Chapter 24 - Ivan

I'd heard probably a million gunshots in my life. I couldn't even remember them all or the times when it was me firing versus my brothers or our opponents. Gunshots weren't anything special to a mobster.

But I'd be remembering this one for the rest of my life.

"Adley!"

I was already diving for her when I heard Donovan give away his position. My body collided with hers, taking my new wife to the ground as the explosion of Donovan's pistol tore through the impossible silence hanging around us. My shoulder collided with the ground with a hard thud, knocking it out of the joint.

Still, I held onto Adley, rolling us so my back was between her and Donovan. There was a fraction of a second where I just waited for him to pop off another round. He didn't, and that was my only opportunity to take him down and finally end this.

Swinging my arm in a wide arch, I fired as soon as my gun was pointed in Donovan's general direction, hitting him in the shoulder. He screamed, falling to his knee as he gripped the injury. Abe and Vlad were over in a flash, grabbing the gun out of his hand and clocking him in the jaw for good measure.

I looked down at Adley, still clutched in my arms, and held her dazed stare.

"Hey. Talk to me. Are you okay?"

She turned slowly, blinking up at me with unfocusing eyes. "I…what…"

Warmth pooled in the fabric covering my arm under Adley's neck. Shit. Not good.

Paying more attention, I leaned back, and reality hit me as soon as my eyes left Adley's. Blood oozed from a deep laceration across her shoulder, right through the trapezius muscle. I'd knocked her out of the way of a more severe hit, but Adley had been shot, and she was bleeding way too much for my liking.

"Adley. Fuck," I gritted out, pressing my hands to her neck forcefully as I got her to the floor as gently as I could. "Abe! Get us a safe exit the fuck out of here. We need Parker. Now!"

The sound of boots hitting the floor circled me, and I knew that my brothers were taking care of ensuring Donovan's thugs were out of commission.

Donovan .

Picking my gun up from where I dropped it on the floor, I pressed my hand to Adley's shoulder as I raised my weapon toward Donovan. Vlad was still there, keeping an eye on him, and as soon as he saw me aim for the fucker's head, my fucking brother started up with that damn headshaking.

"He dies, Vlad. He shot Adley."

Vlad stepped around Donovan, still holding his gun trained on the man, but he didn't fire. I knew what he was doing. I knew it was the fucking protocol with shitbags like this. I knew that both Sergei and Lev wanted a word with this asshole.

But he'd shot Adley.

"Vlad," I dragged out, clamping down on my molars.

He shook his head, holding up his wrist with his watch. He wanted me to wait. He knew there wasn't time for this, too.

"Ivan…"

I snapped my attention to Adley. Her color was off, and the wound was still bleeding heavily.

"Goddamn it!"

My gun clattered to the floor as I dropped it, and I returned my hand to Adley's neck, pressing down. She moaned as pain rocked her, and my brain scrambled. I wasn't losing her. I wasn't watching this woman die on the damn floor moments after saying, "I do."

"Abe!"

He was at me in a flash. "Cleaners are two minutes out. You need to get back to Lev's. I'll get you both in the car. Vlad and I will wait for them and meet you there with our new chum."

Abe looked over his shoulder at Donovan, and I cursed. That fucker was going to pay for what he did to my wife. After Sergei and Lev had had their words with him, I was going to snap Donovan's neck with my bare hands.

But we did need to go—now.

Standing up, I lifted Adley into my arms as gently as I could. She groaned, and Abe quickly took off his jacket and pressed it to her wound. I held it there, trying to staunch the flow of blood, and then met his eyes briefly for a quick nod.

He knew as much as I did that it was as close to a "thank you" as I could muster right now.

I looked back at Vlad. "You got him?"

He nodded, tearing a piece of Donovan's jacket free as he stole it from him. Vlad wrapped the ragged fabric around the man's bleeding shoulder. He was in better shape than Adley for now, and I locked my eyes on him as he glared up at me.

"You're going to give Lev and Sergei everything they ask for. If you do, I'll kill you quickly. But if they decide you've been less than helpful, I'm going to take my time breaking the bones in your hands and feet until you're begging me for mercy."

Donovan tried to offer up some stupid rebuttal, but Vlad clocked him again, knocking the guy's head back with a solid right hook.

Starting for the door, I called over my shoulder, sure Donovan could hear me.

"Don't worry, Tommy. We won't bury you in some ditch. You'll be delivered back to your family. A warning for everyone about what happens if you so much as ruffle a hair on my wife's head."

***

The car ride with Adley was a blur of panic and desperation. I drove so quickly to Lev's that I was sure I'd broken my record for speeding offenses. And red lights had become just a suggestion.

There weren't any by Lev's mansion, tucked away in its own private little corner of the world, and I mentally thanked the paranoid fucker for being cut off. Any cops that had been alerted to my complete disregard for the law lost me in the twists and turns leading to Lev's.

Adley's eyes fluttered as I looked over at her. We were pulling up to the door now. She just needed to hang on a little longer.

"Come on, baby. You're okay. Stay with me."

She didn't respond. She hadn't for a while now. But I could still see the rise and fall of her chest. Adley wasn't gone. She wouldn't be gone.

Swinging through the curved drive that led up to the front steps, I slammed the car into park and jumped out to get Adley from her seat. The passenger side was stained red with her blood, and my stomach dropped yet again.

Panic had swelled so high in my veins that it choked me, and I hoisted her into my arms and ran for the house. Kicking the door open, I called out into the echoey room.

"Parker! Parker, help!"

Only seconds later, she was rushing down the stairs with her medical bag. She met me in the front hall, directing me off to the side where the dining room had been changed into an impromptu med bay complete with a hospital bed.

As I laid Adley down on the pristine white fabric, streaking it with crimson as her blood smeared across it, my brain kicked up the thought that they must have stolen all this stuff.

"Your brother called. Move." Parker shifted me away from Adley to her other side. "Lev! Pietor! Finishing scrubbing up and get down here!"

I couldn't speak as Parker got to work, and the men I'd known for years suddenly appeared at her side, lending their aid and listening to her barked commands like she was the mafia, Don.

Adley's skin was so pale, and I squeezed the hand of her opposite arm as the three of them worked to stop the bleeding and stitch up her wound. I'd seen my brothers suturing up their own injuries dozens of times. It never turned my stomach, but right now, I was inches from throwing up.

"Clean exit. No debris." Parker spoke out loud as she assessed each aspect of Adley's gunshot wound, and the words just passed through my brain without meaning. "That line started?"

Lev nodded in my peripheral vision. "Yes."

"Good. Pietor," Parker held out her hand, "let's get this closed."

Time flew by in start and stop moments that didn't quite connect. Adley was sutured, and the line Parker had mentioned flowed into her arm, delivering antibiotics and fluids.

Another one of Lev's men rushed in from a different doorway. He carried a bag of blood marked O negative.

"She's doing all right. Probably will still need a transfusion for the blood loss."

Suddenly, I realized that Parker was talking to me. I didn't know how long it had been. As I met the woman's eyes, mine burned, and it all came rushing out.

"She's pregnant. Just found out. I…It was Donovan." My voice deepened into a growl. "He fucking shot her."

"Pregnant?" Parker's question was echoed by the same words coming out of Lev and Pietor. "Okay, definitely needs the transfusion then. Okay. Here!"

She raised her hand for the blood and set up what I had to assume was the transfusion. I didn't know what the fuck she was doing, but it was what Adley needed, so I didn't question it.

Several more minutes dragged on before Parker and the guys were finished with their work. I wasn't sure what I'd seen or what had happened, and I could logically place the phenomenon to being in shock.

When the room was empty aside for Parker, she reached out with her freshly ungloved hand and laid it on mine.

"You did good, Ivan. You got her here fast. I've done everything I can to make sure she's okay. She'll need time, and I'll watch her closely. I promise."

I nodded, unable to do anything else, and then I was left alone in the room with Adley.

The silence was deafening, and I looked down at my bride , her wedding gown speckled with blood. My heart lurched behind my ribcage, and I swallowed hard, trying to hold back the desperate sob that clawed to be free. My efforts were pointless at this point, and with no one around to bear witness, I finally let myself break down.

"You can't fucking leave me, Adley." I gripped her hand, staring down into her unconscious face. "You can't. I…"

I wasn't sure why I was still hesitating. There was obviously no one around, and even Adley couldn't hear me. They were just words. It should be no big thing to say them out loud.

But that was the rub.

I'd never said them since my mother and never believed I would. Mom …She'd been killed by some fucker just like Donovan, cruel and sloppy and unimpressive. How was it that the smallest of men could do the most damage?

The gentle beep of the monitor Lev's men had brought in filled the quiet. Parker had said Adley would be moved to a recovery room they'd set up when she was stable. I hadn't even asked about the equipment and the new setup.

Parker was the doctor, though. So, I had a feeling she ensured the house's medical supplies were up to standard.

Adley's color was better now that the transfusion had been running for a while, and I reached up to stroke my thumb across her cheek.

"Adley, I…dammit." I sighed, my head falling to the bed next to her hip. "Don't fucking leave me. Got it? I need you. I…love you."

And that was it. I'd said the big L-word, but there was no response because Adley was out. She had to wake up. She had to be okay. Because I wasn't about to have the only person who I'd said "I love you" to die without hearing it.

She's not dying at all. Neither of them are.