Page 112 of Triple Power Play 3
Why is that voice torturing me?
51
AURORA
Jittery, I step back into the security room and away from Charlie. “I want the twins.” My voice trembles, and my lungs struggle to draw in air. I place my hand on my tight chest, trying to ward off the impending panic attack.
You’ll be with the guys soon. You can fall apart then.
Our home has become a war zone, and I don’t know who to trust right now except Ethan, Jax, Reece, Desi, and Dante.
Charlie raises his hands in a calming gesture. “It’s okay, Aurora. I need to get you to the hospital before Reece is taken into surgery. He’d want to see you.”
I want that too, but Reece is out of it. I doubt he’ll comprehend I’m there. “He’d want me to be safe.”
He nods placatingly. “Youaresafe. He asked me to care for you.”
Not believing him, I retreat farther.
Across the house, voices yell out, “Clear!”
On the security feed, officers with guns drawn rush from room to room.
“You don’t need to be here for this.” He moves closer. “It’ll trigger your anxiety.”
Um, I’m already triggered.
“She leaves with the twins.” Ethan’s gruff tone fills the room.
“And I’ll know if you don’t take her to the hospital,” Jax adds. “I’ll know the moment you stray off course.”
“The twins are being questioned and possibly detained,” Charlie argues, his gaze fixed on me as if I were a wounded animal on the verge of fleeing.
My throat constricts. “No.” I gasp for breath. “They were protecting me.”
Static buzzes through the speakers, Jax’s angry voice stifled in the background.
The line clears, and a woman snaps, “Mercer! Get them to the hospital. Now!”
Charlie’s posture goes rigid. “Yes, Commander.”
He pivots sharply and exits the room, leaving me alone to stare at a figure sprawled outside the doorway oozing blood.
I heard the muffled gunshots while I was hiding under the desk with my hands pressed to my ears, but I didn’t know someone got this close to me.
Only a door separated me from a man who intended to kidnap and harm me—intended to use me against Jax and take me from my loved ones.
They might have hurt the baby.
“He’s dead.” The words pass my quivering lips, barely above a whisper. “He can’t hurt us.”
The gravity of the situation grips my heart like a vise, and panic takes control.
“Aurora, look away.” Ethan’s voice is distant, muted by the whooshing in my ears.
“I have to get out of here.” I step forward and teeter on my feet. I glance down, as if that’ll stop the floor from wobbling, and realize… “I’m not wearing shoes.”
I can’t go to the hospital, to Ethan, Jax, and Reece, without shoes.
