Chapter Nineteen

Zach

The next day, Zach woke up from a deep slumber. He was lying on his stomach, something he never did when asleep—it was strange. There was a thick fog inside his head that kept him from thinking.

It felt like he was having a major hangover, but he wasn’t drinking last night, was he? He had a hard time remembering what happened.

His head felt heavy when he pulled it up from his pillow, and the skin on his back felt as if it was pulled very tight. It hurt, and a groan escaped his mouth.

“Thank the heavens, you’re awake.”

Zach was startled, and swiftly turned to kill the intruder in his room, but the pain ensured he didn’t get very far, and he winced. When he sat up on the edge of his bed and took in his surroundings, he saw this wasn’t his room.

And this was not his bed—where the hell was he? He looked at the intruder. “What the fuck are you doing here? You scared the hell out of me. Where am I, what happened?”

Taking a better look at the intruder in the chair next to his bed, Zach saw he was all rumpled, with bags under his eyes and major bed head. “What happened to you?”

“I slept here. You collapsed last night in front of the compound. Don’t you remember? I brought you here so Jordyn could take a look at you. You’ve been out for more than twelve hours.”

“What?” Zach was dumbfounded; this had never happened to him before. Was he getting weak? “What time is it?”

“It’s two in the afternoon.”

Zach’s eyes widened; he really had slept that long. Zach tried to say something, but the fog kept him from saying anything. He was so confused.

“You lost a lot of blood because of the injuries you got in the fight yesterday. That’s why you collapsed. When you came back from your unconsciousness, you refused all treatments offered to you.

“Jordyn had to sedate you in order to keep you from moving. She cleaned your wounds and stitched them up.”

“Get her over here. I need to get out of here and get to work. There’s a lot to be done.” His head jolted up when he remembered something.

“Julian, how is he?” When he had checked last night, he’d still been in surgery.

Jackson looked at him with sad eyes. “He is fighting for his life. He’s barely holding on. A knife hit an artery, and he has lost a lot of blood. His life is hanging by a thread.”

Zach lowered his head and stared at the floor. He shook his head. He couldn’t lose him—Julian had done so much for him and his family. He’d put his life on the line multiple times to protect the ones that were important to him.

Julian didn’t deserve this! He jolted up quickly and smashed the nearest wall with his fist, ignoring the dizziness that came up immediately after he stood up. “Damn it!” He turned to face Jackson.

“We need to get these fucking bastards! I want their heads stuck up on a pole for everyone to see as a warning to anyone who as much as thinks about putting my people in danger!”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, but it will have to wait. You need to get better first.”

“The fuck, I am perfectly fine. You don’t need to tell me what to do.” Just as he said that, another wave of dizziness came over him, making him grab the first thing that was within reach to hold himself up—Jackson’s shoulder.

“Yeah, right. I thought you said you are fine. You can’t even stand up straight for longer than five minutes. You need to take it easy, Zach, seriously.”

Zach grumbled. “I can’t. I have to be there for my family. They need me.”

“They can wait. They need their boss, but they need a healthy and strong boss. You can’t do anything when you’re like this, you need to get better first!”

“Jackson—”

“No. For once in your life, you are going to listen to me! Don’t give me any bullshit.”

There was a knock on the door, and the men paused their discussion to look at who was coming in. It was Jordyn.

It wasn’t good. He’d apparently lost a lot of blood. Jordyn wanted him to stay where he was; he was not allowed to go back into boss-related things. That was so not convenient.

Zach needed to be with the family; he needed to be there for support, to organize the retribution for this attack. After Jordyn left, Jackson insisted that Zach tell him what things were very important so that he could take over.

He also asked what else needed to be done to get the family back on track and what was to be done with the prisoners that had been captured. Just about everything that Zach should have been doing himself.

After Zach had told him, Jackson left to get to work. Zach was deep in thought about everything that had happened yesterday when he heard a knock on his door. Ethan peeked around the corner.

“Hey, man, heard you were awake. Glad to have you back.” Ethan strutted in to sit on the chair beside the bed.

“Pff, I hate this,” Zach grumbled. “I can’t lean back cause my back hurts. I can’t do anything cause my back hurts. I’m not allowed to walk cause I have to rest.

“Me, the great big boss. I’m confined to bed. Can you imagine?”

Ethan grinned. Being in the hospital was so unlike Zach. “I’m sorry, man, but we need you to get better first. It’s only for the best.”

“Oh, I know. But still.” Zach sulked. He couldn’t stand this resting he had to do. “Do you understand what happened?

“How could I not handle their stupid boss? I just don’t understand. He should be easy to handle, for me, at least. How could I end up like this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he is somehow stronger than you expected him to be, or he knows what your weak spots are. I have no idea, Zach.”

“I do feel like I know this guy. I feel like I have met him before. I recognize those eyes.”

“I don’t know. I have no idea who the guy is.” Ethan shifted in his seat, trying to sit in a more comfortable position.

“Oh, by the way, I contacted Adrian. I thought he may want to know that his big brother is in the hospital.”

Zach looked at Ethan, annoyed, and crossed his arms. “Now why did you do that? You’ll only make him worry about me.”

“Zach, although he lives somewhere else, you’re still his family. His only family. Wouldn’t you like to know if anything happened to Adrian?”

Zach continued to sulk; his mood was unimaginable. Another quiet knock was heard, and Joanna walked in hesitantly.

“Hello, boss Zach.” She kept a respectful distance from the imposing man, who looked very pale and weak in his bed.

“Joanna, I didn’t expect you here.” Zach’s eyes lit up a little when he saw her. “I hope the fight from yesterday didn’t scare you too much?”

Joanna pulled another chair to Zach’s bed. “I was a little shaken up last night, but I am fine now, thank you.”

She smiled shyly. “Er…” She seemed unsure of what to say and looked at her hands in her lap.

“I, er, I took the liberty to go into your room to get you some comfortable clothes and your toiletries.” She showed him a bag that he hadn’t noticed she had with her.

“Oh.” Zach was surprised by her gesture. “That is very kind of you, thank you.”

“There are also some towels in there, in case you need them, and I put your slippers in there too.”

“Joanna, you are the best. Let me give you a hug.”

As she got up to give Zach his hug, a loud protest was heard from the other side of the room. “I don’t think so, mister! Get your own destined to hug!”

Zach laughed and threw his head back but cringed when he felt the pulling on his back. “Sorry, man, I forgot. You know I have my own destined, somewhere. I wouldn’t dare to try and steal your destined away from you.”

“You better not. I am watching you.” Ethan raised his finger to him teasingly, trying to lighten Zach’s mood.

“Do you feel well, boss Zach? You look pale.” Joanna looked at him with concern in her eyes.

“I am a bit tired, and I am in pain, so that’s probably why I look pale,” Zach answered, then he looked at Ethan.

“I still don’t understand why I am not recovering faster, though. I should be up and running by now. I’ve been trained to deal with these kinds of injuries. My training has taught my body how to heal faster, so something must be wrong.”

“Zach, I really have no idea what is going on.” Then Ethan thought of something. “During the fight, you were only focused on the fight. You didn’t pay attention to the rest of your surroundings.

“You could be drugged or poisoned without you even noticing it. And if they did, anything that was in your system last night could already be evaporated, so to me, it seems that checking your blood is pointless.”

“That is quite possible. I haven’t thought about that. That is just crazy. What do those guys want?”