The hospital hallway feels quieter now, not actually quiet. There are still footstep, Machines beeping sowhere in the distance, nursess talking softly at the front desk but compared to the chaos from earlier, it feels mutef, like the storm already passed and left all of us sitting in the wreckage.
I sit curled up in the waiting room chair, untouched coffee cooling in my hands, my eyes fixed on nothing. Noah is still beside , scrolling through his phone every few minutes, probably getting updates from the n outside.
Lucas has been gone for almost an hour and ii don’t even realize how tense my body is until I see him walking toward us.
The second I look at his face, my stomach twists.....Sothing’s wrong, his jaw is tight enough to crack teeth.
"What happened?" Noah asks imdiately, standing.
Lucas runs a tired hand down his face before answering.
"We caught a few alive."
That gets my full attention instantly, I straighten in my seat.
"The masked n?"
Lucas nods once.
"Three survived."
"Where are they ?" Noah asks.
"In the security room, he’s restrained."
My pulse picks up imdiately.
"What did he say?"
Lucas looks at then, really looks at and suddenly I know I’m not going to like the answer. r
"He said Aaron didn’t plan this alone."
The words land like ice water dumped over my head.
Noah curses under his breath...i just stare.
"What do you an not alone?"
Lucas exhales slowly.
"He had help."
Heavy, disgusting silence. Because suddenly all the little details from tonight rearrange themselves into sothing uglier.
Aaron escaping prison, knowing where to find us, Knowing security would be lower tonight and kknowing exactly when to strike, no random attack could’ve gone that smoothly, not without inside help.
A sick feeling crawls up my spine.
"It has to be soone close," I say quietly.
Both my brothers look at as I stand slowly now, my brain trying to piece things together even though I almost don’t want it to.
"It has to be," I repeat, more firmly this ti. "Soone who knows us and knows us well"
Lucas nods grimly.
"That’s what I think too."
My mind starts racing imdiately.
"Zane only gave the staff ti off today," I say. "Last minute, barwly anyone knew."
Noah folds his arms tightly.
"And Aaron been locked up in the basent wasn’t public information."
I look between them both, dread growing heavier in my chest with every second.
"So sobody knew where he was being held," I whisper. "And sobody knew the house would be vulnerable tonight."
Lucas’ expression darkens.
"Exactly."
A horrible silence settles again, because this changes everything, this wasn’t just revenge, tjis was planned carefully and personally.
I suddenly feel exposed, like soone has been standing inside our lives this whole ti watching us without us realizing it.
My stomach turns.
"Who would do this?" I ask quietly.
No one answers imdiately. Because honestly?There are too many possibilities.
Zane has enemies, powerful ones and dangerous ones. But this...this feels closer and more intimate sohow, like a betrayal.
Lucas finally speaks again.
"We tried getting more information out of Aaron."
My eyes snap to him instantly.
"And?"
"He’s alive," Lucas says. "Barely. One of the bullets hit bad."
For a split second, guilt flickers through but it disappears. After what he did tonight, I can’t even bring myself to feel sorry for him.
"He needs surgery," Lucas continues. "The doctors stabilized him, but we can’t properly question him until he wakes up."
Noah mutters another curse under his breath.
"That could take days."
"Or longer," Lucas says grimly.
I start pacing without realizing it. My mind won’t stop moving now as facea keep flashing through my head.
The Staff, Security, business associates, and friends riends.
Who knew enough to pull this off? Who hated or Zane enough to help kill him? And suddenly another terrifying thought hits .
"What if they’re still around?"
Lucas looks at carefully.
"What do you an?"
"What if whoever helped Aaron is still close to us?" I whisper. "What if they’re pretending nothing happened while sitting right beside us?"
The thought makes my skin crawl, because that’s the worst part about betrayal. It doesn’t co from strangers, ie cos from people close enough to gain your trust first.
Noah steps closer imdiately.
"We’ll figure it out."
But his voice lacks certainty. Because this?this is bigger than we thought.And judging by the look on Lucas’ face...
He knows it too. We’re still standing there talking when the operating room doors open.
The sound alone makes my heart jump straight into my throat as every conversation around us fades instantly.
A doctor steps out, still wearing gloves stained faintly red, exhaustion written all over his face and sothing about the look in his eyes makes my stomach drop before he even speaks.
"Who ca in with a woman nad Margaret?"
For a second, nobody moves, thwn all three of us rush forward at once.
"It’s ," I say imdiately, too fast, my voice shaky from panic. "She’s with . She’s my mom... uh....."
My throat tightens suddenly and I shake my head quickly.
"My auntie," I whisper. "She’s my auntie."
The correction hurts more than it should, because cause Margaret has never felt like just an aunt.
Not really, not with the way she took care of , not with the way she always rembered the smallest things about .
The doctor looks at for a second too long and I know. Before he even opens his mouth, I know and my entire body goes cold.
"I’m very sorry, we lost her " he says softly.
Those words split sothing open inside imdiately. No. No no no.....
"She lost too much blood. We did everything we could, but there wasn’t much we could do once...."
The rest of his words stop making sense, It’s like my brain suddenly refuses to process sound, everythin around goes muffled and far away.
No. No. That’s not possible.....Margaret can’t be dead.
She just spoke to , she was just holding my hand. I stare at the doctor blankly, waiting for him to correct himself, to say he mixed up patients.... And I know that’s ssed yp but I need to hear him say she made it, to say literally anything else. But he doesn’t and slowly...Horribly...Reality starts sinking in.
"She’s gone."
The thought crashes into so violently my knees nearly buckle as a broken sound leaves my throat before I can stop it.
"No..."
It cos out tiny and childlike, I shake my head imdiately.
"No, no, no... no..."
Tears blur my vision instantly, I can barely breathe.
"She can’t be," I whisper desperately. "She was okay... she was talking... she was...."
"She was bleeding heavily," the doctor says gently.
And sohow that makes it worse, because I know...i know she was.
I saw it, I felt the blood slipping through my fingers no matter how hard I pressed....and suddenly all I can think is: Maybe I didn’t press hard enough, maybe if I acted faster, maybe if I,.....a sob tears out of so hard it physically hurts my chest.
"No..."
Noah catches before I fully collapse, i don’t even realize he’s holding until I’m clutching the front of his shirt with both hands, crying so hard I can barely stand.
"She can’t be dead," I choke out. "Noah, she can’t....."
His own face looks wrecked, i think he’s trying not to cry too. Lucas turns away completely, dragging a hand over his face like he needs a second to pull himself together.
But ? I can’t, I completely break apar, bcause Margaret is dead.
Margaret.
The woman who made soup when I was sick, the woman who always made sure I ate even when I didn’t feel like it.
Gone. Just gone and the worst part? The absolute worst part? The last thing she probably saw before getting shot....Was .
Another sob rips out of violently
"I should’ve protected her," I cry. "I should’ve done sothing....."
"You did everything you could," Noah says imdiately, voice rough.
But I barely hear him. My chest hurts so badly it feels unbearable, like sothing inside is literally cracking apart.... In the short ti I’ve been married to Zane I’ve co to see hr as a mother...I’ve co to love her.
"I told her to stay alive," I whisper brokenly. "I told her help was coming..."
The mory destroys all over again, her hand in mine, hwr struggling to breathe....the blood.
God, the blood.
And now she’s gone forever, ill never hear her voice again, never see her smile again, neve get to hug her again or eat all the delicious als she makes for everyday. The finality of it crashes into like a truck.
I let out another shattered sob and bury my face into Noah’s chest because I genuinely don’t think I can survive this kind of pain standing upright.
Around us, the hospital jweps moving , the world keeps going and sohow that feels cruel too because mine just stopped.
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