Page 44 of Shadows Redeemed
Parker leaned his head back on Sage’s arm. The whole thing was a convoluted mess, and it made his head hurt just thinking about it.
A few minutes later, police, followed immediately by paramedics, rushed through the warehouse doors. Dane moved over to intercept and fill everyone in as Elvis talked to the paramedics about what he had done for the injured. The medics helped Parker to his feet and attempted to put him on a gurney, but he chose to walk instead. Enough people needed to be rolled out as it was.
With Sage at his side, he moved over to where Dane talked with an officer, ready to deal with the arguments he knew wouldcome. However, before he could get there, another shot rang out, dropping everyone to their knees.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SAGE’S PULSE RACED AS the gunshot from outside echoed throughout the warehouse. She froze for a split second, dread curling in her stomach. It could have been Luc Broussard firing at Gage and Cookie—or worse, they could have shot him. God, she hoped not. Killing Luc would have made everything worse. They needed him alive to help clear Jacob of the crimes for which the others framed him. Old man Broussard wouldn’t believe his son would betray him unless he heard the confession from his own lips, because, well, the cops hadn’t actually been upfront about everything so far.
The weight of the situation pressed down on her as she took a breath, and as Dane and the local police headed for the back door of the warehouse, she turned, casting a quick glance at Parker. “Stay here.” She then turned and raced after the others.
“Like hell I will,” she heard Parker hiss behind her. “I’m not sitting this out.”
She didn’t have time to argue with him. He wasn’t the type to stay on the sidelines, anyway. He had proven that. Not when people he cared about were in danger. It was how he got shot, after all. And kidnapped. And she couldn’t deny that deep down, she was relieved to have him close, despite the wound that stillscreamed at him in his shoulder. She hated that he’d gotten hurt because of this whole mess—because of Luc, Bryce, and those dirty detectives—Nealey and Sullivan. Because of Jacob. How had she not seen how corrupt her old mentor was? How had she not known he was the one who killed her father? Because he didn’t want her to, that’s how. She was young, eager, too eager, and he had used that to guide her away from where he didn’t want her to look.
Together with Dane and several members of the NOPD, they rushed out of the warehouse, tension thick in the air as they rounded the corner of the alley. The sight that greeted them was both a relief and a strange sort of satisfaction.
Luc was down, writhing on the ground, clutching at a gunshot wound in his leg. He whimpered like a child, his tough-guy persona completely shattered. That’s usually how it turned out with these thug types. They were all badass until the tide turned against them.
Gage and Cookie stood over him, weapons lowered but still tense, watching as the paramedics rushed forward to treat him.
Sage exhaled a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she stood there, taking in the scene. No one else seemed injured—at least, not badly. The police moved in as soon as the paramedics slid Luc onto the gurney, cuffing him to the rolling bed, making sure he wasn’t going anywhere. One of the officers shook his head as he glanced down at the youngest Broussard, a look of disgust crossing his face.
“About time someone put him down,” the officer muttered. “Too bad they didn’t aim higher.”
Sage was glad they didn’t aim higher, though. The leg worked perfectly to keep him talking. And immobile.
Gage turned to her, holstering his weapon as she and Parker approached. “He tried to make a run for it. However, our friend Cookie here clipped him before he got too far.”
Sage shot Cookie a grateful look, though her mind was already racing ahead. Luc would live. She doubted anyone would die from a leg wound. But that didn’t mean they were in the clear. They still had to deal with the fallout from everything that had gone down. Nealey was dead, and Sullivan still unconscious, while Bryce was doing everything he could to pin everything on everyone but himself. It was a disaster, but Luc was the key to making sure Jacob didn’t go down with the rest of them. Now they just had to keep Luc’s father from getting his hands on him and punishing his son himself.
She turned her gaze to Parker, her heart softening at the sight of him standing beside her, strong despite the pain etched across his face. His hand brushed against hers, a subtle gesture that sent warmth spreading through her. They had made it through the worst of it. He was alive, and that was all that mattered right now.
But the storm wasn’t over. Close. But not yet.
They spent the next half-hour giving statements to officers, helping the wounded get taken care of, and helping clean up their own gear. When the time came for Parker to ride off in his ambulance, Sage didn’t even glance at Jacob’s ride. Instead, she climbed in with Parker, sliding up to the side where the medic wasn’t and clasped Parker’s hand, smiling down at him, her heart bursting with emotions.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, ignoring the medic as they worked on Parker, checking his vitals and making notes on a clipboard. “Because you look like shit.”
He chuckled, and then immediately groaned as he clutched at his side. “You did that on purpose.” He settled back, and Sage placed a hand on his shoulder. “And I feel like shit, to be honest. But then again, we got the bad guys, so there’s that.”
“Jacob will probably still be in some kind of trouble for his part in this.” She hated to put that out there, but the man did cutsome corners and break some major rules. “You’re going to have to be all right with that.”
Parker reached out, taking her hand that rested on his shoulder and squeezing it. “I did what I had to do. They at least know he didn’t do what everyone thought he did. Now, for what he actually did—that’s on him. He can deal with it. I’m done.”
She gave a curt nod. “Good.” She squeezed his hand in return. “Because my part in this mess is over as well. I helped you find the truth. I’m done with your brother.” A slow grin slipped across her face. “Except for family functions, that is.”
He pulled her hand to him, kissing her knuckles. “I like the sound of that.” The way he smiled at her right then made her wish the paramedic wasn’t there.
For the rest of the ride, she sat there, holding his hand, thankful he was alive. She didn’t know what would happen to his brother at that point, but truly, she didn’t care. He never should have put Parker in the position he did. While Parker was tough, nothing weak about him, and smart, a problem-solver, he wasn’t a street fighter, just a simple teacher, and that’s what she loved about him.
At the hospital, the fluorescent lights felt too bright, the sterile smell sharp in Sage’s nose as she followed him to his room in the emergency section of the hospital. He tried to downplay his injury—just a gunshot wound, a clean shot that had torn through the meat of his shoulder—but she could see the strain on his face.
“Don’t worry about me,” he muttered, as the paramedics slipped him from the gurney to the hospital bed. “I’ll be fine. It’s Jacob we need to focus on. Please. Go check on him.”
She frowned, but didn’t argue. It wasn’t like she could tell him not to worry about his brother, after all. Bryce shot Jacob twice, not counting when he shot him at the cabin, while Jacob tried to save Parker, and now Jacob was fighting for his life—hiscareer, his freedom, everything. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about Parker. The thought of him being hurt again, of coming so close to losing him, left her stomach in knots.
As soon as they started stitching Parker up, she left him to find Jacob, whose ambulance had just pulled up. Everything moved in a blur—doctors, nurses, police officers milling about—but eventually, they were all standing around Jacob’s bed, waiting for him to give his report.
