I can barely lift my hand to touch my temple where he hit me and cower. I dropped my phone along the way and my purse is probably three feet away from me on the ground with my gun in it. There’s no way for me to reach for it. Talking is my only option.
“I don’t know anything, Trevor. You know I love Megan. I would never do anything to hurt your family.”
The tears start to well in my eyes from the pain and fear combined. Tears I haven’t shed in so long. Months after my parents died I was cried out, dried up, nothing left in me. But now they’re coming with a vengeance and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.
Still on my knees, balancing on one hand, Trevor crouches to me, his face so close I feel his breath on my face as he spews in a quiet, menacing voice, “You better not have, you fucking bitch. If I find out you had anything to do with what went down at my house last week, I’ll come after you, Gabby. This is nothing compared to what I’ll do to you, but I’ll fucking play with you first. We’ll see how sweet you are, and trust me, you won’t enjoy it one fucking bit, do you hear me? You’ve got that coming for being such a cold bitch all these years.”
With that he stands up and a powerful kick connects with my torso, my body hurled to the side with the force of his boot. Closing my eyes, the pain shoots through me like lightening. Then, as quick as he came, he was gone, and I don’t have enough energy to see which way he went. I lay here for a few minutes silently crying before trying to get up but my middle hurts so badly I can barely move.
Finally, I manage to pull myself up to a sitting position when I hear a noise and a door slam. Scrambling as fast as I can to put my back to the wall thinking it could be Trevor, I wince from the pain in my head, face, and probably my ribs. A younger kid comes around the dumpster wearing all black with a white apron, carrying a huge bag of trash.
Taking one look at me, he drops the trash and rushes my way. I don’t know why, but I cringe, trying to get away, and grimace from the pain it causes, letting out a sob.
“It’s okay,” he says softly, stopping to hold his palms out, showing me he’s not going to hurt me. He pulls a cell out of his back pocket and starts to dial. “Don’t move, I’m going to call for help, okay?”
Closing my eyes, I try to concentrate to find a place on my body that doesn’t hurt as I listen to the young kid talk on the phone describing the mess in front of him. Then I try to remember back to just this morning when I didn’t feel alone, thinking that was really short lived, as the tears I dread so much start to flow freely for the first time in years.
Chapter Nine
Mine
“If you don’t calm the fuck down, Ortiz, I’m not letting you walk into that hospital. I’ll hold you down myself, boy, you understand me?” Mac growls, driving too fast through the city streets. He insisted on bringing me, like I couldn’t fucking get to her on my own, and I could’ve done it a hell of a lot faster. “She does not need to see you like this. Get your shit together.”
“I’ve got a handle on it—would you just get me there?” I bite back.
I got a call fifteen minutes ago from Tony, letting me know Gabby had been transported to Lakeside Hospital. He got a call from police and was on his way, but he hasn’t seen her yet. All the police told him was that she’d been worked over, she was in bad shape, and was transported by ambulance.
When I hung up the phone from Tony, I fucking lost it. Not knowing what had happened to her, thinking of the possibilities of what could’ve happened, made me lose my mind. I threw my chair across the office and put my foot through a wall. It took three guys to hold me down. Mac called his contact at OPD and they haven’t gotten her statement yet because EMS needed to transport her right away, which cannot be good. The only thing that made me get it together is that Mac did find out none of her clothing had been ripped, torn or removed from what the first responding officers could see.
I didn’t do enough. I knew she had been threatened on the wiretap, her house had been broken into and I still let her talk me into going out this afternoon by herself. One fucking store. Damn it. It had to be Harper or one of his henchmen, it’s been five days and we don’t have them behind bars yet.
We finally get to the hospital and Mac pulls into a no parking lane next to the ER entrance. Some security guy is standing there, walks up to us as I get out and run to the doors. I hear Mac tell him who we are and badge him, but I don’t look back. I turn and move to the waiting room where I find Tony, his dad and Gino standing there in suits.
“Where is she?” I demand.
“She’s in CT, we haven’t seen her yet,” Gino answers. The three of them look like what I feel, a wreck of worry and rage.
Turning to the attendant at the counter, I pull out my credentials and move that way. “I need to speak to the EMS team who brought in Gabrielle Carpino. Now. Where can I find them?”
She looks at my badge and then to me. “Through those doors, I’ll buzz you in. They should be repacking their equipment.”
I look back at Gabby’s family. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
Giving me head lifts, I turn to the doors as the attendant buzzes me through to the ER. Looking to the left, I see a pair of EMS packing up their gurney and bags.
I show them my badge. “Did you bring in Gabrielle Carpino? Young woman, thin, about five-seven, blonde?”
The tall guy turns to me. “Yeah. She was beat up pretty bad. They’ve got her in CT checking for a concussion. She had two blows to the head, one in back and the other at her temple. They’re taking her to x-ray after that. From what we could tell, she already had bruises forming on her torso, I’m sure they’ll be checking for cracked ribs. They’ll have to assess for internal damage from that blow—the bruises were forming fast.”
“What else?” I demand, glaring at them, hoping they catch my inference. I might lose my mind again if I have to spell it out. “Was there anything else?”
“I was in the back of the rig with her,” the female answers. “She had all of her clothes on when we got to her. I was trying to keep her talking because of the blow to head, watching her eyes, making sure she was coherent and knew what was happening around her. She said he back handed her and gave her a boot to the gut, but other than that, only threatened her. I asked if she knew him and she said she did but wouldn’t talk anymore. Other than the injuries we just told you about, I don’t think anything else happened.”
Closing my eyes and dropping my head, I let out a breath. Getting it together, I look up. “Thank you. Who’s
her doctor?”
“Dr. Aimes. He’s good, evaluated her and sent her for tests right away to see what he was dealing with. She should be back soon,” the guy answers.
“I appreciate it.” I turn back to the waiting room to let her family know. When I get there, the Carpinos have started multiplying. Nic is here with two of her aunts and some of her cousins. I tell them what I know and we have to wait for her to get back. Mac is standing off to the side and I join him.
Twenty minutes later, a white-haired doctor in green scrubs comes through the doors, announcing, “Gabrielle Carpino?”