I held myself up with my hands, but my arms were quivering from exhaustion. I struggled to keep my eyes focused, and my lungs were having a hard time feeling satisfied with each shallow breath. Grahm was right, but I would fight it; I had to keep my heart beating to save Jared.

“If she dies, Grahm, I won’t kill you quickly,” Claire said through her teeth, her voice quivering with anger. “You will suffer…for days. Maybe even weeks…Hell will be a sweet relief compared to what I will do to you.”

Grahm laughed, pointing his shotgun at me. “I could end her life right now, but I think I like watching you squirm while we watch her die.”

I coughed, and fell to my elbows, my palms flat on the damp pavement of the alley. The nausea became more of a promise than a threat, and the sweat dripped from my hairline into my eyes. Grahm planned to hold us at gunpoint until my heart stopped beating, and Jared would soon become sick and die. The rage welled up inside me and I gritted my teeth in anger.

I looked up at the barrel of the gun. “I wish I could watch what she does to you, Grahm, you sorry sack of—,”

“Now, now…” he laughed. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Do you even have a mother, Grahm? Or did you just come straight from the bowels of Hell?” I gasped, feeling my life slipping away.

Grahm cocked his gun. “You’re sassy, Nina. I like that. Maybe I will show a little mercy…not really my style, but I’ll make an exception for Jack’s daughter.”

I shut my eyes tight and waited, but the end never came. When I looked up, Grahm stood with his back arched, his eyes wide and bulging, staring straight ahead. A string of drool fell from his mouth as he fell forward. Jared stood in his place with a bloody fist.

“Nice,” Claire said, lifting my limp body from the ground.

“I ran out of bullets,” Jared quipped, taking me from Claire’s arms. We surged forward, taking off so fast I thought he had finally sprouted wings.

I tried to focus as he lifted me into the backseat of his Escalade, cradling me in his arms. Claire jumped into the driver seat. “Rhode Island Hospital is closer, right?”

“Yes!” Jared cried. “Go, Claire, Go!”

“I’m going to bleed on the seat,” I mumbled.

Jared laughed nervously. “I don’t care about the seat…you just stay with me.”

“I’m cold,” I whispered. My body shivered uncontrollably even against his warm body.

“Claire,” Jared warned, holding me tightly against him.

“Two minutes,” she said as the SUV jerked with a sharp turn.

“She doesn’t have two minutes,” Jared groaned.

“Jared?” I called into the dark.

I felt his warm hand on my cheek. “I’m here.”