Page 49 of The Naughty One
Gaius nodded and tucked his gun in his pants. Romy blinked. “Gaius, why do you have agun?”
“I have a permit to carry a concealed weapon,” he said, shrugging. He nodded at Dacre’s body. “Thankfully.”
“Amen to that, but you might want to be careful. He set it up so it sounded like someone was shooting up the place, and if security sees you with aweapon…”
Gaius nodded. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. Find Blue and getout.”
They made their way carefully to the OR floor. It was dark, silent, and Romy felt a coldness settle over her. She could smell cordite in the air. OR3. That was where Blue had been operating. She led Gaius towards it, the smell of gunsmokestronger.
Romy pushed her way into the scrub room and looked through the window. The OR was a mess, blood, instruments, drapes everywhere. She pushed into the room—and sawhim.
He was covered in blood and Romy screamed, dropping to her knees by his side. “Blue?”
He opened his eyes, the bright green stark against the blood on his face. He smiled. “You’rehere.”
“Are you shot?” Romy was running her hands over his body, trying to find wounds. Blue shook hishead.
“No, he only hit me. God, Romy, I never knew. I never knew he hated me thatmuch.”
Ice flooded through her veins. “Dacre didn’t even know you, Blue; he just wanted you out of theway.”
Blue looked confused. “No, not Dacre, Romy …” He trailed off as he looked behind her and his face went pale. “Romy…”
Romy whirled around to find Gaius, smiling at them both, and aiming the gun at Blue. “No, Romy, Dacre didn’t know much about Blue. He wanted to kill you, beautiful, and I offered to help—as long as Blue was made to witness your murder. Then, well, Dacre became a loose end. After we killed your … what was she … sister? Octavia, anyhow, and her friends, I knew I wanted to do you myself, but Dacre wouldn’t hear of it. So he had togo.”
Romy was staring at him aghast, then with a scream, she threw herself at Gaius. He had anticipated it and easily threw her off, but not before Blue had a chance to scramble to his feet and go after his half-brother.
“You bastard!Figlia diputtana!”
Gaius was a big man but nothing to Blue’s strength. The two men crashed to the floor and Romy cast around desperately for something to help Blue. She grabbed a scalpel and leapt at Gaius, slashing at him. She caught his arm and he yelled as Blue landed a punch so hard that Gaius fell backward. As he scrambled away from them, he pulled out hisgun.
Blue stopped as Gaius aimed it at him. “Gaius, don’t be stupid. Killing me won’t help you. This place is crawling with cops. They’ll cut you down in aninstant.”
Gaius stared at him as Blue and Romy, holding their breaths, stood still. Then Gaius’s mouth hitched up in a smile. “You’re right.” And he swung his arm and shotRomy.
The bullet smashed into her belly and she dropped as Blue, half-crazed with grief, went for Gaius. Gaius was too quick for him, putting the gun to his own temple. “You fucked my mom,” he said, sounding like achild.
Blue shook his head. “She raped me,Gaius.”
“No.”
Blue, seeing the half-crazed expression in Gaius’ eyes, but desperate to get to Romy, crouched next to his half-brother. “Don’t do it, Gaius. Your mom is a bad person, but she lovesyou.”
Gaius half-smiled. “She’s nothing anymore. I strangled her to death the day after I found out she fucked you. They’ve probably found her body bynow.”
Blue was horrified. “Jesus,Gaius.”
Gaius was staring at Romy now, who was clutching at her bleeding stomach, but calmly, deeply breathing, watching the scene play. “She’s lovely, Blue. So lovely. I’m glad I got to kill her before I died.” And he put the gun in his own mouth and pulled thetrigger.
Blue didn’t hesitate. He went to Romy and gathered her into his arms. Romy stared up at him, still unnaturally calm. “Blue,” she said in a steady voice, “Blue … save our baby. Please, save our little one. I love you so much.” Her eyes closed and she passedout.
Shell-shocked, Blue swept her out of the room and into an unused OR. Keeping his hand pressed to the bullet wound, he grabbed his phone. “Beau, the shooter is dead. But Romy’s been shot. I need a team in OR2 right now. Please, help me save my girl … and our child. Please …” His voice shook, but he knew that to lose control now was to sentence Romy to death. “Please, Beau … I need you rightnow…”
Chapter24
Romy openedher eyes and wondered why she felt no pain.It’s the morphine, doofus.She breathed in a lungful of sweet pure air and smiled. Looking around the room, she saw Blue checking her chart. He glanced up and grinned. “Hey,beautiful.”
“Get over here and kiss me,Allende.”
