Page 73 of His Kingdom

I sigh, looking towards the glass that separates us from my wife’s lifeless body. Sprawled out on the hospital bed. The doctors assured me she’d pull through. They got the bullet out, and they said it missed anything vital. Which means she should be waking the fuck up.

“I’ll come with you to the drop,” I tell Sammie. I can’t let him go alone. “I want this whole fucking hospital surrounded. I want ten men in this hallway, and I want them all warned that if anything happens to her, it’s their lives they’ll pay with.”

The doors open and Emmanuel walks in. “She okay?”

“Where the fuck have you been?” I grunt.

Was it him? Did he have something to do with that kid pulling the trigger?A bullet that was supposed to be aimed for me and not my wife.

“I went to track down a contact. I heard what happened and came back,” he says.

The doors push open again and Charlotte’s friend comes running down the hall. The same one who was supposed to be on a flight out of here. “Where is she?” Evie screams. “What the hell did you do?” Her fists slam against my chest the moment she reaches me.

Emmanuel grabs her around the waist and pulls her back. “Whoa, it wasn’t him,” he tells her.

“If it weren’tfor him, nothing would have happened to her. Where is…” Evie stops short when she spots Charlotte through the window. “No!”

“She’s going to be okay,” I tell her. “She’s going to wake up.”

Evie glares at me, shakes out of Emmanuel’s hold, and walks into the hospital room.

“Tracking down a contact or stalking an unsuspecting woman?” Sammie muses.

“Shut the fuck up,” Emmanuel hisses at him.

“We’ve got a shipment coming in. I need to go and get it,” I tell Emmanuel. “You gonna stick around?”

“I’ll go. You stay,” he says. “I know what you think. But it wasn’t fucking me, Louie. You really need to get over your hangups. I’m not out to fucking shoot you in the back. We both know I’d do it while you were looking right at me.”

“My wife is lying unconscious in a fucking hospital bed. Forgive me for not trusting you!” I yell at him.

“Remember, that’s your wife’s best friend. You can’t kill her.” He smirks. “I’ll be back. Let’s go, Sammie.”

“You know it’s pretty fucked up, you collecting your own product,” Sammie replies.

“You know what else is fucked up? The sound of your fucking voice,” Emmanuel throws back at him as they walk out.

“Uncle Louie, when my mama was in the hospital, I used to play music for her. It would always make her happy. Maybe you can play music for Charlotte.” Jazzy’s little voice has me looking down.

“Your mama was in the hospital?” I ask, and the little girl nods her head. Carlo hasn’t been able to get anything out of the kid about her mother. It’s fucking weird. Most kids would at least slip and say a name or something. “Well, thanks for the tip. I’ll have to try it.”

“I’m going to take her home.” Carlo looks to me. “You gonna be good here?”

“Yep, dig into the asshole. I want to know if he was working alone or not,” I tell him.

“On it,” he says, scooping Jazzy up and walking out.

I push into the room and sit next to Charlotte. I pull out my phone. I want to play her something and I have no fucking idea what music she likes. “Fuck!”

My fist clenches. She’s my wife. I should know what kind of fucking music she likes. Why didn’t I ask her more questions?

“Are you okay?” Evie says.

“My wife was shot. So, no, I’m not fucking okay,” I grunt at her.

“What happened?”

“She jumped in front of a bullet that was meant for me.”It was supposed to be me.

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