I could not think. I couldn’t not breathe. There was just nothing.

“Taylor.” Somewhere I could hear Connor. Connor my brother.

Someone took hold of my shoulders and I was looking up my brother’s concerned gaze.

“Are you okay?”

“I…” Everything felt like too much effort. My mind stuttered awake.

“Taylor,” his voice more insistent.

“I think she’s in shock.” The voice sounded like Jeff’s.

I was trying to think but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get my body to follow any command.

“Taylor,” Connor leveled his gaze with mine.

My hand was wet. My fingers feel the texture as I looked down.

Red. Sin.

Sin got shot.

He had been bleeding. I looked to Connor. “Sin.”

“They’ve rushed him to the hospital.”

Hospital.

“Connor,” my voice alarmed.

“It’s okay. Let’s go to the hospital.”

I allowed him to steer me. My gaze went to the body. Mack. He was dead. He had been shot. The cops were starting to assess the scene. Kai spoke to one of the officers.

I remember glimpses of what happened. Sin pointing the gun at Mack. Sienna had a gun. Mack had shot Sin. Sienna had shot Mack.

I inhaled sharply. Connor tightened his arm around my shoulder. “It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t.

“Connor.” His name welled up inside of me.

“They are doing everything they can.” There was a calm in his voice I wanted to hold onto.

I nodded, trying to keep my panic from taking over. I was afraid to slip into the nothingness where I could feel nothing but the pain inside me was indescribable.

The drive to the hospital was a daze. I blinked when we entered and the sterile smell hit me.

Sin. The sound of the gun going off echoed in my mind. Followed by a gasp. The sound engraved on my heart. It had been Sin.

Connor and Jeff took me to the family waiting room as we sat down.

“Do you want something?” Connor asked softly.

“Water, please.” My throat felt so dry.

He got up to get me some as I stared unseeing at the white walls. Jordan arrived.

The sight of her made me burst into tears. She hugged me as she sat down beside me.

“It’s okay,” she soothed, rubbing my back slightly.

I wanted to hold onto those words and allow every fear I held to slip away.

When Connor returned he gave me a cup with some water. I sipped it slowly.

I was feeling awful, like I had been hit by a truck and backed over again. All I wanted was to see Sin again. I just wanted to feel his hand in mine and know that he was okay because there was no other scenario I could handle. He had to be okay.

“What happened?” Connor asked softly.

“Sin wasn’t there when I got there but Mack was. He was going to kill me.” I raked my hands through my hair trying to organize my thought to make some sense. “It was revenge, to take what mattered to Sin so he would know how Mack felt.”

My brother shook his head. Speechless.

“Then Sienna, his sister, arrived with Sin. Sin told Mack he would sacrifice his life for mine. He stood in front of me-.” I faltered. It was something I would never forget.

“He did that?”

I nodded. “Crazy, right.”

He shook his head. “No. Not crazy. More like reckless and… brave.”

My mind was still too confused to be able to remember everything clearly.

“Sienna was trying to reason with Mack but it didn’t work.” I sighed. Long and hard. “I know that he had his reasons to get into the type of life he was living. But I saw the true evil in him. Sin and his sister they still saw the boy they grew up with. Maybe that’s why they tried so hard to save him.”

“Some people are too far gone. They can’t be saved.”

I nodded in agreement. “Sin tackled him and got the gun. But Mack found the other gun he had taken from Sin and…shot him. Then Sienna shot Mack.”

“Really?” He whispered the word.

I nodded. “I could not imagine how far she was pushed to do that.”

“She’s still at the police station being questioned.”

“She did the right thing. If she hadn’t killed her brother he would have killed all of us.”

“Even his sister?”

I nodded. “In his mind she betrayed him. Something about talking to the cops.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think she was so desperate she was willing to do anything.” I was thoughtfully silent for a few seconds. “I think she believed the only way to stop Mack was to send him to jail.”

Connor’s hand found mine and he gave it a squeeze.

The waiting as hell.

“Hey pretty girl,” Slater said when he took the seat beside me when Connor went to find out if there was any news yet from the nurse’s station.

“Hey.”

“How are you doing?”

I looked to him. “If I hadn’t gone… then none of this…”

Slater shook his head. “You can’t blame yourself.” I could hear the strain in his voice. We were all worried. We were all waiting and hoping to hear good news.

“He has to be okay.”

Slater took my hand in his. “They are doing everything they can.”

What if they couldn’t save him? What if he lost too much blood? It was too awful to think about. The baby. I put my hand to my stomach.

“You okay?” Slater sounded concerned.

“I’m fine. Just a little back ache.”

It was nothing compared to what Sin was going through. I stood and began to pace. Rubbing my lower back a little to ease the ache.

“Are you okay?” Connor asked with a deep set frown.

“It’s nothing Connor.”

The last thing I needed was my brother fussing over me. Sin was the one fighting for his life. Nothing else mattered.

All I needed was Sin to be okay and everything would be fine.

“Did the paramedics check you over?” He persisted.

“I’m fine Connor.” I glared at him, hating his overprotectiveness.

“You could have died today?” I saw the ghosts of the most important people we had already lost in his eyes.

“I’m here Connor. I’m fine. I’m not the one in surgery fighting for my life,” I reminded him a little annoyed.

My bother continued to study me.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.” I put my hand to my head, feeling more vulnerable than I wanted to admit.

“I get it. I do. It’s been a lot.”

He hugged me and I sighed. He was right. From the start of this whole thing I had lived in constant fear of what would happen.

The hours seemed to drag on. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. Connor had tried to get me to eat something but I couldn’t bring myself to take a bite of the sandwich he had bought me.

I got up and began to pace, unable to sit still. I just wanted Sin. I wanted to see him wake up and take my hand in his. I wanted to hear him tell me everything was going to be okay.

That’s all I needed.

“You look exhausted,” Jordan commented as she approached me.

“I’m am.”

I knew they cared but the only person I wanted them to concentrate on was Sin. I was fine. The baby was fine. Sin wasn’t.

I dozed with my head on Connor’s shoulder for a little while. Time seemed to drag on until eventually the surgeon came through the door.

His expression was hard to read and I had a moment of sheer panic.

“He has made it through the surgery.”

I stood, gripping Connor beside me as I swayed slightly.

“The next few hours will be the most critical.”

Critical. I inhaled. Critical. I couldn’t hear past the word.

Connor held me close as my mind struggled to comprehend that Sin was still in danger. I could still lose him. It felt like I was going to hyperventilate. The toll I had shouldered for so long feeling too heavy to carry any longer.

I had the strangest sensation and looked down to see blood run down the inside of my thigh just above my knee. Blood.

Oh. God. The baby.

“Connor,” I murmured as I touched the blood.

“We need a doctor,” my brother yelled. His face horrified.

“Connor…”

Everything was so far away I reached out to my brother trying to hold onto him when my legs gave way.