Page 61 of She's Mine

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DAVID

It felt like my eyelids were glued together and my head was filled with cotton wool.

Where was I?

Without my sight, my other senses went into overdrive, and I was assaulted by a number of scents and sounds.

Disinfectant.

A heart monitor.

The slow, steady breathing of someone else in the room.

I was in a hospital.

The last thing I remembered was staggering to the shack entrance as a helicopter landed, and Charles Blythe appeared from behind the ridge Alyssa, and I had trekked up to safety. I’d seen Alyssa embrace her father, and then I’d blacked out.

I had no ideawhathad happened since then, but the fact I was in hospital was a good sign.

Slowly, I forced my eyes open and was assaulted by the bright, hospital lights.

“Too bright,” I croaked weakly, my voice hoarse after so long of not using it.

From a seat nearby, Jeffrey stood and turned down the light, revealing who the person I’d heard breathing was.

Thankfully, he looked completely unharmed.

“Where’s Alyssa?” I asked, as Jeffrey returned to the seat beside my bed.

“Charles and Pamela have taken her home. She wanted to stay; she’s been desperate to see you. But, well … Charles found out about the pregnancy. You can imagine how he reacted.”

I shuddered thinking about how Charles Blythe must have reacted upon learning I’d gotten his daughter pregnant. But I’d deal with Charles as soon as I was able to. Right now, I needed to know Alyssa and the baby were okay.

“Are they … were they?”

Jeffrey easily guessed what I meant, and gently laid his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, mother and baby are both fine. Alyssa was checked over as soon as you were both admitted, and they gave her an ultrasound scan. The baby is perfectly healthy and growing as it should be.”

“Oh, thank God!”

Knowing Alyssa and our child were safe and well was a weight off my mind, but that didn’t quell the intenseneedI had to be with her. To wrap her in my arms, and make surenothingever hurt her again.

I tried to push myself out of bed, but a wave of dizziness crashed over me, and I was forced to lay back down.

“Tell meeverything,” I demanded of Jeffrey.

Even though my legs were completely numb, and my body felt like it had been run over by a steamroller, I said nothing and waited patiently as Jeffrey told me the whole story.

After realizing Alyssa and I were missing, Jeffrey had retraced my steps and realized Alyssa had been taken by the Bloodline. He’d rightly deducted I’d gone off alone to rescue her. Thankfully, with the help of Felicity of J&J Security’s tech department, Jeffrey was not only able to retrieve the message Alyssa had sent to me, but also pinpoint the location of the Bloodline’s hideout.

From there, Jeffrey, Charles and an assault team from J&J Security had stormed the Bloodline’s hideout. The fight had come down to Charles, Hernández and Joseph. I was shocked to learn that Joseph had turned on Hernández upon learning that the cartel leader had paid the coroner to tell Charles that Joseph was dead. Joseph had been about to reconcile with his father when Hernández shot at Charles and Joseph dived in the way to save his father. At the exact same time, a sniper had taken out Hernández. The irony was, Charles had been wearing full body armor at the time, and probably would have survived the shot from Hernández.

The doctors weren’t sure Joseph would recover from his injuries. He was currently in a coma, in intensive care, and no one was sure he’d ever wake again.

Before he’d blacked out, Joseph had had the chance to tell Charles to find Alyssa, and that she was pregnant.

Knowing me and his daughter were out in the California wilderness somewhere, Charles had instantly called the emergency services, while the remaining members of the Bloodline had been taken into police custody.

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