Page 33 of Kane

It was the last thing he heard before the world slipped away.

He woke up in the hospital. Everything hurt.

His room was quiet, save for the steady beeping of the heart monitor. No sign of his brother or his parents. He blinked, and the last vestiges of daylight had disappeared. A dim light shone from a panel above his bed. A gentle pressure squeezed against his hand.

He turned toward the small sob from his right.

“Mandy,” he rasped. The skin on his face tugged against the tape and bandage as he formed the word.

Tears streaked her face. Her beautiful hair tangled in wild disarray. He attempted to lean toward her, to comfort her, but the pain of moving leveled him back to the bed. He tried to swallow, but his tongue was so dry, it stuck to the roof of his mouth. A cough shook his body and, dear God, did it hurt. Still, he couldn’t stop.

Finally, a straw slipped between his lips, and the cool water helped him settle. Mandy held the glass close to him until he drank his fill, then set it on the tray beside her.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he whispered, squeezing her hand weakly. He’d made such a mistake following his brother into a stupid fucking drug den. Never again. He’d cut the cord. His family business was the past. Mandy was his future.

She pulled her hand away from his. “I can’t see you anymore.”

Her words didn’t make sense.

The medication must be messing with me.

He shook his head.

“I can’t be involved in this world, Kane.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and hardened her expression. “Do you know how many people died today?”

“But—” His voice failed him. God, he hurt so much.

She stood. “Don’t call me; I won’t answer. Don’t try to see me; you’re no longer part of my life.” She gave him her back and walked to the door.

Tears spring to his eyes.

What is happening?

Nothing made sense. The only thing he knew was he had to stop her from walking out the door. He forced himself upright, the pain in his gut burning fire anew. Blood seeped through his sheets. He reached out. “Mandy.”

“Goodbye, Kane.”

He felt like he was dying. And when his last glimpse of her red hair disappeared from the room, he no longer had the will to fight it.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kane

Kane couldn’t look at Mike as he recounted the night he’d refused to think about in years. In the weeks and months after Mandy left him, he’d dissected the memory in every way he could. He tried to make sense of it, but every time he came up empty. Eventually, he simply stopped trying.

“You never tried to see her again?” Mike’s words finally made him look up. “Never tried to call her?”

He blew out a deep breath. “Course I did. But she wouldn’t take my calls. You hadn’t seen her. She even had a bodyguard for a while to keep me away.”

“She didn’t come around here for weeks.” Mike seemed to be talking to himself. “Wouldn’t take my calls either. I figured she needed time.” His eyes narrowed as he focused back on Kane. “I always thought you must have cheated on her or something. Nothing else made sense. She loved you.”

Heat flashed up his neck. “Fuck you. I would have cut off my arm for your sister. I never even looked at another woman.” He rose to his feet, his voice climbing with his outrage.

“So, you’re saying she left you because your thug brother dragged you into a shootout?” Mike shook his head like his own words didn’t make sense.

He sighed deeply, the familiar weight of the memory settling on his chest. “Something, orsomeone, set the building on fire after I passed out.” He rubbed his fingers over the crease in his forehead.

Mike shrugged. “Okay. It still doesn’t—” He gasped as the realization hit. “Oh, my God. The big apartment fire in the Bluff?”