The paramedic shook his head. “No way to know without x-rays. I’m guessing she has several broken ribs. Probably punctured a lung.”
“Be careful with her hand,” Ash said. “It’s broken.”
“She’s a mess,” the medic said bluntly. “We need to load and go. I’ll get a c-collar on her and bag her on the way.”
Ash went pale. The words sounded so grim and utterly serious.
“Will she live?” Ash whispered, voicing his darkest fear.
“Not my call, but she sure as hell isn’t going to die on my watch.”
A stretcher was brought in and the medics worked quickly, securing the c-collar and then giving her oxygen. She was just as quickly wheeled out and loaded into the ambulance. Ash barely had time to jump into the back before they roared away in a rush of sirens and lights.
He slid his hand into his pocket, feeling for the photo Josie had had in her hand. Gabe had a hell of a lot to answer for, and then Ash was going after the son of a bitch who’d put his hands on Josie.
chapter thirty-two
“What the fuck is going on?” Jace demanded as he strode into the ER waiting room.
Ash turned and then motioned Gabe and Jace into one of the smaller private rooms where doctors met with families.
“We have a serious problem,” Ash said grimly.
“What the hell happened to Josie?” Jace asked. “Gabe called worried about Mia and Bethany, told me to lock them both down and make sure they were safe. I called Kaden Ginsberg and now I have two very pissed-off women because I made Kaden sit on them both and they’re scared and want to know what the fuck is going on, which I couldn’t tell them because I don’t know myself!”
Ash held up his hand and then reached into his pocket with the other. He pulled out the photo that was in Josie’s hand and held it out to Gabe.
Gabe’s face was a mixture of shock and rage. And then, oddly, guilt. He went gray and then staggered back to sit in one of the chairs. He buried his face in his hands, the photo crumpled in his fist.
Jace snatched the photo from Gabe and then he went pale as he stared at his sister naked, tied up, another man trying to force himself on her.
“What the fuck is this?”
Jace’s explosive demand echoed through the room.
“Josie was holding that when I got to her,” Ash said quietly. “And then she told me the man who beat the crap out of her had a message for me, you and Gabe.”
“What?” Jace said in disbelief.
“He told her that nothing we held dear was safe from him. That we ruined him and now he was going to ruin us. I’d say Josie was probably the first target because she was the easiest. She was alone and vulnerable. It would be a lot harder to get to Mia or Bethany.”
“I want to know what the fuck that picture is about,” Jace said in a furious tone. “That was Charles Willis in that photo. Is he the one who hurt Josie and is threatening us now?”
“Yes,” Gabe said bleakly.
“What do you know that you haven’t told us,” Ash asked in a dangerously low tone. It was obvious by the look on Gabe’s face that there was a lot that Ash and Jace evidently didn’t know.
Gabe rubbed a hand wearily over his face, his eyes sick.
“What I have to say is going to piss you both off. I thought it was behind me and Mia. I was wrong, apparently.”
“Yeah, I’d say so,” Jace bit out. “What the fuck did you do, Gabe?”