Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
The firefighter puts the woman down on the wheeled stretcher the paramedics have brought over. She moans in pain as he puts her down as gently as he can. It’s a sound that should make me cringe, but instead, it warms my heart. She’s alive and conscious and that’s way more than I expected of her. A broken leg seems like nothing in comparison to what could have happened to her.
Another paramedic wheels the woman away. Amelia coughs beside me and I look down at her with concern.
“We need to get you to the hospital.”
She shakes her head and points. “Look,” she says. “I’ll just go over there.”
Two paramedics have set up a first aid area where they’re checking over people from the fire to assess if their smoke inhalation is bad enough to go to hospital or not and patching up minor burns. I nod and lead Amelia towards them. We join a short line, and within five minutes Amelia is in the hands of the paramedics.
“Are you ok here for a minute?” I ask her. “I have to make a call.”
“Sir, wait,” one of the paramedics says. “We really need to check you over. You could have inhaled more smoke than you think, and your hand is bleeding.”
I hadn’t even noticed the cut on my hand. I must have gotten it breaking and climbing out of the window.
“It’s nothing,”
The paramedic looks ready to argue with me, but I’m already walking away. I move away from the crowd and pull my cell phone from my jeans’ pocket and call Jerome, my main security guy. It’s late, well after midnight, but he answers my call quickly.
“Jerome? It’s Viktor,” I say. “Any word on Igor’s location?”
I know this could be a coincidence. It could be an act of mindless violence from some idiot, but I don’t believe that. Since I killed his father, Igor has popped up on my radar several times, talking shit about me and causing trouble in one of my clubs. The bouncer there broke his jaw and I thought that would be the end of it, but that only made it worse.
I’ve tasked Jerome with finding Igor’s location, but he seems to have gone underground, and Jerome’s men have been having trouble finding where he’s hiding.
“Not yet. I have men looking for him still, but honestly boss, it’s like he’s just vanished off the face of the earth,” Jerome says.
“Except he hasn’t. Because it looks like he’s just gas bombed one of my fucking restaurants,” I say.
“What?” Jerome exclaims.
“Yeah,” I confirm. “He threw a Molotov cocktail into Papa’s. And I’m going to make him pay. People have died in that fire. I was in that restaurant with my girl, and I swear he’ll pay for that twice.”
“Are you ok? Is she ok?” Jerome asks.
“We’re both fine. Amelia’s just getting checked over for smoke damage, but she’s mostly ok. But she might not have been. Jerome, I want this search widened. Use any resources you need but find me that fucker. And fast,” I say.
“Got it,” Jerome says.
I end the call and go back to the first aid stand. The paramedic has just finished dealing with Amelia.
“Are her lungs clear?” I ask.
Amelia speaks up before he can though. “I’m sitting right here Viktor. You can ask me, you know,” she smiles.
“So, you can pretend you’re ok no matter what’s been said,” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, exactly,” she smiles.
“She has inhaled a little bit of smoke, but there shouldn’t be any permanent damage. Are you able to stay with her tonight? If she has someone with her, we can let her go home, but otherwise, we’ll admit her. Just as a precaution.”
“I’ll stay with her,” I say quickly.
He grabs a leaflet and hands it to me. “This is what you need to look out for. Heavy coughing, any blood in her phlegm, dizziness or nausea. If she presents with any of these symptoms in the next four to six hours, you need to take her to the emergency room. If she presents with any symptoms in the next forty-eight hours after that, then a trip to her primary physician will be sufficient and they will advise on whether she needs to be taken to the hospital. Any other questions?”
I shake my head and the paramedic nods to me. I thank him for his help and turn to Amelia.
“Let’s get you home.”
23
VIKTOR
“Is everything ok?” Amelia asks.
I nod and lean in close to her, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Everything’s fine. I just had a word with one of my men and told him to find the fucker that did this.” I half expect her to pull away from me and demand I tell the police everything, but it’s not my style, and if this thing with Amelia is going to work, she needs to know who she’s dealing with. “He’s going to pay for what he did.”