The things we didn’t want to see.
If we had control, I would’ve looked down and seen the reason my friend was coated in blood. I would’ve known why his wife was crying and praying. Because once it allowed me to, I saw what I didn’t want to.
My heart. My life. My love.
Lying between them in a pool of blood.
Chapter Fifteen
Valentin
I hit my knees. “Cereza.”
I’d heard people talk about their life flashing before their eyes, but I always thought it was a crock of shit. How could an entire lifetime spin like a slot machine in the half-second before everything went ass end up?
But it did. It flashed like a series of rapid-fire snapshots as I stared down in shock at the jacket covering my wife’s chest. The one shiny and wet, the edges dripping with blood.
Snap.
Puckered red lips blowing a piece of sloppy, candy-red hair off her face as she poured my drink. A pair of cut-off jean shorts and a Caliente tank top drawing my attention way more than they should’ve.
Snap.
Pissed off blue eyes glaring at me with the hatred of a thousand suns as she ripped off the shirt I’d just tied around the gash on her arm, balled it up, and threw it in my face.
Snap.
Her hands cuffed above her head and her legs wrapped around my waist as she screamed my name. The feel of her resolve breaking and shattering around me the harder I drove into her.
Snap.
My queen walking through the doors of this estate in a beige dress. Returning to me on her own free will. Offering herself to me forever. “Forever, Val. Forever.”
Snap.
Forever. She promised forever.
“Hey, Danger. Some party, huh?” Eden attempted a weak smile, a rattled cough catching her off guard. I reached for her, the walls of my chest crumbling as blood gurgled out of her mouth.
I can’t breathe. I palmed her cheek, forcing my hand not to shake. I knew what she wanted, but I couldn’t give it to her. I didn’t have a sharp comeback left. The banter that defined us had silenced along with my heart.
Needing some sliver of hope, I glanced up at Mateo who just closed his eyes and shook his head.
Something inside me snapped. “Let me see.”
Mateo’s eyes opened, and he leveled a hard stare at me. “Val.”
“I said let me see!”
Heaving a heavy sigh, he nodded to Leighton, who released the pressure she held on the jacket, gently pulling it away to reveal a bullet wound in Eden’s chest pumping out blood faster than I knew her body could handle.
I clenched my teeth. “Go find Dr. Vidal.”
I didn’t have to ask twice. Before I finished saying the name, Mateo was gone amidst the still rapid gunfire and chaotic screams. A strained silence stretched between me and the small blonde kneeling across from me, her irritating sniffles, a Molotov cocktail to my already burning soul.
“Stop crying,” I snarled, my eyes never leaving Eden’s face. “I don’t want to hear it. All I want to hear is the name of the man who did this.”
Eden inhaled a wheezing breath. “Val, stop.”
“Cereza,” My tone softened as I leaned down and kissed her cheek. She was so fucking cold. “Save your strength.” I cut my eyes up at Leighton. “Name.”
She shook her head, her long blonde hair sticking to her wet, black-streaked tears. “I don’t know. We found her like this.”
“Cereza,” My hands cradle her face. Please, no. Por favor, Santa Muerte… “Who hurt you?”
Eden’s eyes glazed over, her ragged breaths becoming quick and shallow. “Don’t… know…” Gasping, her broken words trailed off as her beautiful face contorted, her mouth falling open in a silent scream.
“What’s wrong? Eden! What the hell’s happening?”
Her answer was a violent shake of her head.
“Eden! Answer me, goddamn it!” I shouldn’t have yelled at her. I didn’t mean to yell at her. I didn’t want her to think I was mad at her. I wasn’t. I meant, fuck yeah I was mad, but not at her. I was mad at everything. I was furious.
Furious and scared out of my fucking mind.
“Val.”
I glared up at Leighton. “What?”
She swallowed hard, nodding to where Eden’s fisted hand weakly reached toward her stomach. “The baby.”
And just like the snapshots, my mind relinquished more control, flashing another all too recent memory before my eyes.
“Eden?” I grabbed her arm as she leaned forward only to have her bat my hand away. I called her name two, three more times and all I got in return were clenched fists and closed eyes. That’s it. Fuck this. “I’m sending for Dr. Vidal,” I announced, scanning for Mateo.
Her eyes popped open, and I let out a curse as she sank her nails into my arm. “Val, no! I’m fine. It’s just a little false labor. Nothing to worry about.”
“Oh fuck.”
“Found him.” My mind was a carousel of panic as I turned my head and narrowed my eyes at Mateo as he marched the cartel’s wide-eyed doctor toward us with a gun pressed to the back of his head. “He was hiding near the back of the property under a fallen canopy.” Curling his lip up in disgust, he shoved the barrel hard against his skull. “Piece of shit coward.”
The white-haired man was shaking like a goddamn pussy, but I didn’t have time to deal with it. I needed him alive and capable in order to help Eden.
I’d kill him later.
“Gunshot to the chest and possible labor. Fix her.” Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that the hailstorm of bullets had calmed, but it was an insignificant detail at the moment. As Mateo shoved Dr. Vidal down on his knees beside Eden, I added, “Your life depends on hers.”
As far as he knew.
When she cried out as he inspected her wound, I gritted my teeth, barely restraining myself from blowing his head off. But when he parted her legs and reached under her dress, Mateo had to hold me back. The logical side of me knew it was clinical. It was for our baby. But the jealous man wanted to snap his arms off and shove them down his fucking throat.
Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. By the time he rose to his feet, I felt like I’d been skinned alive and wrapped with an electrical wire. “Well?” I demanded.
“The baby is in distress, Señor Carrera. Your wife is in active labor, but…” he paused, a grimace painting his face.
“But?”
“Under normal circumstances, I would see no problem, but with a bullet in her chest.” He let out a heavy sigh, his face paling. “I’m sorry, señor. Her body will never withstand the strain of childbirth.”
No. I wouldn’t accept that. Not now. Not ever. I was Valentin Carrera, and I got whatever I wanted.
And I wanted a fucking miracle.
Roaring, I shoved my gun right between his eyes. “Then make it stop.” Instead of doing as I demanded, the piece of shit went almost catatonic. “Fuck this.” Turning toward Mateo, I motioned beyond the courtyard. “I have two medic choppers on standby. Vergara should already be there with Brody and Adriana. Gaheris!” I yelled to where Niko still sat like a pit bull over Ava. “Get your wife. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”