Page 46 of Dr. Do-Right
Christine was screaming, spitting and snarling, thrashing in Asher’s hold while he struggled to subdue her with one arm.
“You almost killed me, you absolute cunt!” Sonia shouted, rasping. “You’ve terrorized my brother for years.” She ripped herself out of my arms, storming down the hall.
“Sonia!” Asher jerked, raising his hand to keep her away, just as Sonia reared back to kick the other woman in the stomach. Christine used her new, prone position to her advantage, twisting to slide a gleaming knife from her boot. She swung wildly, writhing out of Asher’s hold to catch Sonia in the arm with the blade. Another spray of blood splashed across the floor.
Asher kicked out, knocking Christine back and grabbing her arms, crushing her hand underneath his shoe, forcing her to drop her weapon. Mal scooped that up, too, while Asher swung her body around like it was nothing but a doll. Her face made a sickening crunch when he slammed her into the floor. Christine struggled, legs kicking, her arm bending at an awkward angle while he squeezed her throat between his forearm and bicep. One second, two. And she was limp.
He kept hold of her for another second before lowering her drooping body to the ground. Grunting, he pulled out a handful of zip ties, cinching her wrists one-handed. His other arm hung limply beside his body. Blood ran sluggishly down his sleeve.
“Do not,” he glared at Sonia, who was huddled on the floor a few feet away, “approach an attacker before they are properly restrained. Yes?”
“Y-yes,” Sonnie stuttered, staring at Christine while Asher looped the ties around her ankles.
“Rija.” I looked at Mal, who had carefully placed the weapons to the side, out of Christine’s reach. Not that she’d be able to getthem if she wanted them. She was unconscious and pliant while Asher hog-tied her.
“Mal.” We reached for each other at the same time. He wrapped his arm around me, burying his face in my neck. He smelled like sweat and stinging, metallic terror. I hugged him tighter as my heartbeat continued to pound in my ears, muffling everything else around us. Or maybe that was the echo of the gunshots still ringing in my head.
“Again, Sonia,” Asher ordered. I pulled away to crouch beside her, Mal kneeling, too, while Asher lectured. “You do not, under any circumstances, try to kick psychopaths until I have properly restrained them. Understood? Repeat it back, because I’m not ever doing that again with you, you hear me?”
“I won’t…I promise. Oh, my God, Asher.” She reached for him, but he was already there, gently cradling her outstretched arm with blunt, bloodstained fingers as he examined the nasty cut that sliced down her forearm.
“Call nine-one-one,” he muttered to Mal. “She’ll need stitches.” Mal ran to the living room to grab his phone.
“Me? Ash,yougot shot three times. How are you still standing?” Sonia’s hands rushed over his vest. It was covered in blood. He wasn’t really standing, either. He’d sort of slumped down next to Sonia and didn’t seem like he was planning on moving anytime soon. I reached out to take a closer look at the bullet wound on his shoulder, my training taking over even as my hands shook.
“Bulletproof vest. Protected the important stuff. Hurts like a bitch, though,” Asher grunted when I applied pressure to the bullet hole in his shoulder. He was still cradling Sonia’s arm with one hand, looping his earpiece in with the other. He pressed a button on his vest. “Perp is down. Two wounded in the penthouse. Repeat, perp is down. Two wounded.”
“Fuck, I’m a nurse!” Sonia jerked her arm back, scrambling to undo the velcro and buckles of his vest, trying to help me put pressure on his wounds with one hand. Mal knelt beside me again, talking steadily to the emergency dispatch.
“Now you want to get my clothes off? I’m probably up for it, babe, but I might need an aspirin or something,” Asher mumbled. The effect of his teasing was demolished by the waxy pallor of his skin. His lips were pale, eyes glassy as they looked up at her.
“Hey,” she snapped, gently peeling back a panel of his vest. “You’ve been shot. No flirting while you have bullets in you.”
“That’s going to cramp my style more than you’d think.”
In the distance, sirens wailed. Somewhere in the apartment, a door slammed.
“Asher? Ash!” Grayson barreled in, skidding to a stop at the mouth of the hallway. Siggy skidded, too, taking the corner too fast before leaping at me and Mal.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Asher slurred, waving his hand. It fell, flopping into Sonia’s lap. “You good? You?” He asked her, then me and Mal. Malachi reached over, pulling me close and clasping Sonnie’s shoulder, dragging Siggy into his arms.
“We’re good,” he whispered, sliding sideways to sit down. “We’re good,” he repeated. Like me, maybe he needed the reassurance. I slid my hand into his, holding on tight while Sonnie and I put pressure on Asher’s wounds. We listened as the sirens came closer and closer.
Chapter 15
“The alleged stalker was detained after a dramatic shootout in Dr. Dobrev’s Chicago apartment. Police reports detail how despite Dobrev’s private security being on the ground, Christine Malvern still managed to gain access to the building while it was being evacuated for a small electrical fire. She hid herself in the apartment’s trash chute before openly firing on Dobrev and others inside.”
“Trash chute,” Grayson muttered, glaring at the TV. He was taking Christine’s attack personally, and not just because his brother was still in the hospital.
Investigations were still ongoing, but security footage from outside our building clearly showed a figure with wild brown hair starting a fire near the air conditioning units behind the apartment building. Her distraction worked, and while the firefighters were clearing the building and putting out the flames, she’d snuck in, taking advantage of the stairway doors that automatically unlocked when the fire alarms started up. She’d wedged herself into the trash chute and waited for us to return.
Asher was beside himself that he hadn’t checked it.
“I have to apologize, again, on behalf of—” Grayson started, but me, Malachi, and Sonia all waved him off, interrupting and talking over him. He’d apologized enough for about three lifetimes.
I got the impression RISI was a legit operation, and Grayson ran a tight ship. I could tell it was killing him that Christine had ever gotten close to the apartment to begin with. While Mal didn’t hold Asher or Grayson personally responsible, he’d graciously allowed RISI to install a new state-of-the-art security system in the penthouse. Grayson and another RISI team member, Aiden, were also sticking around for a few more days, providing security to deter anyone else who wanted to harm me, Dr. Do-Right, or his career.
“Investigators in the case quickly reported no evidence that Dr. Dobrev had a romantic relationship with his attacker at any point in the past, leading many to believe her claims of pregnancy were false,” the reporter droned on.
