Chapter 10 - BLOOD ON EMERALD|
The back seat of the Maybach looked like a trauma ward.
Adrien pressed a sterile white towel tightly against Elena’s shoulder, his hands stained with her blood. His jaw was set so hard the muscles pulsed beneath his skin.
"Hold it there," he growled to his chief security officer, Marcus. "Press harder!"
"Adrien, it stings..." Elena whimpered, her hands clutching at his lapels, her knuckles white.
"Stay with me, Elena," Adrien commanded, his voice dropping into a desperate, intense whisper. He pulled her close against his chest, his lips pressing against her sweaty forehead. "Look at me. Keep your eyes on my eyes."
"You... you owed me a quiet evening," she tried to joke, though her breath came in ragged hitches.
A dark, lethal smile flickered across his face. "You saved my life, little waitress. A mistake you will live to regret."
They bypassed the hospital, pulling directly into the subterranean garage of the Alura estate. A team of private trauma surgeons was already waiting in his personal medical bay downstairs.
For two hours, Adrien paced outside the glass doors, refusing to change out of his blood-soaked shirt.
When the head surgeon finally stepped out, wiping his hands, Adrien cornered him immediately.
"The bullet grazed the bone, Mr. Russo," the doctor reported hastily. "No major arterial damage. She required twenty-four stitches, but she will make a full recovery."
Adrien pushed past the doctor and entered the quiet room.
Elena lay in the hospital bed, an IV line hooked to her hand, her face pale against the white pillows. Her right shoulder was heavily bandaged under a hospital gown.
She opened her eyes as his heavy footsteps approached.
Adrien pulled a chair beside her bed, sitting down and taking her uninjured hand into both of his.
"Why did you do it?" he asked softly, his voice rough with emotion. "You could have let the bullet hit me. You would have been free."
Elena looked up at the ceiling, tears brimming in her hazel eyes.
"I don't know," she whispered honestly. "I just... I couldn't watch you die."
May you like
Adrien lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles with fierce, reverent intensity.
"Sergio Moretti ordered the hit," Adrien said, his silver eyes turning pitch-black. "By dawn, his entire syndicate will cease to exist."
