“Where am I?”
“The hospital.”
“What happened?”
“You were in a car accident. The vehicle you were in was T-boned by a delivery truck.”
It comes back to me slowly. The conversation with Cormac in the car, the comforting smile on his face, and then the blinding headlights of a truck we had no hope of avoiding. My head swims and I close my eyes, swallowing around my tongue that feels like cotton.
I’m alive.
Somehow.
When I open my eyes again, Detective Cogs remains beside me, her thin brows pinched with worry. As my sluggish thoughts catch up with my wakefulness, Cormac fully enters my thoughts, and I struggle to sit up. “Am I okay?”
“Mostly.” Sarah sighs. “Some bruised ribs and you sustained a head wound from the side window. Luckily, the driver was already trying to brake when he hit you. Your driver took the brunt of the impact.”
My driver.
Cormac.
Thinking of him with a detective right next to me is more sobering than being dunked backward into ice water, and stress chases away the last lingering sluggish fog clinging to my thoughts. I see Sarah as clear as day, and the hospital room I’m in is less fancy than the one I woke up in after the stabbing. It seems when Cormac is awake and able to care for me, he ensures more than a regular room.
“Is he…?” I’m almost too scared to ask about Cormac’s condition, and cold fear grips me like a vise.
What if it was terrible and he’s dead? What if I’ve lost the first man I’ve fallen in love with? The revelation makes my stomach churn, and something about my face must have given me away because Sarah quickly reaches for the dish nearby and holds it near me. No vomit comes, just a cramp in my gut.
“If you’re asking me if the driver of your car is injured, then yes, he is. He’s alive, but like I said, he took the brunt of the impact being in the driver’s seat and hasn’t woken up yet,” Sarah explains. “Which is why I’m here to question you.”
“Question me?” I take the dish from her as another uncomfortable roll of tightness moves through my abdomen.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for a few days,” Sarah says. “I went to your apartment and you were gone. Your neighbors hadn’t seen you. So imagine my surprise when I get a call from the cop in charge of this crash and learn that you are here in the hospital. After being dragged from a car wreck, the same car that Cormac Gifford was dragged from.”
My heart leaps into my throat while I stare at Sarah. Her face twists slightly, as if she knows everything and she’s just waiting for me to trip up so she can catch me in a lie. Cormac never explicitly told me not to talk to the cops, and Sarah felt like she was on my side since the murder. But right now, she’s looking at me like I’m a suspect and I have no idea how to navigate this.
Do I lie? What if Cormac dies? Who will be in my corner then?
Do I tell the truth? Would the cops be on our side?
Thinking back to the bugs I was forced to place, I already know the answer. If she were on our side, I wouldn’t have had to do that.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say softly. “What’s wrong with Cormac?”
“You want to play it like that?” Sarah sighs. “Really, Evelyn? Playing dumb isn’t a good look for you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My head swims again, and an ache pulls like a hot band through my skull. Lifting my hand, I’m met with gauze across my forehead.
“Cormac. The man you were in the car with? Are you telling me you didn’t know he is the brother of the man whose body you found?”
“Oh, no. I knew that,” I reply as casually as I can. “But I don’t understand what your issue is. Shouldn’t you be talking to the person who hit us?”
Sarah’s eyes narrow. “Who is he to you?”
“Cormac?”
“Yes.”
“He’s… just a guy. He came to find me and explained who he was. His brother just died,” I say sharply. “He was pretty broken up about it.”
Sarah scoffs in disbelief but doesn’t speak.
“He had a couple of questions for me, but I didn’t know anything, and then we had coffee and I guess became friends.” It’s a version of the truth. Technically.
“What questions?”
“The normal questions. Asked if I saw anything, if I knew anything about his brother. I told him I didn’t.”
“And you didn’t think it was strange that he found you?”
I shrug and immediately regret it as the bruises on my ribs complain painfully. “I figured you guys told him. It’s not like I’m a suspect or anything.”
Sarah suddenly stands and moves closer to the bed. “Evelyn. I want you to know that you are safe here, understand? There are cops all over the hospital and if you feel threatened in any way, you can tell me. I can help you. Do you understand?” Her brows lift slightly. “I can protect you from anyone. So if you feel like you’re in danger or that your mom is in danger, then I can help you with that.”
It clicks suddenly. She thinks I’m lying because Cormac is threatening me and she’s offering me help. I shake my head. “I’m fine, I promise. I don’t feel threatened at all. Why would I?”
“Cormac is a very dangerous man, Evelyn. The fact that he found you is incredibly concerning. More concerning is that you were in the car with him.”
“If he’s dangerous, shouldn’t you be watching him instead of questioning me? I don’t have anything to tell you and it sounds like the crash was an accident.”
Sarah straightens up and her lips press into a thin line. “He is dangerous. It’s in my nature to recognize people caught up in things they shouldn’t be.”
“Wait.” Something Sarah said suddenly resonates with me. “You said there are police all over the hospital?”
“That’s right.” She nods, then frowns. “Why?”
My defensiveness toward Sarah begins to thaw. I remember the conversation between Cormac and Saoirse back when I first met them. The whole reason I needed to plant those bugs was because Sarah couldn’t be bought, and they didn’t have many other cops they could trust. But other families did.
If Sarah can’t be bought, then maybe she can actually help.
“I read once that criminal organizations in the city often have cops on the inside,” I say as casually as possible, not breaking eye contact with Sarah.
“What are you—”
“Is that true?” I stare harder. “Is it true that other families and organizations have plants within the police to give them information?”
“That’s just a rumor.” Sarah scoffs, but she’s nodding slowly.
“Cormac introduced me to an Irish Coffee once. Very strong. But then I wanted to go to the Italian across the street and he said no.” I shift against my pillows. “He said that the Italians were awful, that the food would get people killed.”
“What?” Despite Sarah’s nodding, she seems to be completely missing what I’m trying to warn her about, and frustration gets the better of me.
“Oh, my God,” I mutter. “The Irish aren’t the ones you need to worry about! If you don’t do everything you can to make sure Cormac is safe, then there’s going to be war between the Irish and the Italians all over the city, and we both know that the law won’t stand for anything once that spark ignites.”
Sarah’s eyes widen, then she cocks her hip slightly as she reaches for her phone. “He’s just a friend, huh?”
“That hardly matters right now, does it?” I hiss. “Look, you have to make sure you have good cops around him. All it takes is one wrong injection.”
Sarah’s busy on her phone, nodding quickly.
“The driver. Were they Italian?”
Sarah shrugs. “They’re still unconscious. No clue.”
“Please. Please, Sarah. You have to make sure Cormac is safe. Really safe, not just under cop protection safe.”
“Evelyn—”
“Please! Do you really think you and the rest of the cops like you will be able to stop what’s about to happen if something happens to Cormac?”
She seems to be debating quickly, then Sarah gets a reply ding on her phone. “Don’t go anywhere. You’d better answer all of my questions when I get back.”
“Sure,” is all I get a chance to say before she hurries from the room.
I slump back into my pillows with a groan. Did I say too much? I have no idea how people from these families are supposed to talk to the cops, but unlike Cormac, I have no way of helping anyone. Outside help from people more powerful than me is all I have.
The door has barely closed behind Sarah when it opens again and in walks Saoirse. She flashes me a tight smile as she approaches.
My heart punches into my throat. “Oh, God,” I gasp. “Are you going to kill me?”
Saoirse falters. “What? Why would I do that?”
“Because I was talking to the cops.”
To my surprise, Saoirse chuckles. “Honey, you didn’t reveal anything the cops don’t already know. If Sarah has missed the hints on the streets that war is brewing, then that’s on her. But you did a decent thing trying to make sure the right kind of cops are around Cormac. We’ve been having trouble getting men into the hospital.”
The relief is so powerful that my vision dims for a moment. “Thank God, I was so scared you were about to shank me for talking to the police.”
“Cormac would have my head, and I’d prefer it to stay where it is,” she replies, pulling my blankets back. “Come on, I need to get you out of here.”
“What about Cormac?”
“Cian has him. At least until backup arrives. We need to get you somewhere safe.”
“Why? What’s going on? The man who hit us—”
The door to my room suddenly flies wide open. It bounces off the wall with a crack, causing me to jump back in fright. Saoirse spins around, drawing her gun from her belt as a man charges inside and sprints toward Saoirse like a runaway bull.
I glimpse his face as they collide in the middle of the room, and a cold sweat breaks out under my gown.
Noah.
He attacks with a yell. Saoirse and Noah grapple for a few seconds, then she punches him hard in the gut. When he doubles over, she drives her elbow down into his back. He hits the ground and she’s on him, but he manages to roll them over and punches her several times in the face. Panicked, I lunge toward them and tackle Noah from behind, grabbing him by the hair and clothes to try and pull him off her. He falls backward, scrambles up, and punches me hard in the face.
I fall back with a cry, stars flashing before my eyes as pain explodes across my jaw. My back throbs as I hit the ground, and the pain from impact against my ribs shocks my lungs into a motionless state. For a few dark seconds, I can’t get my body to listen to me and my breathing fails.
Through the dizziness, I watch Saoirse and Noah fight. Thankfully, Saoirse seems to have the upper hand. She’s dodging back and forth, avoiding his blows and throwing jabs at his face and body. Until he turns around to me. Saoirse leaps onto his back like a spider monkey and claws at his face.
“Evelyn! Go!” she yells.
It takes every ounce of energy I have left to pull myself up and run for the door. Just as I place one foot out in the hall, a gunshot echoes behind me and I freeze instantly. The corridor is empty, and I scan each doorway in the hopes of seeing someone who can help me. But there’s no one. Then I glance back, hoping to see Saoirse standing over Noah.
Instead, she’s on the ground grunting with blood pouring from a bullet wound on her thigh, rapidly turning her light blue jeans to black.
“Fucking bitch,” Noah garbles through a face full of blood. He lifts the gun and aims it at Saoirse’s head.
“No!” I scream, lurching forward. “Don’t!”
My scream makes Noah flinch, and he glances at me, his finger on the trigger. “No?” He wipes at his nose and face with his other hand. “There is no ‘No’ here. I’m the one with the fucking gun.”
“I know, I know!” Saoirse’s gun is nearby on the floor, but there’s no way either she or I can reach it in time. I can barely breathe, desperately seeking a way to save Saoirse’s life. “Take me.”
“What?” Noah and Saoirse say in unison.
“You came here for me, right? Don’t waste bullets on her. She’ll bleed out from that wound, anyway!”
Saoirse clutches at her thigh, glaring between me and the barrel of the gun.
“One hostage gives you more leverage than two bodies, right?” I say breathlessly, hoping that Noah’s visible desperation will latch onto leverage more than anything else. “So take me. I can walk. She can’t.”
Noah wipes at his face again, failing to stem the blood flow.
“Fine.”
