa. You got people who care. We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”

Ten minutes later, Lord walked into the waiting room and took a seat with a chin jerk. They waited with me for hours. Ari had never even met them, and I prayed she’d have the chance.

Our lives were a shattered mess of lies, death, and betrayal, but I didn’t care. Together, we could figure out how to pick up the pieces. Without her . . .

I didn’t even want to think about it.

Finally, a surgeon entered the waiting room and I stood. Rix got to his feet beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. My heart stuck in my throat as I waited for the verdict.

“Ms. Sampson’s family?”

“Right here,” I said.

The surgeon nodded, and my entire body tensed until he said, “She’s going to be fine. She’s in recovery now.”

He continued with a long-winded explanation of what they’d done to repair the damage, but only one word stuck with me, echoing in my head. Fine. Fine. Fine.

“Can I see her?”

His gaze cut to me. “Give us a half hour to get her settled in and for her to hopefully wake up, and a nurse will bring you back.”

“Thank you.” My voice hoarse, I reached out to shake his hand. “Thank you for making sure she had a shot.”

“You stopped the bleeding and got her here. If you hadn’t acted so quickly, we might have lost her. Today is Ms. Sampson’s lucky day.” He released my hand and turned to walk out.

Her lucky day? The day her brother was murdered and her ex-boyfriend nearly killed her?

As soon as I decided the surgeon and I must have different definitions of the word luck, it hit me that Ari and I had survived it all and were getting our shot at picking up the pieces.

Together.

64

Ariel

Everything was fuzzy when I opened my eyes. My mind kicked over into fight-or-flight mode, but a hand clenched mine and Rhett’s voice calmed my panic.

“Right here, Red. I got you.”

My throat was sore and my head swam, but fractured memories sliced through my head.

“What happened?” The memories felt like bad dreams. Nightmares. Like they couldn’t be real.

“Doesn’t matter right now,” Rhett said, but his tone told me so much more. The nightmares were real.

My brother sold me out to save his own life, and had wound up losing his anyway. He’d betrayed my family and his best friend. All for money.

My eyes burned as tears broke free, splashing hot on my cheeks. “Heath killed your dad. You must hate me.”

Rhett’s grip on my hand tightened. “Never. You had nothing to do with any of it. This isn’t your fault. You don’t get to take this on yourself.”

The words were so much like the ones I’d said to him once upon a time when we both thought my family had the moral high ground. All that had been shattered now.

“But—”

“He made his choice. It wasn’t your fault, Ari. None of it.”

I tightened my hold on his hand. Absolving myself wasn’t so easy. “I should’ve—”

Rhett pressed a finger to my lips as his gaze turned serious. “If my father’s sins aren’t mine to bear, then your brother’s aren’t yours.”

His words echoed in my head. How could I disagree with him when he put it like that? His father’s actions didn’t reflect on the man Rhett was . . . therefore the corollary should also be true.

But sound logic couldn’t wipe away my guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Rhett. Your dad . . .”

“He wouldn’t hold it against you either.”

I wanted to disagree. Argue. Rage that he was wrong and I was to blame, but I couldn’t without Rhett taking on the blame for his father’s actions. I couldn’t let him do that. He had borne too much responsibility for things he didn’t do. Now it was time for him to let go . . .

But I had no idea how I could. My brother’s betrayal was too fresh and too raw.

“I have to tell you the rest.”

Rhett climbed into bed beside me and held me as I told him everything, never letting me go, even as I cried through the end of it. His strength held me together, and eventually, my tears ran dry and a head poked through the doorway.

Carver. “I don’t want to interrupt, but I had to see for myself that you were okay.”

Rhett’s expression darkened as he turned to look at the man. “You can report back to your boss that she’s going to be fine and no longer requires your services.”

His boss? Did he just fire Carver? I’d missed something here. Carver didn’t protest, only nodded.

“It was a pleasure serving you, Ms. Sampson. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

With that, he left the room, and I looked at Rhett.

“I’ll tell you later. You need to rest.”

My eyes were already heavy, and I drifted off.

65

Rhett

“If my father’s sins aren’t mine to bear, then your brother’s aren’t yours.”

I replayed the words I’d said to Ari while she slept, but I wasn’t sure I believed them as they applied to me.

Eventually, the nurses had kicked me out of Ari’s bed, but I refused to leave the room. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight for a long damned time.