I smiled. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect,” I said to Erica. “And thank you guys for working so quickly on the alterations. I’m sure it was a pretty big job.”
“Well, your husband is very generous with his compensation,” Erica said and giggled. “Would you like to try on the veil as well?”
“Sure,” I said.
Erica stepped off the platform and headed back into the dressing area, leaving me and Savannah to examine the dress.
“I think Bennett will for sure cry when he sees you in this,” Savannah said, smirking at me in the mirror.
I grinned and glanced at her. “You think so?”
“I know so.” She gave me a small smile. “I’m so happy for you. You definitely deserve this.”
“Aww, thank you,” I said, getting emotional all over again. “I’m so glad I get to share this with you. You’re like…the only thing I have left from my old life. I don’t think I would’ve survived through all of this if I didn’t have you, you know?”
“Well,” she drawled with a sheepish shrug. “I think I could do without all the violence and things that’ve happened since we’ve been here, but I am glad that we still have each other and that I still get to be a part of your special day.”
“I’m happy, too,” I said, hugging her tightly.
The hairs on the back of my neck immediately stood on end as Savannah’s body tensed, a gasp leaving her lips.
“No!” she screamed, roughly spinning me around. Before I could even utter a word, two pops went off and Savannah grunted as I gasped, a burning sensation spreading across my stomach. We both fell to the ground, Savannah rolling off of me, gasping for breath.
My beautiful white dress was now stained with red, my ears ringing as my torso burned and nausea swam in my belly. Time slowly as I took in a gulp of air, pain radiating throughout me as movement caught my eye. The woman who’d been standing on the platform dashed out of the back exit just as the bell over the front door chimed, Bennett’s voice filtering into the showroom.
I looked over to my left, a scream bubbling up in my throat as I saw Savannah in a pool of blood. “Savannah,” I croaked. “Savannah!”
I tried to sit up, but the pain rendered me useless. I reached out for her, screaming as her blank eyes stared up at the bright showroom lights.
“Aurora!” Bennett bellowed as footsteps grew closer, but the sounds tunneled as I screamed for my best friend.
I forced myself over onto my side just as I heard Bruce roar in grief. “No!” he bellowed, rushing over to Savannah’s side, putting her head in his lap as he looked over her. “Come on, baby doll. Look at me. Savannah!”
“No!” I screamed, just as Bennett dropped to the floor next to me. The smell of blood made me both dizzy and nauseous as I looked down at myself, my blood staining my dress.
“Baby, look at me,” Bennett said, quickly taking off his jacket and pressing it against my stomach.
“Bennett,” I cried, gripping his wrist with a bloody hand. This was the other shoe I was waiting for to drop. The men were looking for a man to attack us. We’d never once considered a woman. We’d prepared for every other scenario but the most obvious situation that could’ve happened in a bridal store.
“I’m right here, gorgeous,” he said, but I could hear the panic laced in his voice. Tears rolled down the sides of my face as he pressed on my wound. The voices sounded so far away, the bright lights above me seeming to move further away as my breaths became more shallow.
“It hurts,” I groaned, gasping for breath as the pain overwhelmed me.
“You’re okay, baby. Just keep talking to me,” Bennett coaxed. “Get a car here now!”
“I’ve called for help,” one of the employees said, but her voice sounded as if she was underwater. The only thing I could hear clearly were my panting breaths and my heart beat, Bennett’s voice begging me to focus on him.
“I love you,” I whispered as the room started to spin.
And as panic and fear colored Bennett’s expression, I thought back to my son. I couldn’t leave him; he needed me. Bennett needed me. This couldn’t be it.
“Aurora! Baby, talk to me. I’m fucking begging you; keep talking to me, gorgeous. You’re gonna be fine! You’re gonna be…”
But I couldn’t get any words to come out, breathing becoming harder with each breath I tried to take. Faces blurred above me as chaos ensued, a mixture of orders, emotional outbursts, and yelling surrounding me.
“Come on, Aurora. Stay with me, baby. I can’t lose you, too. I need you! Liam needs you! Focus on me, baby,” Bennett pleaded before looking over his shoulder. “Where the fuck are they?!”
As the emergency sirens grew closer, I forced myself to look into my husband’s panicked eyes, but it became harder to keep my own open.
“I’m right here, baby,” he murmured, still applying pressure to my wound. “I’m right here.”
And the single tear that rolled down his cheek was the last thing I remembered before the world faded away.
BENNETT
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. One minute I was joking with Bruce and Saint, my eyes scanning up and down the street before a tight scream sounded from inside. I turned around just in time to see two flashes accompanied by two loud pops come from the back right of the showroom, Aurora and Savannah both falling to the floor. I suddenly felt sick to stomach as I moved on autopilot, praying that she was okay. I could hear her screaming for Savannah, but I could smell the familiar coppery scent before I even reached her.
Aurora was covered in blood, but I wasn’t sure if it was hers or Savannah's. Bruce was right on my heels, rushing to Savannah, who lay unmoving on the ground, her blood pooling underneath her. I did a quick look over Aurora, who still screamed and reached for Savannah. But then I saw it.
The small hole in the center of her abdomen that was turning her white dress crimson red.
There was so much fucking blood.
I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me, otherwise she’d die. I quickly took off my jacket and pressed it against her wound to slow the bleeding until help could arrive. Out of all the scenarios we tried to prepare ourselves for, a female assassin wasn’t one of them. I should’ve known better. I should’ve gone with my gut to shut down this whole store while Aurora had her appointment. I didn’t know Alec would outsmart me and plant someone I never would’ve expected to try to assassinate my wife.
Bruce let out a pained roar; a sound all too familiar as he held Savannah’s lifeless body in his arms. It was as if I was experiencing deja vu all over again, the woman I loved with a bullet wound because of me and the life I chose for the both of us.
“Bennett,” Aurora cried, her voice tight with pain. Her bloody hand weakly gripped my wrist as she gasped for breath. I ground my teeth, trying to keep my mounting fear from showing in order to keep her calm.
“I’m right here, gorgeous,” I said, but my voice trembled, mirroring the quaking fear that coursed through me. “Somebody call a fucking ambulance!”
She groaned and gasped for air. “It hurts!”
“You’re okay, baby. Just keep talking to me,” I said, doing my best to keep pressure on her wound. I glanced over my shoulder, not hearing any sirens as I really started to panic. I can’t fucking lose you, baby. I can’t lose you. “Get a fucking car here now!”
“I’ve called for help,” one panicked employee said. “Tell me what else I can do to help.”
I nodded to acknowledge that I’d heard her, focusing on my wife. She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes wide and unfocused. “Baby, look at me,” I coaxed. “I need you to focus on me.”
“I love you,” she whispered, her eyes fluttering as she struggled to keep them open. Dread filled the pit of my gut as grief threatened to strangle me. I couldn’t go through this again. I refused to lose her. I couldn’t lose her.
“Aurora! Baby, talk to me. I’m fucking begging you; keep talking to me, gorgeous
,” I begged. What the fuck was taking the ambulance so long to get here? “You’re gonna be fine, baby. You’re gonna be fine…you have to be fine…”
Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out as she looked at me with glassy eyes. The entire scene was chaotic. Some of my men ran out the back door to see if they could find the shooter and Bruce’s cries of grief and anguish chilled me to the bone. I didn’t want that for Aurora, for us. But if help didn’t come soon, I’d have to face the chilling reality that I’d have to bury her next to her best friend when we were supposed to be having a wedding ceremony.
“Come on, Aurora. Stay with me, baby. I can’t lose you, too. I need you,” I murmured, unable to keep the emotion from my voice. “Liam needs you! Focus on me, baby.” I looked over my shoulder. “Where the fuck are they?!”
Slight relief came over me when I heard the sirens in the distance. I just needed her to hold on just a little bit longer. Her eyes fluttered again as her grip on my wrist went limp.
“I’m right here, baby,” I murmured, a single tear rolling down my cheek as I applied more pressure to her wound. “I’m right here.”
And when her eyes closed, I fucking lost it.
“Aurora! No!” I bellowed. I reached up and felt for a pulse. Even though it was a little thready, it was still there. The lights from the ambulance appeared in my peripheral vision, two paramedics jumping out the back of it with a stretcher. They wasted no time rushing over to us, working on Aurora immediately.
“Sir, I’m going to need you to stand back,” one of the paramedics said, pushing past me to get to Aurora.
“Bennett, let them help her, man,” Saint said, grabbing my arm when I lunged forward.
I watched them helplessly, unable to concentrate on what they were saying as they quickly loaded her onto a board before lifting her onto the stretcher.
“I have to ride with her,” I mumbled, more so to myself than to any person.
Saint’s voice asked the question I couldn’t manage to get out, and the paramedic nodded before rushing toward the door.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital soon. Go with your wife,” Saint said, pushing me toward the door. There was just too much going on in that moment. My right hand man was experiencing the loss of his girlfriend on one hand, while my wife’s life hung in the balance on the other.
“Go!” Saint yelled before he went over to Bruce, Savannah, and the other two paramedics.
I followed behind Aurora, hopping into the ambulance with her. The paramedics worked quickly to hook her up to a heart monitor and started an IV. My heart raced in my chest as I grabbed her bloody hand, silently willing her to be okay.
“Come on, baby. I need you to pull through for me,” I murmured, stroking her hand.
“Sir, we need a little room,” the woman said, her tone laced with urgency.
I ground my teeth and slid away to give them space to work on her as I fished my phone out of my pocket. If they were bold enough to distract us with an attack at the bridal shop, I needed to make sure that Liam and Carrie remained safe.
I hit Carrie’s contact, a little relieved when I heard Liam giggling when she answered. “Hey, hey, big brother,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I need you to listen to me very carefully,” I said, noticing how my voice still trembled.
“Okay? What’s wrong? And are those sirens I hear?”
“Yes.” I swallowed hard as I looked to my pale wife. “Aurora and Savannah have been shot. We’re on our way to the hospital and—”
“What?!” she shrieked. “Are they okay?”
“Savannah didn’t make it and Aurora’s not conscious right now,” I said.
“What the hell happened? Are you okay? How—”
“Carrie, shut up and listen to me!” I snapped. “I’m fine, but I need you to take Liam and go to the panic room. I’m about to lockdown the property and I need you to stay there until I get back home. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but—”
“Just do as I asked, Carrie. I need to know that you and Liam are safe while I deal with this, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, her voice small. “Please be careful, Bennett.”
My heart broke as I heard my son babbling on the other end of the phone, tears burning my eyes. My worst fears were materializing right before my eyes, my wife’s life hanging by a single thread. The thought of something happening to my son when I was nowhere near him to protect him filled me with fear. I had to trust that my men would do everything possible to make sure he and my sister were safe while I remained at my wife’s side, praying that she pulled through.
“I will,” I finally said, forcing down the emotion building in my chest. “Kiss Liam for me and get to a panic room now.”
“Okay, I will. Please keep me updated on Aurora,” she said in a huff, as if she were rushing around.
“I will. I’ll call you later. I’ll get some men to post up near the panic room. I don’t think they’ll attack the house but—”
“Who? The guy from the restaurant?”
“Yes,” I said, glancing out the back window to see that we were pulling up to the hospital. “Look, I gotta go, but I’ll call you with instructions soon, okay?”
“Okay, I love you,” she said breathlessly.
“Love you, too,” I said, just as a text message came through on my phone.
Saint: Just activated the lockdown protocol via the security system and sent an emergency text to security team at the house. Bruce and Nyx are still with Savannah, but I’m heading to the hospital now.
I sighed deeply. My heart went out to Bruce. Losing the woman you loved was a pain I couldn’t wish on my worst enemy. There was something personal about trying to rip the heart out of your opponent by targeting the person they loved most. This war with Alec was no longer about the contacts. This was him thinking he could have power over me. First it would’ve been the contacts until he decided he wanted something else from me. Even with Wilson dead, his plan to destroy me was still in motion. He’d set me up at that meeting nearly two years ago, knowing my hot-headed trait would put a target on my back with the Russians. His plan was to have me taken out by the Russians in retaliation so that he didn’t look like the bad guy.
Now Alec was no longer tiptoeing around that fact.
I’ll make that son of a bitch pay for what he’s done, I thought bitterly as I looked to my unresponsive wife. The paramedics moved quickly to unload her and ran through the sliding doors. Doctors and nurses came from all sides, taking over the duties the paramedics started before rushing her to the trauma area. Two male nurses stepped in front of me, blocking my path to Aurora.
“I need to be with my wife,” I snapped, pushing against them.
“They’re about to prepare her for surgery, sir. We can’t let you back there,” one male said, trying to steer me in the opposite direction.
“Get the fuck off of me! She needs me!” I bellowed, hot tears burning my eyes as she moved further and further away. “Aurora!”
“She’s in good hands, sir. We’ll have you wait in the family waiting room and the doctor will be out with an update as soon as they’re able to,” one of them said.
I glared at him. I knew he was only doing his job, but he had no idea how important it was for me to be next to her. Stephanie died alone and probably scared. I needed Aurora to be okay, to know that I was there for her. I needed her to hear my voice, to know that me and our son was waiting for her to come back to us. I needed to tell her how much I loved her, how much I needed her here with me.
But instead, I let the nurses lead me to the family waiting room before leaving me there alone with my thoughts. I flopped down in a seat and put my head in my hands.
Rage.
It was all I could feel in this moment. Aurora’s blood tinted my hands and stained my pants, but she still had a heartbeat. She still had a chance.
Savannah hadn’t been so lucky.
She’d taken both bullets to
the back, one of them going through her and hitting Aurora in the stomach when they were hitting the floor. I had no idea what the extent of Aurora’s injuries were or if she’d even survive. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair as I stood back up, pacing the floor as my nerves got the best of me. My phone vibrated in my pocket with a text message, giving me something else to focus on.
Unknown: I warned you about fucking with me, Moreno.
Sticky, red hot anger heated my blood as I stared at the screen. I had no doubt it came from Alec, already knowing the havoc he’d caused at the bridal shop. I wouldn’t let the son of a bitch think he got the best of me. If he wanted to play dirty, I could do the same as well.
I closed out the text message and looked up Hilcrest’s contact, calling him when I found it. I paced back and forth as the phone rang, my muscles tight with the need to lash out physically.
“Hilcrest,” he answered.
“It’s Bennett,” I said quickly.
“Ah, how are you, my boy?”
“Aurora and her best friend were shot while they were at a dress fitting appointment.”
“Jesus,” he said with a sigh. “Is she alright?”
I ran a hand through my hair and closed my eyes. “I don’t know. She’s in surgery right now. Her best friend didn’t make it.”
“I’m truly sorry to hear that, son,” he said.
“If the offer still stands, I need some of your men. We’re going to war with Alec to make him pay for what’s he’s done. I want to strike tonight.”
“Are you at the hospital now?” he asked suddenly.
“Yes.”
“Good. Stay put. I’ll meet you there in about two hours,” he said and hung up before I could say another word. I looked at my blacked out phone screen with a frown, just as Saint rushed into the room.
“Any word?” he asked, panting.
I shook my head as I slid my phone into my pocket. “Not yet. This shit is driving me crazy,” I muttered and started pacing. “How’s Bruce?”
Saint sighed and shook his head. “He’s a fucking wreck, man. You and I know more than anyone what he’s going through right now.”
Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection Page 83
