Page 40 of Raphael
Distantly, Michael’s voice cuts through the static roaring inside my skull. “What’s going on here? Raphael—do youknowher?” His brows are drawn tight, scrutinizing me.
“Helena! Sweetheart, what happened?” I beg, the question swirling endlessly in my head. “What…?”
My legs nearly give out. Sound roars back in a dizzying wave. Michael is arguing with Security, demanding they remove me now that I’m compromised. Blinding fury whites out everything else. Because now I register her clothes tattered and bloody, bruises mottling her flawless skin in a harrowing accusation of attack. Helena’s vital fluids trickle steadily over the floor as we stand helplessly beside her. And all I can understand is that someone I love deeply hangs now between saving and tragedy under our hands.
My mind spins wildly, imagining what sadistic acts reduced my fierce beloved to this broken shell, barely recognizable. What vicious monsters I’ll soon hunt beyond mercy for such desecrations...
“Who did this to you, Helena?” I growl through gritted teeth. “Who...?!”
I’m jerked back to the present moment by a sudden cacophony of alarms. My head whips towards the monitor displays as Helena’s vitals take a dangerous leap into critical territory. The medical team bursts into coordinated motion around me, shouts rebounding sharply off sterile surfaces.
I can’t think. I can’t stop the overwhelming tide of dread and fury sweeping over me. It’s too much. A guttural moan rips from my chest. “Fuck!” I rear back, punching the concrete wall with my fist. Startled murmurs echo in the room as cracks spiderweb rapidly across the surface. But I’m already stumbling away, skin splitting unheeded across my bloodied knuckles.
“Jordan!” Michael shouts, calling the security guard with a wave of his hand. The man is an intimidating presence, towering over us like a professional wrestler.
A primal growl escapes me before logic kicks in. I’m vaguely aware of protocol demanding my withdrawal. But leaving Helena unprotected feels viscerally treasonous. Michael yells at me again, and my warring halves clash dangerously. I twist enough from his sturdy grip, locking my arm to meet his steely eyes. He braces against the unhinged agony roiling beneath my carefully constructed facade, now threatening to unleash violently without my beloved to soothe the scared kid left behind.
“Leave, Rafa!” he orders me, the wrath of an archangel commander seeping into his voice.
“No!” I shout back, my voice turning into a primal growl as desperation consumes me. “Michael, I can’t abandon her! She needs me!” Pain cracks my desperate plea.
“Not like this!” my brother retorts sternly. “Right now, she needsme!” Michael’s unwavering expression silences any further protests. Despite his typically gracious demeanor, he now stands firm and unyielding.
He pushes me away, towards the waiting security team. “Go cool off and then scrub in, Raphael. I’ll guard her life myself until you get back. She’s safe. GO!”
His stern tone forces me out of that room, which has become my personal hell. In passing, I catch glimpses of my brother removing the bloodied bandages, then snap harsh gestures at the hovering staff to clear efforts stabilizing Helena. Their swift response stops me from glimpsing her beloved face again.
The security guard’s warm voice reaches my ears. “I apologize, Doc. Will you be alright?”
I don’t respond, my eyes fixed on the shock-trauma room. The guard escorts me down long hallways, taking me farther away from where I can hear Michael shouting orders over my loved one’s broken body being rushed towards either recovery or tragedy...
CHAPTER25
Helena
The sharp scentof antiseptic assaults my nostrils, jolting me awake. I gasp in pain as the pungent odor invades my senses. Where am I?
Blinking my sticky eyes open, I find myself not in the DeLux office, but in a dimly lit private hospital room. An IV trails from my heavily bandaged arm to a dripping bag of clear fluid. Monitoring equipment emits rhythmic beeps in time with my racing pulse.
Fragmented memories flood back in a dizzying rush—the bookkeeping investigation, lurking assailants at the empty club, a vicious brawl I only barely survived...
I try sitting up, but blinding fire sears my every nerve. My agonized cry brings a nurse rushing in, her eyes wide at finding me awake. “Don’t try to move, dear!” she warns me. “You have extensive injuries.”
She checks my vitals and dosage while I drift, her words washing over me indistinctly. My battered thoughts stall on how I even got here. The last coherent scrap was passing out in that alley after... after what? That blur of violence still eludes me.
The nurse says something about getting the doctor for an examination and sweeps out. My heavy eyelids droop, too weak to resist the cloying pull of the pain medication. But just as I’m about to slip under again, a beloved voice speaking my name jolts me back from the brink.
“Welcome back, sweetheart...”
I catch a whiff of his soothing cologne, his presence immediately allaying my hurting body.
“Raphael...?” I rasp, my voice foreign to my ears. A tender hand brushes the hair from my forehead and I force my eyelids open to find him hovering over me, maroon eyes alight with grief.
“Hush now, save your strength.” Raphael’s warm tone wraps comfortingly around me, despite the ragged edge of fear beneath. His thumb carefully traces my uninjured cheek.
I try forming the flood of questions simmering in my addled brain. How did he find me? Does he know what happened? But speaking takes more energy than I can summon.
Raphael seems to read the unvoiced queries in my eyes. “You’re safe now, Helena.” His voice hitches before steadying. “Rest and heal.”
