Page 204 of Salvatore

He’s not going to be fine. He’ll be fucking dead if he doesn’t get stitched up soon.

I grab my cell, drop it to the carpet, and kick it toward Ivy. “Go to my contacts. Find the details for Lorenzo’s Baltimore Doc.”

“He’s out of town,” Lorenzo croaks.

Fuck.Fuck.

I shrug off my jacket while he sways on his knees. “Then I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No. We don’t do hospitals.”

I screw my jacket into a ball and force it under his hand, hoping to stem the blood flow. “Given I’m now head of this family, I’m changing the rules.” I shoot Ivy a glance, her terror-filled stare and shaking hands stripping me bare. “Call an ambulance.”

“No.” Lorenzo clamps a hand on my shoulder, his face twisting as he tries to clear his throat through gritted teeth. A wet, ragged sound follows, his body shuddering with the effort.

“Give me permission to call a fucking ambulance.” I hold tighter to his arms, unwilling to defy him as he leans into me.

He shakes his head, swallowing hard, then coughs again—harsher this time, his chest bucking with the force. The struggle lasts a beat too long before the thin press of his lips gives way and a spray of blood splatters down his chin.

What the fuck?

The bullet wound isn’t close enough to have punctured his jugular. Where’s the blood coming from?

“Were you hit twice?” I demand.

He continues to choke, the carnage dripping down to the carpet.

I scan his body, yanking at the lapels of his suit jacket, exposing the dark red stain seeping across the chest of his white button-down.

No.

He careens forward, losing balance.

“Salvatore,” Ivy cries. “What do I do?”

“Stay down.” I raise my voice over the wind. “Hide under the desk.”

I catch Lorenzo’s weight, guiding him to lie back on the carpet.

“Save… your child.” He wheezes, squeezing my wrist. “Tell… my sons…”

“Sons?” I tug at his buttons and reef open his shirt, finding a bullet hole near his sternum. “What fucking sons?”

His mouth forms words with no sound as blood splutters his lips.

“Lorenzo? What sons?” I order, willing him to keep talking to me, to keep fucking fighting.

“Salvatore,please,” Ivy begs. “Move away from the window.”

I blink through the adrenaline, the fear, the rage, and glance at Ivy hiding beneath Lorenzo’s desk.

“I don’t want you to get shot.” Her eyes implore me more than the torment in her voice. “Please.”

I cut my attention to the overcast sky. There’s no neighboring buildings in sight from down here on the floor. No potential risk. “They can’t see me.”

I return my focus to Lorenzo, to dark eyes now staring unfixed at the ceiling.

The world falls quiet.

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