Page 132 of I Promise You
“The girl’s name is Ari Alvarez,” I correct him with a snap before stalking away from him. “And we’ll find her.”
As I’m walking away, I check on Ari’s mother with the police officer assigned to her. She’s been in protective custody by local police until we handle this situation.
The closer I get to Grim’s room, the more I hear shouting and muffled loud commotion.
I look up from the hospital floor tiles and look into the ICU room he’s staying in through the glass doors. Rooker and Lopez surround him. They’re trying to calm him down as he dresses into the uniform he was wearing when he got shot. The hospital gown is off him, torn to pieces on the floor.
Rooker’s trying to calm him down, but Danny is gone, and the Reaper takes over. He flips the hospital bed to the side, andit crashes loudly to the floor as the realization of Ari’s absence settles in.
Blood spills through his chest from where he was shot.
His IV was yanked out of his arm, and blood profusely pours down his forearm as he shouts in Rooker’s face.
“I’m fine!” he growls at Rooker, and I know this is my cue to step in.
I open the door fast.
Hospital security comes rushing in as if ready to handcuff the patient wreaking havoc on the ICU floor. They reach for their handcuffs, but once they see it’s us—SEAL Team Executioners—they stop midway. They backpedal into the hallway once they see it’s Operator Grim Reaper unleashing his wrath.
“Grim,” I call out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. The space between his brows narrows with unforgiving intensity.
Fuck. He might kill me.
He pushes me, but I keep my ground, only stumbling one step.
“Where is she, Kane? Rooker told me you were the last to see her.” He pushes me again, and I know he’s blinded with wrath.
“Where’s Ari? Where is she?” he repeats, yelling at me. The veins in his neck and hands are swollen with vengeance. He grabs me by my vest, and I swallow.
Everyone on the hospital floor stops, and it grows quiet. Tensions were so thick you couldn’t slice through it. I look around and find the entire staff staring into the room. Lopez clears his throat with gloominess.
Rooker watches his best friend unleash his rage on me, and no one can stop Grim.
I turn back to Grim, and his chin is set high. I can see the heat that flushes his entire body. His breaths are long and cementedevenly. I can see that he’s in devastation. He’s broken. Not cool. Not collected. Not composed.
A man who has lost his reason to live.
His pain is infinite.
“I don’t know, Grim, but Zeke is on it. He’ll find her soon.” I blink with determination. Zeke is good at his job, and Grim knows that. We’ll find her quickly; I have no doubts.
He walks away from me, running his hands through his hair.
Rooker clears his throat as Creature walks in, not saying a word. He goes into a corner, crossing his arms and watching.
“They will find her, Danny. This isn’t like any other mission. They might…” Rooker tells Danny, and he watches him like he’s about to kill him just for saying it.
It’s the elephant in the room no one wants to address.
We all know that Ari might be dead already. Nobody has the balls to say it, and Danny knows he can’t disagree with him.
But I refuse to believe they’ve killed her. I don’t want to believe it because I’ll break too.
Then Grim flips his switch even more and looks at Rooker like he’s about to kill him for saying it.
“Don’t you fucking dare say anything more,” Grim snarls, baring his teeth. “What do you mean,they, huh?”
Rooker’s expression softens as he steps away from Grim until his back hits the wall. “You know this is out of our jurisdiction. It’s not our place anymore. Let the police handle it.”
