Bob got up close, his cigarette-tinged breath in her face. “You’re going to tell Daniella to come home.” He enunciated each word as if she were a moron. “Got it?” He loosened his grip so she could answer.

“When should I do that? While she’s looking at the bruises on my throat?” Cara asked, her voice gravelly and painful.

Bob slapped her across the face and she blinked hard, her vision fading. Dizziness assaulted her, and she had very little time to break his grip before she blacked out.

Grasping at a last-ditch effort, she rammed her knee into his groin.

“You bitch!” he yelled, releasing her as he doubled over, clutching the family jewels.

Cara fell forward, her head hitting the pavement as she landed.

“What the fuck?” Mike’s voice drifted toward her.

Gentle hands turned her face up. “Cara?” Mike sounded hoarse and petrified.

She’d have liked to reassure him, but she was barely breathing, the spots in her vision rushing at her from all sides.

“Cara?”

Alexa’s voice, this time. And Alexa’s soft hands on her face. Peeling back her eyelids.

The wailing of a siren.

“I hurt.” Cara reached for her neck as everything around her went black.

Eighteen

Cara awoke to the sound of Mike’s voice and an aching, throbbing pain in her throat and head. She hurt; she was woozy and disoriented.

“Alexa said she’s okay,” Mike said. “Bruised windpipe, which is going to hurt like hell, and a mild concussion.” He paused. “No. They sedated her. Apparently, she attempted to climb off the stretcher to get to Daniella. She was damned near hysterical, not hearing that Francone was in custody. Alexa finally gave her something to knock her out so she wouldn’t hurt her throat even more.”

Yeah, Cara remembered that now.

Once they’d brought her to the hospital, all she could think about was Bob’s big hands around her neck, trying to choke the life out of her. She couldn’t let him do the same to Daniella. Dizzy and still in pain, Cara shut her eyes again, thinking jail was a good place for the bastard. She hoped they kept him there this time.

“Can you get word to Daniella for me?” Mike asked. “Let her know what’s going on? Cara would want that.”

The man was a keeper, she thought, before remembering he didn’t want to be kept.

“Thanks, Sam,” Mike said.

Aah. So he was talking to his brother.

A sudden spasm hit Cara in the chest and she coughed—or tried to. The pain in her head and throat blindsided her, and she moaned.

“Gotta go.” Mike spun around and was by her side in an instant. “You’re awake.”

“I—”

“Don’t talk. Alexa said it’ll hurt if you try. They’re going to keep you overnight to observe your breathing, and they’ll let you go home in the morning. Okay?”

She nodded.

He brushed her hair off her face, his eyes warm and full of emotion. “Cara, baby—”

She turned her head, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye. She didn’t want his sympathy or pity any more than she wanted to hear whatever he was going to say. Anything sweet and caring would unravel her. She still wasn’t over him and probably never would be. The physical ache in her throat now was bad enough. Adding the emotion of wanting to cry had the pain increasing tenfold. He needed to leave.

Instead his big hand covered hers. “You scared me,” he said, so softly she could barely hear. “Thank God you’re okay. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

Tags: Carly Phillips Serendipity's Finest Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net