Chapter 10 - ONE BULLET
Marco fired.
Lorenzo moved.
The bullet entered his side.
Hunter screamed.
Lorenzo fell.
Marco aimed again.
Hunter threw herself over Leo.
Then another shot exploded.
Marco stumbled.
Isabella stood in the doorway.
Her arm shook around the pistol.
She fired again.
Marco disappeared through the kitchen window.
Hunter crawled toward Lorenzo.
"No."
Blood spread beneath him.
"Lorenzo."
He looked at Leo.
"The baby."
"He's okay."
"Promise me."
"Stop."
"Hunter."
"You're not dying."
"Promise me you'll take him."
Hunter grabbed his face.
"No."
"You promised Sophia."
"I didn't promise anything."
"Promise me."
Hunter was crying now.
"You're going to raise him yourself."
Lorenzo smiled weakly.
"Bossy."
"Shut up."
Sirens approached.
Halloran pressed towels against the wound.
Lorenzo lost consciousness.
For nine hours, Hunter sat outside surgery holding Leo.
She thought about Lily.
Sophia.
Rebecca.
The strange chain of women whose lives had somehow brought her to this hallway.
Then Halloran came out.
Hunter stood.
"He's alive."
Her knees gave way.
She cried against Leo's blanket.
Not because Lorenzo Rossi was powerful.
Not because he was rich.
Not because she needed someone to save her.
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Because somewhere between the nursery, the fire, the secrets, and the blood...
she had begun to care whether he came home.
