Chapter 41

Erin’s POV

There was instant regret on her face.

I watched the life draining from Susanna’s eyes. Her face had gone completely pale, and her entire body trembled as she clutched the knife, deeper into her stomach.

Her perfectly white blouse was painted red with her blood, pooling to the ground around her feet. She gasped as she tried to contain her breath, but it was being drowned out by the sounds of her gargling the blood that was forming in the back of her throat, oozing out of her mouth, and staining her fair features.

She hit an artery and was losing blood at a quick rate.

I raced toward her, clutching the knife in my hands as she fell into the ground, painting the rest of her body in the pools of blood.

The feeling of death lurking around the corner haunted me; I had felt it many times before when I lost those close to me. Susanna wasn’t close to me, but I certainly didn’t want to watch her die.

I knew if I were to remove the knife from her stomach, I would have to act fast. As soon as the blade was released from her flesh, more blood began to pool from her body.

I used my hands to quickly cover the wound as I screamed for help.

Her bodyguards were quick to enter the scene.

Where were they up until that point?

“Somebody needs to call for an ambulance,” I growled to them. “Get some cloth too; we need to stop the bleeding.”

Before I could grasp what was happening, I felt a set of strong hands on my shoulders, yanking me away from Susanna’s blood-soaked body.

“You did this!” One of them yelled, glaring at me with a deadly look in his eyes.

What?

“I was trying to help her!” I yelled back, but they were no longer paying me any attention.

One of the guards was already on the phone with the ambiance while the other was removing his shirt and wrapping it around Susanna’s body to stop the bleeding. I needed to tell him that wasn’t going to work; they needed a lot more clothes and he needed to keep a steady pressure on her wound.

Susanna was looking at me while she fought to keep herself awake. She opened her trembling lips to say something.

“Save your breath, Miss Susanna,” her bodyguard said, as he continued to wrap her body in his big shirt.

“I…” Susanna gasped, still staring at me. “I… want…”

“Ssssh,” her bodyguard tried to keep her quiet and still. “Please, Miss Susanna—“

“I want her arrested,” Susanna managed to utter, lifting her weak finger and pointing directly at me.

Both bodyguards glared at me with their lips tilted upward.

I wasn’t sure what else to do at that point; it was clear they both thought I was guilty.

This is what she wanted.

I just knew I needed to get out of there.

So, I turned away and I ran.

…

Would Gavin really believe that I tried to hurt Susanna like this?

What if she actually dies? My fingerprints were all over the weapon and I was covered in her blood.

“Erin?” Henry said as soon as I walked into the house. He was staring at my blood-soaked clothing in shock. “What the hell happened? Is that blood?”

I couldn’t form a proper sentence; I stood at the doorway, staring at him blankly. I couldn’t help but wonder if Susanna was telling me the truth when she said that this was Henry’s plan. I felt a sense of betrayal.

He didn’t wait around for me to answer his question; he was quick to rush to the bathroom and return with a towel.

“Get your clothes off and wrap your body in this,” he ordered.

I did as he said; stripping off my clothes and kicking them to the floor beside me. He wrapped my body in the warm towel, hugging me close to him.

I didn’t even realize my body was trembling until he wrapped his arms around me. The vision of Jessie kept invading my mind; my parents were also clouding my vision. I couldn’t stop the images from resurfacing.

“Erin, tell me what happened,” he said against my ear. “Are you hurt?”

“Was this your idea?” I finally found my voice; his body seemed to have tensed at my question and he pulled away from me to look around my face.

“Was what my idea?”

“The pregnancy,” I mustered. “Was this pregnancy scandal your idea? Did you know she was lying when you chose to represent her?”

“What? Of course, not,” he said, sounding offended. “I had no idea.”

“Did you not think to ask for any kind of proof before you agreed to help her?”

“You aren’t thinking rationally,” Henry said, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face. “I would never lie to you like that. I wouldn’t deceive you…”

“She said it was your idea,” I said between gritted teeth. “I need to know the truth.”

“I’m telling you the truth!” He said in return. His hands, which were on my shoulders trying to keep me steady, had fallen to his sides. “Erin, whose blood is that?”

More tears surfaced in my eyes as I thought back to the scene in Gavin’s packhouse.

“Erin?”

His voice sounded so far away, but I knew I needed to answer him.

“It’s Susanna’s…” I managed to whisper. “I might be in trouble…”

…

Gavin’s POV

That was the strangest encounter Gavin has ever had with another pack. He still had no idea what Bane was after but he needed to find out so he could protect it.

Or protect her.

Whoever it was, she’s said to be incredibly powerful. Powerful enough for Bane and his pack to know about her.

As soon as he reached his packhouse, he felt a disturbed sense lurking around his parameters.

One of Susanna’s bodyguards was standing in the middle of the front room, staring at a red stain on the ground.

Gavin frowned at the stain; that wasn’t there this morning when Gavin left.

Even Seth seemed perplexed by the new stain.

Some of the packhouse workers were in the process of cleaning the remaining stain.

“What’s going on?” Gavin asked the guard who met his eyes.

“There was an incident with Miss Susanna,” the guard said, sorrow in his eyes. “She was stabbed.”

“Stabbed?” Gavin asked, raising his brows. “In my packhouse?”

What was she even doing here?

The bodyguard nodded his head once.

“She’s in critical condition but she wants you to meet her at the hospital,” the guard said.

“Who would stab her?” Gavin asked, peering down at the blood stain.

The guard’s aura darkened as he locked his eyes on Gavin.

“It was that waitress that you always seem to be hanging around with,” the guard hissed. “She tried to kill Susanna and her unborn baby out of jealousy. She took off… but when we find her, we will make sure she is punished for her crimes. We have men searching everywhere for her as we speak. I’m about to head out myself. But you should get to the hospital right away.”

Waitress?

Was he talking about Erin?