Chapter 21

Noah~

I raced into Donza Medical, Declan hot on my heels, my heart racing a mile a minute, my mind still trying to process what I'd been told. As we'd been leaving the meeting with the Sartoris and Kotovs, I'd gotten a call about Shea and Craig being shot outside the hospital, and it'd been the longest two hours of my fucking life as we'd driven back to town as fast as humanly possible.

Now, while the hospital staff had been made aware of the fact that Shea was my wife after we had canvassed the area last week, Shea hadn't put me on any of her emergency contact information, so while they had called her parents, they had also called Lochlan since he was in the physician's directory. So, Lochlan had been the one that had called me, and while her parents should have also called me, I understood their priority as her parents.

Luckily for my mental health, Lochlan had been able to get to the hospital within minutes, and he'd been good about giving me continuous updates during the two hours that I'd been trying to get to Shea. Knowing better than to argue with Lochlan Murphy, the attending physician had allowed Lochlan into the operating room, and that's where Lochlan had learned that Shea had been shot in the arm and that a bullet had grazed the left side of her skull.

Lochlan had also informed me that Craig was also being operated on for multiple gunshot wounds, and that simple fact was the only thing that was keeping him alive right now. Of course, with Lochlan refusing to leave Shea's side until I could get to her, we didn't really know too much about Craig's situation, but Craig was replaceable whereas Shea wasn't. In only a matter of a week, my wife had become a vital part of me, so she wasn't replaceable in the least.

Armed with everything that I needed to know, Declan and I bypassed the nurses' station, then headed straight to Shea's room. Now, whether because she worked here or because she was a Murphy, the hospital had made her a priority, and Lochlan had texted me that the bullet had gone straight through, so it been only a matter of patching her up, which they'd done immediately.

When we finally reached her room, Lochlan was standing outside the door, and the look on his face had me ready to lose my shit. He looked too serious for my liking, but his newest sister-in-law had also just been shot, so he could just be upset like we'd all be in the same situation.

"Calm down," he said as soon as I was standing in front of him. "She's going to be okay."

"How in da feck did this happen?" Declan hissed.

"We're still trying to figure that out," Lochlan answered. "Craig is still in surgery, so we can't ask him anything yet."

"What about Shea?" I asked.

"She says that she doesn't remember anything, though that could be from the anesthesia," he said. "She's still out of it a little."

"What about the cameras?" Declan asked. "Have the police been by?"

Lochlan shook his head. "The cameras are a bust. I called Kevin right before they took Shea back, and security let him check the feeds before the cops got here. They got attacked in a blind spot, but that's all that he could find out before Port Townsend's finest got here."

"Have they spoken to Shea yet?" I asked, needing to put that off as long as possible.

Lochlan shook his head again. "No. As her physician, I refused them access to her."

Knowing where my head was, Declan said, "Go in and see her. I'll go check on Craig and take care of the cops until you talk to her."

After a quick nod, I rushed into the room, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw my wife lying on the bed, that incessant beeping filling the quietness of the room. Her arm and head were bandaged, and for whatever reason, it was killing me to not know what her injuries looked like. I wanted to make her wounds disappear, even though I knew that it was impossible.

"Baby?" I whispered when I reached her bed.

Her dark eyes fluttered with the struggle to open for me, and I had to grit my teeth and clench the railing to keep from losing my shit and destroying everything in the room. Someone had attacked my wife, and I couldn't help but feel like it was personal. Unlike Keavy's mishaps, this wasn't a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and at the time of those incidents, she hadn't been linked to Declan yet. It was no secret that Shea was my wife, and it was rare that someone attacked a woman when accompanied by a man. During one of Lochlan's updates, he'd told me that her purse had been stolen, but I wasn't buying it; nothing about this felt random.

"Baby, open your eyes for me," I ordered, needing to see her awake and aware.

When her dark eyes finally began to focus, I didn't see relief or even pain in her gaze. Shea was looking up at me blankly, and I knew that it could be the anesthesia at work, but I had a dreadful feeling that it wasn't. I had only one job as her husband, and that was to protect her, and I had failed in that regard, something that was eating me up inside, though no one could tell. Granted, it could be my guilt seeing things that weren't there, but still.

Gripping the rails, I asked, "What happened?"

After a couple of seconds, she finally answered, "I don't know."

"You don't remember anything?" I prompted.

"I remember walking out the doors, seeing Craig, and that's it," she said, and I hadn't been able to live this long by not trusting my instincts, and something told me that Shea was lying. "I…I…" She let out a calming breath. "I think there was a brick involved or…there were bricks."

"You got shot on the side of the hospital," I informed her. "As you know, the exterior is brick."

Her eyes widened a bit before asking, "What happened to Craig? Is he alright?"

Eyeing her, I answered her honestly. "He was shot twice and is in surgery."

"Is…is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know. I didn't bother checking."

Her eyes rounded again. "How could you not check on him?"

"Because it was more important for me to check on my wife, lass," I replied evenly.

Ignoring that, she asked, "Are the police here? I…honestly, I don't know if I'm up to talking to them right now. Especially, since I don't know anything."

"Declan will handle the cops if that's how you feel," I assured her, and she paled a little, making me wonder if I should even be questioning her myself.

"The…The O'Brien is here?"

That had my brows furrowing in thought. "Why wouldn't he be?"

Shea shook her head, her hand lifting to wave away the question. "I'm just…I'm really tired."

Deciding to get it over with, I said, "We're taking you home, Shea."

Those dark eyes of hers widened again. "Wha…what?"

"You were attacked at the hospital, and so I don't feel comfortable with you here," I explained. "Since Lochlan is one of the best, he can care for you at home."

"That…that doesn't make any sense," she quickly rushed out, her breath a bit labored. "Why can't you just…why can't they just put a security guard outside my door?"

"Because anyone could come in here and finish the job dressed as a nurse or doctor," I replied. "I'm not taking any chances."

"Because you think it's personal?" she asked. "That…that makes no sense. Everyone knows that you couldn't care less about your wife."

I took that hit on the chin because I deserved it, no matter the truth of how I felt about my wife. I hadn't had the time or put in the effort to make sure that she knew her place in my life, and that was my fault. Despite the truth, I couldn't blame her for how she felt.

"I'm taking you home," I told her, ignoring what she'd said.

"I want to stay here," she replied, her breathing picking up again. "I'll feel better here."

"And I'll feel better with you at home," I insisted.

"Why? I'll have round-the-clock care here," she went on. "Your brother can hardly neglect his practice to see to me."

"You're going home with me, and that's final, Shea," I said.

After a few seconds of silence, she asked, ‘When?"

"As soon as I can get them to release you," I answered. "If the cops insist on questioning you after Declan speaks with them, then they can question you at home."

"I want to stay here," she repeated.

"Your injuries were clean, Shea," I informed her. "There's no need for you to stay here. Lochlan can monitor your stitches and bandages." She opened her mouth to argue again, but I quickly spoke over her. "And even if he's busy, the rest of us have plenty of experience with gunshot wounds and stitches to make sure that you heal properly."

I watched her entire frame sag against the mattress, finally giving up the fight. Little did she know that I was going to be the one taking care of her, doing my best to prove that I could.