Chapter Fifteen

“Let her go.”

“Max!” Kyle yelled.

“You have until the count of three to let her go, Cannin.”

“You’ll have to pull the trigger to make me let go, and you’re not going to get a chance to do that.” Cannin nodded to the left, and there was a guy pointing a gun at Max.

“You shoot me, you die, and they’ll still take her.”

Kyle remembered the knife her brother gave her. If she was smart about it, she could take Cannin out.

She looked at Max and hoped the eye contact would cause him to pay attention to her. Max did look at Kyle, and she slowly put her hand in her pocket and flashed the knife.

Without warning, Kyle took the knife and jammed it in Cannin’s neck while Max turned and shot the man pointing a gun at him. He then turned back toward Cannin.

“You should have never messed with my family.” Max pulled the trigger, shooting Cannin in the head.

Kyle ran over to Max, only to realize that he had been shot in the stomach.

“Max, you’re bleeding!”

“I’ll be fine. We need to get everyone out.”

“We need to get you help.” Just as she finished her sentence, Ellis and Ryan made their way outside.

“Where’s Anatoli and Dimitri?” she asked them.

“I don’t know, Ky, but we need to go.”

“We can’t leave without them.”

“You’re bleeding, and Max doesn’t look good. We need to go,” Ellis said, agreeing with Ryan.

“Can you make it back to the car, Max?” Ryan asked

“It looks worse than what it is.” Max didn’t want to worry Kyle was trying to downplay his injury. He knew that he needed a doctor or he wouldn’t make it.

When they made it to the car, Max climbed into that back seat, slumped over.

“Max, you’re not okay. Ryan, you need to hurry back to the house. I’ll call the doctor. Max, stay with me, please. I can’t lose you. I can’t be without you or Dimitri.”

Kyle didn’t waste any more time and called the doctor.

“Max?”

“It’s not Max; it’s Kyle. Max has been shot in the stomach, and he’s not staying awake.”

“We need the hospital; I won’t be able to help him at the house, so meet me there.”

Kyle hung up the phone. “Hold on, Max. I love you. We need to get to the hospital, Ryan.”

***

Kyle was a nervous wreck. It had been a few hours since the doctor took Max back for surgery, and she still hadn’t heard from Dimitri or Anatoli.

“Kyle?” the doctor called and motioned for her to follow him.

“How is he?”

“He sustained a lot of damage, lost a lot of blood, and has internal bleeding. He made it through surgery, but the next forty-eight hours are critical.

“He’s not awake, and I don’t foresee him being awake for a while.”

“When can I see him?”

“Give it another hour, and I’ll take you to see him. Now, let’s get you looked at.”

“I’m fine.”

“I can tell that’s a bullet wound, so come and have a seat.”

Kyle took a seat and let the doctor take a look.

“The good news is that it went right through and didn’t damage anything, so I’ll just stitch you up.”

When Kyle was done getting stitched up, she went back to the waiting room where Ellis and Ryan were.

“Dimitri called me,” Ryan quickly told her. “Dimitri and Anatoli are okay; they have our mom with them.”

“Did you tell Dimitri about Max?”

“He’s on his way. He’s going to pick up Evie before coming here.”

Kyle felt a wave of relief wash over her, knowing Dimitri and Anatoli were okay.

She was trying to hold herself together, but all she wanted to do was be at Max’s side. She was afraid that he wouldn’t pull through, and she blamed herself for it.