Page 105 of Taking Care of the Target

Everyone around her died. The people she loved most had been ripped away from her. So the next time the stark hopelessness that wanted her so badly called to her, she didn’t fight the icy arms that wrapped around her and dragged her all the way to rock bottom.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Gentle shaking jarred Cassie awake. She wasn’t on the floor anymore, but in a chair, and Bobby was saying her name.

“Is Vince…?” The rest of her words caught in her throat.

“He’s through the worst,” Bobby said, and her heart jolted into motion, taking a full, satisfying beat for the first time since the shooting started. “Surgery went well. The bullet didn’t break any of his bones, but he needed a transfusion halfway through. They had him in recovery for a while, but they just moved him into a room.”

Agent Mancini stepped in front of them. “I’ll take you to see him. From now on, you guys need to have escorts everywhere you go—even just to the bathroom—and we’ve called in a few U.S. marshals who’ll guard Vince’s room at all times. From now until the end of the trial, we’re tripling the protection.”

“That means more people will know where we are,” Cassie said. “A bigger chance of someone talking.”

“Agent McVee found the leak. He didn’t sleep all night because he was so angry about it. Trust me, the person will be punished severely. I assure you, we’ve checked everyone who’s coming on board. The marshals already lost Deputy Florez, and that makes them even more motivated. They want someone to pay as much as you do.”

Cassie wished that provided more assurance, but her firsthand experience with Carlo’s contacts and just how far his reach extended made her wary to relax her guard.

All things she’d worry more about later. She stood and winced. Her nose and lips felt twice their usual size, and her entire body ached, but none of that mattered as long as Vince was going to be okay. “Lead the way.”

As she, Bobby, and Agent Mancini walked the white halls of the hospital, he said, “We do need to check in with the court this morning. If you want to postpone your testimony until you’ve healed a bit—”

“I want to testify on schedule. Let them see my beat up face and add that to my testimony.” She turned to Bobby. “I assume I look a little rough? If it feels this bad and I don’t even have bruises, I’ll feel like such a wimp.”

“Always a dangerous question from a girl,” he said with a smile. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “But you don’t need to feel like a wimp, if that answers your question.”

Cassie smiled and then her tongue went to the split in her lip.Ouch.

Agent McVee greeted them outside of Vince’s room. Cassie wanted to believe everything would be all puppies and rainbows now, but she’d seen the bloody hole in his shoulder. No doubt he’d need a lot of recovery time, so she told herself to keep her expectations in check.

“I was about to call Mancini. Vince just woke up and told me I had five minutes to produce you two or he’d rip out his IV and hunt you down. He’s got real charming manners, I tell you.”

“That’s what first drew me to him,” Cassie joked, and the agent smiled and pulled open the door. Instead of letting the familiar beep of monitors and antiseptic smell psych her out, she reminded herself that without hospitals and the people who worked there, she might’ve never recovered from being hit by a truck, and Vince would’ve probably died last night.

She still hoped to never have to come to one again after this.

Vince looked up as she entered the room, and she rushed over to his bedside. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and hauled her onto the bed with him.

Tears erupted again, a mix of relief and joy and regret at all the bad that’d happened last night. She pressed her face to the crook of his neck and held on for all she was worth. “I was so scared I was going to lose you.”

He squeezed her tighter to him. “I just got you back. I’m not going anywhere.”

After she got herself semi under control, she raised her head and kissed his cheek, leaving her lips resting against the stubble. He turned his face and kissed her softly. With a frown, he reached up and gently traced her nose and the cut on her mouth.

“I’m okay. It’ll look great in court; don’t you think?” She placed her hand over his heart, taking comfort in the steady thump under her palm. “What about you? How’s the pain?”

“Not too bad.” Obviously he was lying. His face was paler than usual, and he’d been shot and had major surgery. He looked over at Bobby.

They didn’t exchange words, just a series of nods that said they loved each other in their own way, even if they didn’t come out and verbally say it.

Since shedidbelieve in saying it, she took Vince’s hand and then reached for Bobby’s. “You DaMarco boys are my family now, and I love you both. Thanks for saving me last night.”

Bobby shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile.

When she turned back to fully face Vince, he kissed her and then moved his lips next to her ear. “Thanks for not dying.”

“Right back at you. It’s the least I could do, really,” she said. But she planned to do a lot more, starting with making sure the guy who’d come after her family spent the rest of his life behind bars.

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