“Wow, this one is deep,” one of the nurses says as she inspects her head wound.
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask nervously.
She glances up at me. “Are you her husband?”
I swallow hard. “I’m her boyfriend and was with her when this happened,” I explain, looking down at my shirt, noticing blood on it. Maddie’s blood. All this time, I’ve been worried about her getting hurt being around me; however, I never imagined something like this could happen.
Once the wound is cleaned, a male doctor enters and introduces himself to me. Next, the nurse reads out pertinent information, and he looks at her cut. After a moment, the doctor explains he’ll suture the cut to hopefully avoid infections and to stop the bleeding. Afterward they’ll take her for a CT scan to check for any fractures or internal bleeding. All I can think about is how confused she’s going to be about all of this. She’ll have a lot of questions, but unfortunately, I don’t have many answers.
Whoever did this will fucking pay, it’s the last thought that comes into my mind as my phone buzzes with a group text message from Lennon, Sophie, Hunter, and Mason.
Sophie: We’re all on our way there right now.
Lennon: I’m so worried. Please update us, Liam.
Hunter: Yeah, let us know how she’s doing. Also, I talked to the cops. They said a detective may meet you at the hospital.
Mason: What the fuck happened?
I read them all, already overwhelmed.
Liam: She’s stable. They just stitched the cut on her head, and they’re taking her to get a scan soon. Finding out as much as I can, but it’s gonna be a while. Don’t know what happened. I pressed unlock to the G-Wagon and it exploded. That’s all I know.
They each send a thank you. There has only been a handful of times in my life where I’ve felt so defeated, and this is one of them. I stare at Maddie as they continue to work on her, then wheel her off for a CT scan. She’s gone for almost an hour, and I can barely concentrate. Everyone’s in the waiting room since they’ll only allow one person in here, and I told them I’d take turns if they wanted to see her. I pace, reading all the medical signs posted on the wall, and just when I sit down in the chair, she’s brought back in.
I stand over her, gently brushing my fingers against her arm, overly anxious.
With a raspy voice, she looks at me. “Liam?”
Relief and joy flood through me, and I kneel so I can be closer to her face. “Mads. Baby.”
“What happened?” Wincing, she reaches for her head, but I grab her hand and place kisses along her knuckles. “My head hurts so bad. The room feels like it’s spinning.”
“I know, baby. There was an accident. Someone planted a bomb in the G-Wagon, and when it exploded, a piece of metal flew off and struck you. It gave you a pretty big gash and bruises but they stitched it up. You probably have a concussion, but they did a CT scan to check for bleeding or fractures. They should be back with the results soon.”
“Wow.” She blinks. “I don’t remember any of that,” she says, closing her eyes tight, and I can’t imagine how much pain she’s in. “Feels like a hammer is pounding against my skull, though.”
“I’m so sorry, Maddie. God, I’m so sorry,” I repeat over and over, choking on each word.
“You didn’t do this,” she says, even in a state like this. Sweet, compassionate Maddie won’t allow me to blame myself.
I shake my head. “It’s all my fault. I was targeted and you got hurt. This is my worst nightmare,” I admit, hating the discomfort that’s written all over her face.
“I’m okay. It’ll be okay.” I fucking hope so. But I know she’s a fighter.
“Your sisters are here. Do you want to see them? We’ll have to take turns, but I’ll force myself to leave and let them in.”
Her eyes are sad, but she nods. “Yes, please.”
I smile and give her a soft kiss before standing.
“I love you, Liam,” she tells me before I walk out of the room.
“I love you too. Always.”
I go into the waiting room, and Sophie and Lennon both jump up when they see me.
“Well?” Sophie asks.
“Just waiting on the results of the CT scan, but she’s finally awake,” I explain.
“Oh, thank God,” Lennon breathes out and places her hand over her heart. Hunter is holding baby Aaron in his lap, but he’s listening intently to everything we say.
“She wants to see you two.” I look at Lennon and Sophie. “I told her you were here.”
The two of them argue about who’s going first, but Sophie plays the oldest sister card and wins. “I won’t be too long,” Sophie tells her, then gets a visitor's badge and is escorted to the back. Before I can sit down with the others, a detective walks up. Mason stands and shakes his hand, and I’m sure they know each other because of their professions and who Mason’s father is.
“Hi, Liam Evans?” He’s older, but it looks like he could take any of us in a fight.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s me.”
“I’m Detective Knight.” He turns his head and looks around. “Do you have a moment to chat in private about what happened?”
I glance at Mason and Hunter. Mason gives me a head nod, and by his reaction, I know I can actually trust this guy. The two of us walk into a long hallway with no one else around us other than the random person going from the vending machines back to the waiting room. The detective pulls a small notepad from his pocket and begins with his questions.
“So the car is registered to Victoria O’Leary. Did you not change it over into your name?”
“That’s my ex-wife,” I explain. “She was coming to pick it up soon.” I blow out a breath. “I actually have to call her and tell her about this because she’s not aware.”
“Oh, alright, makes sense. Can you tell me what you were doing before the explosion?” he asks.
I go through the afternoon, about how I went to work and explained what I do for a living. Then I tell him we had a few beers and the girls came back from being together, and how I remembered I had bought something for Maddie. I recall every step from kissing her, to going inside, to unlocking the vehicle.
“So it blew up after you hit unlock?” he asks.
I nod. “Within seconds.”
He studies me carefully. “Do you know anyone who would have some sort of vendetta against you? Someone who’d want to hurt or kill you?”
“Considering my profession, I’d say there are a lot of people who don’t really care for me.”
“Enough to want you dead?” he asks.
My mouth goes dry as I go through the list of people I’ve brought to jail this year. “Most of them have issues. They all seemed pretty upset, but I couldn’t name any one who would go to this extreme.”
“No one?” he presses.
I think about Victoria again, but the last thing I want to do is name-drop her and bring more attention to the mob than necessary. It’d just open more drama, and she’d somehow spin it to make me look insane, but it could be her.