Page 47 of Dichotomy

“Emergency,” I croaked out, my voice raspy from sleep.

Marcus rolled out of bed next to me, and I followed him, dashing to the living room, not caring that I was naked. I snatched the phone out of my jacket and answered it.

“Boss Lady,” Liam said before I could say a word, his voice strained. “Fuck!”

“Liam, what is it?” I asked.

Movement from the corner of my eye had me turning. Adrian held out clothes for me, and I put the phone on speaker, setting it on the back of the couch as I jammed my legs through the pants.

“Grace has been shot.”

“What?” I stumbled and would have gone down if Marcus hadn’t caught me.

He took the waistband of the pants from my loose fingers and dragged them up my legs as I tried to process Liam’s words. Grace had been shot? What happened? Was she okay? We didn’t have any active missions going on, so what had happened? Was this the Kingfisher organization? The FIA?

“Grace has been shot. You need to get to Memorial Hospital. Now,” Liam said. The rapid clacking of his keyboard stormed through the speakers.

“What happened?” I snarled, shoving my head through the shirt, cursing when my hair covered my face.

Adrian’s gentle hands pulled the shirt down and brushed my hair from my face. He and Marcus were fully dressed. Marcus was in the kitchen on the phone with someone as I waited for Liam to give me the details.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to get ahold of Danny, but he’s not answering his phone.”

My knees went weak, and Adrian caught me. Fuck. Danny. Had he been shot too? Was he dead?

“His phone tracker is showing he’s in his apartment. I’m sending Jerome and Matt over to pound on his door,” Liam continued, referencing two Archers in Danny’s division. “Izzy is going to the hospital, but you’re Grace’s emergency contact, so you need to head there now.”

Grace didn’t have any living family, so she had asked me to be her emergency contact years ago. I was surprised the hospital hadn’t called me yet, but as I thought that, my phone started buzzing.

“Fuck, Liam. It’s the hospital. I have to take this. Call me as soon as you’ve heard from Matt and Jerome.”

I hung up on him and answered the hospital’s incoming call.

“Hello, is this Evelyn Harper?” A woman’s crisp voice came through the speaker.

Adrian guided me out of my apartment to the elevator. Marcus, Sebastian, and Alexander were waiting, clothes rumpled from sleep but eyes sharp and focused on me.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m calling because I have you listed as the emergency contact for Grace Morgan.”

“Yes, is she okay?”

“She was brought in by ambulance about twenty minutes ago,” the woman said. “She’s been shot in the stomach and lost a lot of blood. She’s in surgery now here at Memorial Hospital.”

My vision whited out, and I felt the phone being taken from my hand. Then Alexander’s strong voice took over the conversation. Shot in the stomach? That was one of the worst places to be shot. What the fuck had happened? How long had she been bleeding out before she had gotten to the hospital? Where was Danny? Fuck, I didn’t know anything, and that made my anxiety spiral out even more. Could I have prevented this if I hadn’t taken a step back? I was getting my brains fucked out while she was lying somewhere bleeding out.

“Evelyn, Evelyn!” A sharp voice called my name, and I refocused on my surroundings.

We were in one of the guys’ SUVs. Marcus was driving, and Adrian sat in the front next to him, one eye on the road and one eye on me. I was sitting sideways on Sebastian’s lap; the seat belt buckled in over us both. Alexander’s worried eyes met mine as he sat next to me, holding my hand. It was his voice I had heard.

“She’s alive,” Alexander said. “She’s in surgery now. I called into the hospital and ensured she had the best doctors for her care. Izzy called and said the same thing. She’s waiting there already. I got us a conference room and called Sanders. He’sputting a team on the hospital entrance, and two guards will be posted outside of Grace’s room.”

“Danny?” I croaked out. I needed to get it together, but I was relieved Alexander was taking over.

Alexander’s face was carefully blank. “Izzy hasn’t heard from Liam yet, but Jerome and Matt should be arriving at his apartment any minute.”

I closed my eyes tightly. Tears burned the backs of my eyelids, and my throat closed as emotion threatened to overwhelm me. Fuck. Not Danny. I couldn’t lose him. Losing Grace would devastate me, but losing Danny… I didn’t know if I could come back from that. Sebastian held me tighter, and the pressure helped to ground me.