Songbird (A Sinclair Story #1) (18 page)

“Why
won’t you just die?” Leanna screamed through the window gap. “You’re stopping
Nathan from loving me. You’re all that stands in my way.”

“Yeah,
me and the fact you’re bat-nuts crazy,” Melodee screamed. She was leaning back
to hit the window again when a gun appeared in the small hole.

“Don’t
ever call me crazy,” Leanna said, and she started to fire.

Melodee
flung herself to the side again, avoiding a direct hit to her face, but two
bullets still connected, one on her right side – the immediate shortness of
breath told her it had partially collapsed her lung – and the other bullet
ended up in her thigh. She was flung off the car, hitting the ground hard. Her
last thought before her head connected to a building and everything went dark
was hope that Nathan would save their daughter.

Chapter 13

Nathan heard the sound of
crunching and then a distinct sound of breaking glass. It echoed loudly through
the phone speaker.

“Dee!”
he called. She’d just been about to tell him where she was, something about a
text message. But what the hell had just happened? Had she hit something?

The
phone was cut off then, but he was already moving on his way to where Charles
was waiting downstairs in his Porsche, engine running.

“Where
is she?” Charles asked as Nathan jumped into the passenger seat.

“I
don’t know, she got cut off, and there were sounds of smashing glass. Fuck! I
think she was in an accident.”

“Fuck,”
Charles repeated.

“Hang
on,” Nathan said as he pulled up his recent messages. There was one from Denise
right at the top.

“Okay,
plug this into your GPS,” he said to his brother, reading out the address.

“I
know where it is,” Charles said. “That’s a really shitty part of town.” He put
his foot down, his car speeding up in response.

“Yeah,
there’s no way that any government department would be there,” Nathan said.
“But there’s definitely a message here from Denise’s number.”

Charles’
car flew through the streets. He ignored red lights and stop signs. Luckily the
traffic was really light at this time of day. Screeching around the corner, he
had to slow as they reached the industrial buildings.

“There,”
Nathan shouted, pointing to where he could see his Range Rover. His pulse was
racing. The doors were wide open and there was no sign of Melodee or Jewel
inside. Charles came to a grinding halt and the boys were out of the car in
that same instant.

“Call
the police and an ambulance,” Nathan bit out. He could see two large men broken
and bleeding on the ground. “I’m going to find Melodee and Jewel.” He left
Charles, who was already on the phone barking orders.

He
took off running, following a fresh trail of blood visible on the icy ground.
It had started at Jewel’s door of the car. The burning iciness of fear was
trickling up from Nathan’s gut as he tried to figure out why Melodee had been
sent here and ambushed. Those two men had obviously not taken her, but there
must have been someone else. The blood was only a light stream but it led him
to a red Mustang. It was empty. He then scanned the area, finally noticing tire
tracks that had torn up the icy ground, just behind the Mustang. They led all
the way toward the edge of the industrial area. The road and moving cars came
into view and Nathan realized he’d done a full circle and was back near the
highway. He was about to turn around when he noticed a puddle of blood, the red
contrasting to the dreary winter day.

“No!”
he bellowed as he ran, recognizing the limp figure bleeding her precious blood
all over the ground. He dropped down beside her.

“Dee,
baby, please wake up.” Tears filled his eyes as he begged her to open those
beautiful sapphire eyes.

He
pressed his hand to her freezing skin. He found a faint pulse in her neck and a
moment of hope shot through him. She wasn’t dead yet and she was a damn
fighter. He knew it was bad to move her, but he couldn’t wait for the EMT’s to
find them, he had to get her to the ambulance now. She was covered in cuts and
bruises, but the wounds on her side seemed to be leaking the most blood.
Luckily, the cold had slowed the flow. He tore off his undershirt and ripped it
into sections long enough to bind the open cuts he could see.

As
he leaned closer, shifting aside her torn clothing, he shook his head. “Is that
a fucking bullet wound?”

Someone
had shot his precious Melodee. A rage that he had never known before flooded
through him and he knew he would kill for this woman, in a heartbeat. And he
would also die for her, because he could not live in a world where she was
gone. She’d crashed into his life and had turned it upside down. She couldn’t
be taken from him now.

Once
her visible wounds were bound, he gently lifted her into his arms. She felt like
nothing, as if a breeze would rip her from him and scatter her into the winds.
He started to run, doing his best not to hurt her. He could hear the sirens. It
sounded as if he was going to make it back to Charles at the same time as the
emergency services. He dashed around the corner, holding his heart in his arms.

“Melodee
Lee, don’t you fucking die on me. Come on, baby, wake up and kick my ass for
saying fuck.” He continued to talk to her, even though he couldn’t stop to even
check if she was still alive.

“Nate!”
he heard Charles bellow. His brother’s face fell as he caught sight of Melodee.
“Dee ... shit … is she still alive?”

Nathan
halted next to him. Two ambulances and three cop cars flew into view, screaming
in a line toward them.

“I
don’t know,” Nathan choked out. “I think she’s been shot.”

The
ambulance stopped right next to them. Two men dived out of the doors and one
ran to him, while the other pulled a stretcher from the back.

“What
happened?” the first asked.

“My
girlfriend was attacked.” Nathan laid her gently onto the wheeled bed. “I found
her over there and she’s covered in cuts – and a bullet wound, I’m guessing.”

The
two emergency services men had drips and monitors hooked on to her within
seconds. She was then in the back of the ambulance, and Nathan was climbing in
after her.

“I’ll
fill in the police and get the search started,” Charles said. “You keep our
girl alive.”

“Immediate
family only,” the first, gruffer man warned.

“I’m
her family,” Nathan said darkly. “And if you stop me from leaving with her,
you’re going to need an ambulance.”

The
man stared at him for a moment, before nodding his consent.

They
were halfway to the hospital when the monitors went crazy, Melodee’s heart had
stopped beating. Nathan almost punched out the wall of the van in his panicked
rage, but the medic managed to shock her and start her heart again. Blood was
hooked up now and Nathan realized he didn’t even know her blood type or if she
had any allergies. The moment she was awake, all that shit was going to be
rectified, she’d be filling out a damn book with every single piece of
information about her.

The
ambulance pulled into the emergency entrance and Melodee was rushed off. Nathan
was stopped at the second set of flapping doors by a man with short black hair,
glasses and wearing green scrubs. Nathan growled, seconds from leveling this
person.

“Look,
you might be Nathan Sinclair and one of my favorite players,” the nervous male
said, “but you can’t come any further. This is the surgery floor.”

Nathan
managed to stop himself from punching the person who was just doing his job.
Instead he tried to find the charm he was well known for.

“My
girlfriend was just wheeled into surgery, can you keep me updated? There are
season tickets to the games in it if you do.” He decided to use what he could
to his advantage. “And I want her to have the best damned surgeon in the city.
Can you make it happen?”

“You’re
Nathan Sinclair. For you I’ll do what I can.”

The
man dashed through the doors, and Nathan dragged himself away from Melodee and
sat in a waiting chair. He was the only one in here at the moment, which was
probably safe considering his current mood. Unable to sit, he was back on his
feet and pacing back and forward.

Pulling
out his phone, he dialed the one person with the power to move mountains.

“Nate?”
Lincoln sounded surprised. “Is everything okay?”

“No.”
Nathan almost broke down again. He cleared his throat. “Melodee was attacked
and Jewel is missing. I need to know that Dee has the best doctor in the world,
and we need search parties to find my baby.”

“Give
me two minutes,” his father said, and the phone disconnected.

Nathan
dropped his head into his hands, trying not to think of Melodee behind those
doors, being cut into as strangers worked to save her life. And Jewel, where
was his baby? Who was going to fucking die for hurting his family?

 
His phone rang. Lifting his head, he answered
it and brought it to his ear.

His
father spoke without preamble. “A hundred of this city’s finest are out
searching for Jewel right now, and I’ve sent the private jet for Dr. Olmstead.
He is the best general surgeon in this country and he’ll be here in twenty
minutes. He has phoned for an update on Melodee. Right now she’s critical and
they’re working to stabilize her. We’ll fix this, Nate. Melodee seems like a
strong girl. She’ll make it, I have faith.”

“I’m
going to marry her,” Nathan said, his voice hoarse.

“Well,
then she’ll be a Sinclair, and we’re mean bastards and never die.”

“Thanks,
Dad,” Nathan said. His father had never been a bad man, and sometimes he was
actually the real dad every boy deserved.

“Keep
me updated, I’ll be down at the hospital soon.” Lincoln disconnected the call.

Nathan
moved forward as the doctor with the glasses pushed back through the doors.

“She’s
still alive,” he said straight up, knowing this would be Nathan’s most pressing
concern. “She has multiple injuries, including two gunshot wounds. They’re
stabilizing her now and prepping her for surgery. I’ll be back with an update
soon.”

He
turned to leave, stopping just before he pushed the swinging doors.

“Oh,
and you’ll be happy to know that Dr. Olmstead has taken a special interest in
your girlfriend. He’s a legend, man, one of the best doctors in the world. She
couldn’t be in better hands.”

Nathan
nodded. “Thank you. Wait, what’s your name?”

“Chris,”
the doctor said as he left. The barred doors swung behind him, leaving Nathan
with nothing and no one to take his mind off his fear. He dropped into a chair
to settle in for the longest wait of his life.

“Nate.”

His
eyes flicked to the doorway. All of his brothers were standing there.

“We
just came to check on Melodee and see if you wanted us to stay with you or get
back out there and search for Jewel.” Luke moved forward and gave his brother a
hug. “Shit, man, I’m so sorry.”

“Dee’s
in surgery right now, I don’t know anything else,” Nathan said. “And I need you
to find my baby girl. I can’t leave Melodee, she’s been alone her entire life
and I won’t leave her again. But I need to know you three will find Jewel.”

“We’re
on it, and I’ll personally kill any fucker who gets in my way.” Matthew’s
muscles were bunched as he marched out the door, Charles and Luke right behind
him. No one messed with the Sinclairs.

Charles
met Nathan’s eyes. “Keep us updated.” With one last nod, they were gone.

Twenty minutes later, Chris
came out to him again. “She’s just gone into surgery. It’s going to be a long
wait. I can call you with updates, if you want to go home.”

Nathan
gave him his best attempt at a grin. “They’ll have to pry my cold dead body
from this chair. I will be here when she wakes up.”

“I
never doubted it.” Chris left him again.

Nathan
stretched out his long legs, still in his workout gear. His phone rang, he slid
the green button without even looking at the name.

“Speak
to me,” he said.

“Nate,
baby, where are you?” a female voice crackled over the line. “We’ve been
waiting for you.”

Nathan’s
feet hit the floor; he sat up straight in his chair. He checked the phone. The
number was registering as Denise from CPS.

Shit
.

He’d
forgotten it had been her phone which lured Melodee into the ambush. But he was
pretty sure this wasn’t Denise speaking. In fact he had a very good idea who he
was talking with.

He
lowered his voice, working to keep the cold, hard hatred from shining through.
“Where are you? I’ll come find you now.”

She
giggled. “We’re at the place where your name will be immortalized for
eternity.”

The
call went dead. Nathan swore and barely stopped himself from smashing his phone
into the wall. He dialed Charles.

“What’s
happening?” he asked his brother.

“They
found that child protective services lady knocked out next to her car at work.
So far they’re scouring all the obvious areas for Jewel.”

“I
just got a phone call from Leanna, she has Jewel.” Nathan bit out. “I know I
said I wouldn’t leave Melodee, but she’ll kill me if I let anything happen to
our little girl. I’m going to find her.”

“We’re
with you, where are you heading?”

“She
said she was waiting where my name would be immortalized forever.”

Charles
swore. “The basketball stadium. Your name is all over that place.”