The One Who Got Away is Back

Present 17 ♡ The Exclusive Bernal Solis Club

Once I joined the others and found out that there were no news yet, I went looking for them. A different nurse informed me that Miguel was stable and had just been taken in for surgery. My heart leapt and fell in succession. I asked her how long he'd be operated on and she couldn't tell.

So I joined back on the wait.

It wasn't a peaceful one, since Angela was brought to the same hospital and we all went to check up on her as well. She had a mild concussion and a strong case of anger. The policemen who had tagged along to interview the witnesses got the brunt of her temper.

"You had one job!" I heard her say as I approached her in the ER. "And that was to protect us."

"Ma'am," a young policeman said, his expression full of the pain it took to stay professional. "I assure you we couldn't have prevented this."

"Bah." Angela looked away from him and her gaze landed on me. She extended her arms out and I rushed over to hug her. "I'm so sorry, my dear."

Tears came out of nowhere and hit both of us. She felt responsible for having brought Jean Paul to our lives. I tried to assure her that she couldn't have known he would turn out like this, just the same as the police couldn't have known this would happen.

"Is he going to be okay?" she asked me, and I didn't have to ask who she was referring to.

"He better," I said, wiping my face with the dress sleeves. "If he dies I'm personally going to kill him twice."

The doctors shooed me out of the busy ER, which was when the policemen caught me. I gave them my account the best I remembered it and the most accurately I could, even though all I really wanted to do was curse, shout and cry on the floor. I was saved from further interrogation by a phone call. When I glanced at my screen, I saw Charlie's name and noted that a couple of hours had gone by since we'd talked.

"We're here, where are you?" she asked as soon as I picked up.

"I, uh. What?" Just how fast had she driven?

I met her, her boyfriend and Mr. Bernal at the lobby. The older man immediately flagged a hospital employee and not only demanded news about his son, but also the best care and accomodation for him. Even in my stupor I saw that he did this in a very polite, almost charming way that still didn't leave any room for hesitation. That was where Miguel had got all his business acumen from. And also his nose.

"Tell me everything," Charlie said as she clutched at my arm and steered me toward a sitting area.

"I'll go get us some drinks," said Dean. "The private jet didn't have any and I'm thirsty."

He left us while I told everything to Charlie, with even more excruciating detail than I'd told the police at her demand. Her hands were a vice on mine and we both cried together.

"That absolute, freaking idiot!" she shouted at the same time her fiancee returned with four steaming styrofoam cups. "Who told him it'd be a good idea to jump in front of a bullet?"

I saw Dean's eyebrows go up so far they disappeared under the strands of blond hair across his forehead.

"Shut up," she told him.

I accepted a cup of tea from him and he said, "I have some experience on Bernals getting shot at."

Ah, yes. I remembered the story. Charlie had done for him the very same thing Miguel had just done for me.

She wiped a tear, although by her expression I realized that it was out of anger, rather than sadness.

"I'm sorry," I said, lowering my face.