Taken by a Sinner (Sinners 1)

Andreas has the backdoor to the SUV open, and careful not to hurt Tess, I climb inside with her firmly in my hold. I settle her on my lap and freeing my one arm, I’m able to brush some hair from her ghostly pale face.

“Tess, can you hear me?” She remains unresponsive as Andreas climbs behind the steering wheel. Soon we’re racing down the driveway.

“Is she okay?” Andreas asks, his eyes darting between the road ahead and the rearview mirror.

“I…” I shake my head, crippling dread darkening my life. “I don’t know. Faster!”

Andreas floors the gas. Tess’ head lolls to the side, her bloody cheek coming to a rest against my shoulder. Her eyelashes flutter, and hope pours into me, causing me to feel dizzy.

“Baby.” I lean closer, using my fingers to wipe some of the blood away from her cheek, but I only make a bigger mess. “Can you hear me?”

She lets out a disorientated groan, her eyes finally opening.

“I’ve got you. We’ll be at the hospital soon.”

“Two minutes,” Andreas adds.

Tess keeps her eyes on me, her breaths steady, but there’s no expression on her face. She just stares at me, and it makes my worry explode into absolute chaos.

“Can you hear me?” I ask again, needing some kind of response from her.

Tess blinks… blinks… fucking blinks.

“Baby,” I groan. It’s unbearable seeing the woman I love more than life itself covered in blood and fucking unresponsive.

Christ, help me.

I’m going to kill whoever hurt her. Their days are numbered.

The SUV comes to a screeching stop in front of the emergency room. Andreas jumps out then hurries to open the door for us. He helps me maneuver Tess so I can get out, and once he’s sure I have a firm hold of her, he runs inside to get help.

I carry Tess inside, then as the emergency staff gestures for me to place her on a bed, I press a quick kiss to her forehead. I’m careful as I set my entire heart down on a stark white sheet. It takes all my strength to let go of her so the doctors and nurses can get to work.

“What happened?” A nurse asks.

“I…”

When I can’t focus long enough to form a coherent sentence, Andreas answers, “We found her like that in a restroom.”

“Do you know if she has insurance?”

“We’ll pay for everything,” Andreas again answers for me.

“No matter what,” I say, my voice strained, “give her the best care. A private room.”

Only the best for my wife.

“What’s your relation to the patient?”

“She’s my wife. Theresa Stathoulis.” My eyes don’t leave Tess, and when the nurse tries to nudge me backward, I level her with a threatening glare. “I’m staying.”

“Sir, we need you to wait in the waiting room. There will also be paperwork to fill out.”

This time Andreas takes hold of my arm. “Come. We’re in the way.”

My eyes find the doctor. “You do every fucking scan and test on her. Money’s not a problem. You give my wife the best care and fucking fix her.”

I don’t want them missing a thing because they took shortcuts.

Andreas pulls me out of the emergency ward, and I blindly follow him to a waiting room. I can’t bring myself to take a seat, and instead, pace up and down.

“Find out what happened,” I order my friend as I strip out of my jacket, throwing it on a chair.

“Already on it. James is looking at the security footage in the house.”

“I want the person taken to the office.” Rolling up my sleeves, I stop to lock eyes with Andreas. “Strung up and ready for me.”

He nods, then his phone rings. “James? Did you find anything?” Andreas listens, his eyebrows draw sharply down, then his gaze flicks to mine. “Are you sure? … Fuck … Take her to the office and hand her over to Elias and Craig … yes, after that, you come here with your team. We need the security.”

When he cuts the call, I bark, “Who was it? Who fucking dared to hurt Tess?”

There’s confusion on Andreas' face as he says, “Irene Drakatos.” He shakes his head. “But why?”

Irene. The fucking snake.

I knew there was something off about how Tess tensed up around her cousin. How she fucking trembled.

I fucking knew and should’ve taken Tess aside and found out why she was reacting that way.

“Tell Elias and Craig to string her up. No food. Only water to keep the bitch alive until I can deal with her.”

“You sure?” Andreas asks, questioning my order for the first time. “She’s family.”

“She’s no fucking family of mine. She gets treated the same as any enemy.”

Andreas nods then makes the call to Elias.

Knowing the fucker responsible for hurting Tess has been found, I walk out of the waiting room, only to be stopped by a nurse.

She holds out a stack of papers to me. “Can you please complete these?”