There’s a trail of his blood following us, the dirt soaking it up as we go along. It started out as a giant puddle then a steady line. Now it’s spotty and spread out, letting me know he’s lost so much more than he should have.
Someone grabs my arm and I jump at the contact, clutching Donatello to me. “Move, Laney Girl.”
I was so focused on the blood and moving I didn’t hear Jessie coming up to us. I shift so he can take my place and watch as he easily hikes Donatello up his chest. He’s still pulling him but it’s much faster, just Donatello’s boots scraping the ground compared to most of his body when I did it. I look back toward Remy seeing him walk away and no longer watching.
I follow after Jessie, staring at the limp man in his arms. I’m trying to convince myself that he’s still okay. Jessie takes him the last four hundred feet way faster than I would have been able to, helping lift Donatello up onto a gurney the EMTs had ready. I hold my breath as they look over him, yelling things I don’t understand to each other.
“Is he okay?” One of them looks over at me, but doesn't answer, continuing to shuffle things around, and check his body for other injuries. “Is he okay?” I ask it again, feeling Jessie at my back. Again no one answers, starting to move him inside the ambulance. “Can someone please fucking answer me?! Is he okay?”
Jessie grabs my arm when I start forward, but I rip it away, grabbing onto the EMT closest to me. I jerk him sideways forcing his gaze. “Tell me! I don’t care if you’re not supposed to. Please.”
His eyes shift over my head to Jessie and I don’t look, but he must have given him the okay because the EMT meets my gaze again. “He’s breathing, but he needs blood badly. He might not make it to the hospital.”
I let go of his jacket and let him step up into the vehicle. I watch as they shut the doors, immediately pulling away, not even giving me a chance to get in with them. I’m out of tears. My chest silently shaking as I take a shuddering breath. Donatello has to make it.
I turn to Jessie and blink up at his face. He almost shot Donatello, but he also probably saved him. “You gave Ollie that file.” It’s not a question, because I know it’s the truth. I want to be angry, but it’s not like Remy wouldn’t have found out about it. This still would have happened, just at a different date.
He nods. His crystal eyes running over my face, his hand moving at his side like he wants to touch me.
“You weren’t supposed to help me.”
“I wasn’t.”
I swallow at his words using my sleeve to wipe my face. “Will you get in trouble?”
He doesn’t answer me, but the look on his face says he probably will. I don’t know how to process what happened. My body is shaking with both fatigue and the remnants of adrenaline. For the first time in my life I understand why people fear Remy. I’d never experienced his cruelty to that capacity. Never even felt a secondhand lashing to anything like that. I feel betrayed by him more than anyone else.
“Will you take me to the hospital?” I realize I don’t even know what hospital they’re bringing him to, but Jessie probably does. I look over at him to find him already watching me. “I don’t blame you.”
He frowns, probably in confusion and I continue. “I understand now why you blindly follow Ollie.” I look away back toward the warehouse. “He’s a monster.”
Jessie lightly touches my arm, “Let’s go. If we hurry you can get there soon after the ambulance.”
I watch Delaney get out of the SUV, and stare at the dark wet stains that were left where she was sitting. Her clothes were so soaked in Donatello’s blood it wrung out onto the leather seat. We didn’t talk the entire way here, she just sat in silence while I choked on my heart. I don’t know why I thought I could do this, why I thought I would be fine watching that happen. But I couldn’t even pull the damn trigger, not after hearing the panic in Laney’s voice. I corrupted my sweet girl just to turn around and break my own deal with Capo Famiglia anyway.
I stood there as long as I could, but eventually I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t watch her suffer like that any longer without help. When I started running toward her, Capo Famiglia didn’t say anything. He didn’t try to stop me or try to remind me of his rules. He just let me run to her.
I can’t stay with her though because the minute I pulled into the hospital parking lot, I got an appointment message. I don’t know what that means, but I know it can’t be good. Whatever it is, Delaney will have been worth it.
I wait until she disappears inside the hospital doors before I drive off, heading toward the texted coordinates. It takes less time than I was hoping to get here, and I close my eyes, forcing my racing heart to calm in my chest. I’m fucking
