Page 199 of Bleeding Hearts Duet

Mick rattled off an address to someone on the phone and then kneeled down and rolled Ryland so he was completely flat. His eyes were closed, and there was blood seeping into his shirt. I let out a sob and held my hand against the wound as I felt for a pulse.

“You have to hold on, baby,” I sobbed. “You have to hold on.”

“The ambulance is on its way,” Mick said, moving my hand so he could apply pressure to Ryland’s wound. I let him, only so I could hold him.

I stroked his hair and pleaded with him to be okay.

He didn’t move. And I couldn’t look away from his face. I knew that Brayden was okay. I heard him trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t look at him. I could only look at Ryland. I couldn’t lose him. It wasn’t fair. We’d finally just gotten things right. We were finally okay.

“Please, Ryland,” I sobbed. “Please come back to me. You have to come back to me. I just can’t do this without you.”

I heard footsteps, and then the room filled with people I didn’t know. Police and medics rushed in, trying to pry me away from him.

“Please,” I begged. “He’s my husband. You have to save him!”

Mick came and pulled me against him, trying to calm me as they lifted Ryland’s body onto a board and carried him away.

“We have to go with him,” I cried. “We have to go now!”

A policeman ushered us towards the door, and then I paused one last time. I knew I shouldn’t look. But I had to see him. I had to see for myself.

I glanced back at the ground where Alfredo lay with hollow cheeks and lifeless eyes. There was blood everywhere, and his body was riddled with bullets. I had done that. I had killed him. And I was glad.

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