Caged Heat(32)

Raven patted his arm. “She’ll be fine. I understand you gave her CPR and breathed air into her lungs?”

Riel shook his head. If only she knew. “I did.”

Raven smiled sadly. “I understand. We’ll take good care of her. Why don’t you wait outside while we monitor her, and once we’re done you can come sit by her.”

The thought of leaving her made his heart hurt, but he knew they had a job to do. He stared at Raven in the eyes. “I’ll be outside. Call me if anything changes.”

Troy and Nat sat in the waiting room along with Kane and Zeno. Minutes later Sophia and Chase showed up. Sophia threw herself into Riel’s arms in one of her sisterly displays of love.

“I’m so sorry. Is she OK?” Her concern was palpable, and Riel appreciated her for it. Chase gave him a brotherly hug and curled an arm around Sophia’s waist.

Riel swallowed against the sand dunes residing in his throat. “She will be. She’d stopped breathing, but I gave her CPR and she’s holding strong.”

Chase nodded and squeezed Sophia into his side. “What happened?”

Natalia sniffed through her tears. “I can tell you.” She stepped forward. “More or less.”

Everyone turned to her, and Riel wondered how the hell he’d left Sam for what must have been just a few moments only to come back and find her tied up inside a burning house.

“When Ry dropped her off I told her I needed the copy of my birth certificate she has always held for me. She said she needed to get something at her house anyway. She walked out saying she would be right back. She went to the house and came back with a small trunk. When we realized she’d forgotten my document, she ran back. After I made her sandwich, I noticed she didn’t come back as quickly as the first time. I ran out only to find the house engulfed in flames. I called Troy, and when I was talking to him Ry showed up.”

Riel picked it up from there. “The house is gone. I was lucky to get her out in time.” Agony lanced his chest when he thought of what could’ve happened had he not gone back. Something had nagged at him to return, and so he’d turned around before reaching Kane.

“We still don’t know who’s trying to hurt her?” Chase glanced from Riel to the other enforcers.

“No.” Kane said. “There are a lot of shady family members to go through. Our main suspects are Juan Junior and Kurt Danitelli, but Junior’s been missing in action for a few days, which makes it harder, and we’re still getting information about Danitelli,”.

Riel finally realized that’s what Kane had wanted to see him about. Just because Juan Junior was missing didn’t mean he wasn’t behind what was happening to Sam. As for Danitelli, there were mob ties, and he needed to know how badly he might want Sam dead.

“We’ll call in others to help look into her family,” Chase said to Riel.

He nodded at Chase.

Riel turned to face Raven.

She squeezed his bicep. “She’s doing well. She was drugged, so it makes it even more important that we keep her under close observation until she’s awake and conscious.”

“What do you mean she was drugged?” Riel roared.

Chase gripped his shoulder in an attempt to get him to calm down.

Raven nodded, unperturbed by Riel’s outburst, and pursed her lips. “I’m running blood tests to figure out exactly what she was given, but preliminary tests show she was given a heavy dose of muscle relaxers. Had the dosage been any stronger, we could have been facing some serious problems. It was only enough to put her to sleep. She won’t be awake probably until tomorrow, if not the day after.”

An overwhelming rage consumed Riel from the inside.

“You can go see her now, but keep it brief. She’s not going to wake up. It’s still helpful for patients to hear their loved ones when they’re asleep, so go ahead and speak to her,” Raven walked toward a nurse waiting for her.

Riel turned to Nat. “Come on.”

He knew she felt guilty, and he wanted to help appease her concern. None of what happened was Natalia’s fault, and she shouldn’t carry that type of burden.

As they walked into the room his gaze wandered over Sam’s pale face. Thin plastic tubes had been placed inside her nose and mouth. The long, dark curls of her hair had been pushed back from her face, and a blue hospital gown replaced her clothing. Loud wheezing sounds came from her chest. It bothered him that her throat was so raw and she still had such a hard time breathing, but he was glad to see her chest move up and down with every breath. Bandages covered her wrists. When she was brought to the hospital her hands and wrists had been bleeding from the rope she’d been tied with.