Tony's eyes shot wide. He clutched at his chest and dropped to his knees. Claire pushed past him, forcing him to fall to the side as she ran out the front door.

"Tony!" I ran-crawled around the couch toward him.

His hands covered a spot in the middle of his chest. His blue shirt darkened in the area around his hands as blood seeped into it.

"Shit, Tony. I've got you." I placed my hands over his to increase the pressure. In seconds, his blood coated the edges of my fingers.

My aunt's minivan squealed out of the garage in reverse. She backed over a birdbath in the front yard and shot off down the road, barely missing a sideswipe against Broadrick's truck.

Tony's breathing turned heavy. It seemed like with every breath, more blood gushed from the opening in his chest.

My fingers slipped on my phone as I grabbed it and hit the red button on the front screen, the one that would send an alert to all of Ridge's men with an emergency message and our coordinates. But it wasn't enough. Tony needed an ambulance. Immediately.

"You're going to be okay," I said to him as I dialed the numbers 9-1-1 on my phone, leaving behind bloody fingerprints with each button.

He tried to laugh, but only a wheezing sound came from his mouth. "Yeah, sure I am."

"You are! You're a tough guy, Tony. This is nothing." I closed my eyes. Bile rose in my throat, and I prayed and pleaded that my words held true.

One of Tony's hands fell to his side as the phone rang for the emergency operator. "It's been fun, princess."

"Tony!" I screamed as his eyes closed.

**

The hospital walls pulsed in rhythm with the pain in my ribs. I'd ridden in the ambulance with Tony. EMTs at the hospital decided my ribs were only bruised but not broken. That didn't make them hurt any less. I stopped crying in the ambulance, but my eyes were still red, puffy, and painful. Dried blood covered the front of my shirt. They gave me a wipe for my hands, but I still had red caked around my nails.

Tony had lost so much blood, and each breath stole more. The puddle of it he left behind when they got him on the stretcher would be burned in my memory forever. I sniffled and turned in a circle, not sure what to do. They'd put me in the waiting room, but I didn't want to sit and wait.

Someone needed to do something before Tony died.

The main outside doors to the hospital opened, and Broadrick ran through them. His gaze searched the area and landed on me the next moment.

"Vonnie," he said, and I expected a lecture when he reached me. Instead of yelling, he wrapped his arms around my body and drew me tightly to him. His fingers ran over my shoulders and down my back as I sucked in a painful breath.

I shook my head before laying it on his shoulder. His arm muscles flexed, and I breathed in the hint of cologne he always wore. "It's not my blood. I'm okay."

"Are you sure? I would have been here sooner, but I went to your aunt's house first before they told me you came here in the ambulance."

"It's Tony. He-" My voice broke, and I couldn't force out the words.

Broadrick squeezed me tighter. It hurt like hell against my ribs and cut into my breathing, but I never wanted him to stop. The pain meant I was still here. Alive. Breathing. "I know. He's going to be okay. Tony is too big of an asshole to die."

"Tony's not an asshole," I said around a giant sniffle.

Broadrick chuckled, but it came out forced. "You only think that because you're his friend and he lets you get away with shit."

"There is that." Tony was always up for an adventure and never asked too many questions. He was the perfect backup-until I got him shot. I nuzzled into Broadrick's shoulder and then backed away to see his face. "It was Claire. She did everything."

He said nothing but brought me close again and let my head rest on his shoulder.

We stayed like that for a minute, just gently rocking in his arms while the buzz of the hospital fluttered on around us.

The closed door behind me, leading to the patient part of the hospital, opened. Chief Anderson came in wearing a pair of blue jeans and an electric blue T-shirt highlighting the annual station golf outing. They got beat by the firefighters every year.

"How is he?" I asked, turning in Broadrick's arms to see Anderson.

Broadrick kept his arms around me but let me adjust.

Anderson shook his head twice, and the small amount of hope in my gut vanished. Please God, don't let him be dead. Not Tony.

"I'm not sure," he said, and I blew out a breath. "They're taking him straight into surgery, but he's lost a lot of blood. It doesn't look great. Doctors aren't sure what the bullet hit."

I nodded. Tony could come back from doesn't look great. Doesn't look great wasn't dead. I grabbed on to Broadrick's shirt and tightened it around my fist, saying another prayer that Tony pulled through. He had to recover.

"I've got an APB out on your aunt's minivan, but it hasn't turned up yet. We've arrested the man we found in the basement for kidnapping, but so far, he's not talking. Guys on scene are still searching, but it looks like she put four shots into various walls and one into Franco."

"She hit Tony with her last shot. The fifth bullet. He just dropped to his knees, and there was so much blood," I said. The end of my sentence trailed off as I got locked up in the memories again. "Did you find the duffel bag in the garage? It was black and had a strap."

I'd shouted at Bradley to find the bag before I jumped in the ambulance. It felt important even with all the activity happening around me as they worked on Tony.

"Yeah, Bradley found it right after you left." Anderson scratched at his eyebrow. "It was full of fabric. You got any leads on that?"

I nodded and buried my head into Broadrick's chest again. Everything was my fault. I was reckless and selfish, just like my mother had accused me.

"We're working on putting the pieces together and searching the house, but I'm going to need a statement with everything you know."

Broadrick tightened his grip on me. "Now?"

Anderson shuffled his feet. "Yeah."

"Okay," I said, letting go of Broadrick's shirt and holding up a finger. "Give us just a minute."

Anderson tipped his head lower and proceeded past us to the main area of the hospital. "I'll meet you at the front desk when you're ready."

I waited until he was out of earshot and then put my gaze on Broadrick again. He had stubble on the edge of his jaw. I lifted my hand to rub my thumb against the area, but the sight of the dried blood around my cuticles stopped me. "Thank you for coming."

"Von, I'll always show up for you." He kissed me on the side of my temple.

I grabbed his shirt again and tugged. "Even when you want to strangle me?"

"Especially then."

A piece of my hair fell in front of my face, and Broadrick tucked it behind my ear. The tears came again, and I let them flow but only for a moment. I had to give Anderson enough evidence to lock away my aunt right next to her husband. She shot Tony.

As my tears fell on Broadrick's now ruined shirt, I used him as my safe space. He's always been there to support me. Even when we lived miles away from one another, I rushed to Broadrick when I needed someone. He'd been my rock for years. Even now, he was by my side.

I'd messed up everything in Pelican Bay and caused so much harm, but he never gave up on me. When it seemed like I was never good enough for any of them, Broadrick found me enough. Even if I made him want to yell sometimes. I didn't want to let him out of my sight ever again.

The intercom overhead squawked. Broadrick and I froze. "Attention, staff. Code blue in ED. Code blue in ED. Please attend."

"Broadrick," I said, as I gained control of my emotions again.

He tipped his head down to mine and gave me a tight squeeze. "Yeah?"

"Let's move to Florida."

END OF BOOK FIVE: Fifth Bullet