01 Untouchable - Untouchable (46 page)

“
Thank you, God,” I heard
him say, and I knew at that moment he was truly addressing God. “Do
you know where you’re at?”

I didn’t dare move my head—it would
have to be eyes only as I took in the surroundings. There were
machines all around me, IV’s and lines running to my body.
“Hospital,” I said, wincing at how difficult it was to say the
word.

There was someone else standing beside
Micah, I didn’t know who he was but I knew what he was; it was a
police officer.

“
You got what you wanted,” I
heard the unfamiliar voice say. “She’s awake…”

“
Please,” his voice sounding
so desperate. “Please give me just a minute to talk with
her—privately—please, I only need a few minutes.” There were tears
on Micah’s face but I couldn’t raise my hand to wipe them
away.

The officer looked at me. “Do you want
to talk with this man, Miss Winslett?”

I couldn’t nod, that was out of the
question. “Yes—I love him,” I whispered out the words.

A look of disgust came over the
officer’s face and he turned and walked away.

“
Annalisa, I’ve never prayed
so hard in all my life. I begged God to pull you through this. Do
you know why you’re in here?”

I was thinking back through the fog. I
watched Ricky die and then Jack. The kiss—the final kiss. “You shot
me.” I barely spoke; the pain more focused now through my chest
where I knew a bullet had traveled.

“
I didn’t shoot you, Baby. I
begged them to let me wait for you to come out of this so I could
tell you. I couldn’t leave with you thinking I’d done this to
you.”

“
Leave?” That pain was worse
than the physical. Tears were moving down my cheeks, distorting my
view of his beautiful face. “Don’t leave.” I begged.

“
I kissed you, Annalisa. Do
you remember the kiss?”

“
Yes,” I
whispered.

“
I didn’t know that Sharon
had gotten there. She walked in on the kiss and shot you through
the back. The doctors say you’re a miracle. It went completely
through you and hit me in the chest.”

I felt panic wash through me, drowning
the pain as I tried to look at his chest. I could see the blood
soaked bandage. “Are you okay?” I cried.

“
You slowed it down or it
would have killed me. The bullet is in my sternum. They wanted to
take it out when I got here, but I told them it was going to have
to wait until I could see you.”

“
Let them take it out,” I
tried to say, but it seemed I was running out of oxygen.

“
Don’t talk too much, Leese.
Your lung collapsed and it’s really weak right now. Save your air,
Baby.”

“
Sharon?” I
whispered.

“
I shot her…”

My eyes went wide in panic. He had told
me he had to be very careful that she didn’t end up in the
crossfire.

“
I didn’t kill her, Leese,
but I had no choice. When she shot us, I was knocked backward and
she was taking aim again. I shot her through the shoulder before
she could fire. She’s in a lot of trouble for what she’s been up
to. You won’t have any more problems from her.”

“
Robert—are you in troub…” I
couldn’t breathe. The numbers on the machine beside me were
dropping low as I struggled.

“
Promise me you won’t try to
talk and I’ll tell you,” he asked. “The mob thinks I tried to kill
you, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen—especially when they
find out that I didn’t shoot you. I’m worried he might still try to
hurt you, Baby.”

“
I’ll be okay,” I mouthed,
trying to conserve my breath. I started to open my mouth again, but
his fingers came to rest across my lips.

“
I told you I was selfish
and I’d never allow any man to touch you. I found out how wrong I
was. When that bullet went through you, it passed so close to your
heart that it stopped beating. I’m not very good at CPR. I hope I
didn’t crack too many of your ribs.”

I smiled weakly.

“
But I realized I would give
you to Ryan a thousand times over rather than to watch you die. All
I could think was that I’d do anything, give up anything, change
everything, if your heart would just start beating again,” he
swallowed hard, tears coursing down his face. “I’ve never actually
told you, Leese, because I just didn’t believe it could be real,
but I love you—I love you enough that I don’t have to be selfish. I
want you to have a long and happy life with someone who’ll love you
always.”

“
You’re my forever,” I said,
from under the light touch of his fingers.

“
I’ve got to go, Leese. The
police know who I am. I’m being extradited back to Louisiana. I
won’t be here for you. But I had to tell you that I didn’t hurt
you. I know now I could never hurt you. You’ve changed me, and I
love you just that much more for it.”

I couldn’t find the words to say, but I
didn’t need them. His mouth came down on mine in the softest, most
tender kiss humanly possible.

The officer returned and I watched him
take away my reason for breathing.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The next several days were bad enough
to make me wish for death. There was the physical pain, but it
didn’t match the ache of knowing Micah was gone. I had to give my
statements to the police about Jack and Ricky’s deaths and Sharon’s
injuries. And, what I could tell them about Micah
Gavarreen.

“
You’re a very lucky young
lady,” the officer stated, sitting beside my bed and writing down
everything I told him.

“
So they tell me,” I winced.
It was still painful to do anything other than to speak and even
that was difficult.

“
I don’t mean medically,” he
corrected. “Although the doctors have said that your wound was one
in a million to miss your spine and your heart, but I mean with
this guy that you said was keeping you safe. He is a very dangerous
man.”

“
Not to me,” I
replied.

“
Well, it appears Florida
won’t have any claim to him,” he stated, flipping his notebook
closed. “These appear to be clear cut cases of self-defense. Seven
years on the force and this was the biggest, bloody mess I’ve ever
seen.”

“
You were there?”

“
I wasn’t too far away when
the calls started coming in about shots being fired. My partner and
I were the first to arrive.”

“
Tell me.” I had lived
through the nightmare, but at times it was only that and I wanted
to hear it from someone else.

“
I really shouldn’t,” he
began.

I carefully reached my hand through the
side rail on my bed and touched his arm, “Please,
officer…”

“
Tidewell.” He sighed,
“Since you were there, I guess it is okay. When we got there,” he
began, “we could see the front door had been kicked in—actually
more like torn completely from the hinges. I thought this was a
home invasion by another doped-up crack-head or a meth freak, but
when we walked in the first thing we found was a guy lying dead,
shot through his heart, and blood splattered
everywhere.”

“
Jack,” I
whispered.

Officer Tidewell nodded, “Then we saw
Ms. Norton passed out in a huge pool of blood—those hollow points
he used do maximum damage and her shoulder was ripped apart. We
could see him on the other side of the couch apparently doing CPR,
but we couldn’t see you. We had our guns drawn and we told him to
freeze, but it was like we weren’t even in the room to
him.

“
He had pretty much lost it.
He was bleeding from his chest wound, crying over you and begging
God to help him get your heart started. Then we saw you on the
floor—hell, we knew who you were right away; everybody’s been
trying to find you, and the reports were ranging from a runaway to
a kidnap victim.”

“
He was protecting me,” I
whispered.

“
Yes, Ma’am, I believe you
now, but that apparently isn’t his normal line of work.” He gave me
a concerned look that seemed to say he thought my perception might
be skewed. “My partner called for the medical unit, and was trying
to help him keep you alive when I saw what looked like another body
in the bedroom.”

I knew that was Ricky, but my lungs
were so tired I just listened.

“
I’ve never seen that much
damage from two bullets. It was like he didn’t have a chest—until I
looked at the bedroom wall and saw where most of it had
landed.”

I could see him visibly shudder. I
remembered that it had been horrific when he killed Ricky, but
seeing the officer’s reaction confirmed the memory for
me.

“
Anyway, the ambulance crew
tried to take over, Gavarreen had your heart beating by the time
they arrived, but he didn’t want to let go of you. We finally
convinced him by telling him that he could ride with you in the
back of the ambulance. He wouldn’t let any one touch his wound,
other than put some gauze over it, until you either pulled through
or died. He just kept telling us he had to stay with you until you
came to. We thought about jumping him and letting the doctors hit
him with a sedative so they could dig that bullet out, but he’s a
pretty big guy.”

I laughed—that was painful.

“
While we were waiting to
find out if you were going to make it, he gave us his statements.
We searched him and took his wallet, finding out he had been using
an alias of Evan Lewis but was really Micah Gavarreen. The reports
were coming back as mafia and that Louisiana had him as being
suspect in multiple murders. They were already flying a group of
officers down here to extradite him. As far as we could tell what
happened in the beach house wasn’t murder so we told them as soon
as the doctors gave him the okay to be released, they could take
him.”

“
Did they,” I paused for a
breath, “Get the bullet out?”

“
On him? Yeah, after you
finally came around and he got the chance to talk with you, he was
gentle as a kitten. He didn’t take any anesthetic or any pain
killers; he just told the doctor to dig it out. They cleaned it up
and he left peacefully with the police.”

I thought about the night I sealed his
knife wound and saw all his other scars; no anesthetic didn’t
surprise me. But I couldn’t stand the idea of him sitting in a
prison for the rest of his life, especially when I needed him so
desperately.

“
Do you know what’s
happening with him in Louisiana?”

“
No, but I know the FBI was
here for him, but he was already on a plane out of here. It seems
that everyone in that house was connected to the mob, except for
you, of course. Are you certain he was just trying to protect
you?”

“
I told you—Sharon Norton
and my step-father were having an affair,” I didn’t want to go
through this again, it was difficult to say it all the first time,
but I didn’t want them to have any suspicions about Micah’s
motives. “She put out a contract on me…”

“
You said you think your
step-father had done the same thing. Maybe that was how Gavarreen
got involved in this whole thing; maybe he was hired to kill
you.”

Officer Tidewell wasn’t stupid and I
realized I had a hole in my story as to why Micah and I met in the
first place. “If he was the one who was hired to kill me,” I began
carefully, “Then he changed his mind. We are very much in love with
each other.”

“
Miss Winslett, I know you
aren’t going to want to hear what I’m going to say, but please just
hear me out. You are very beautiful and any man wouldn’t have a
problem falling for you, but someone like him? I’d be suspicious
that he may have pretended to like you—for the money. Stockholm
syndrome can…”

“
I know what Stockholm
syndrome is, and I know what love is.”

“
You’re very
young…”

“
I am in love with him and
I’m going to do everything I can to help him when I get out of
here.”

“
All I’m saying is for you
to be very cautious. Give yourself a little time to sort out your
emotions.”

I could tell this was genuine concern
and it wasn’t my feelings for Micah he doubted, but more so Micah’s
motives for staying close to me. “Thank you,” I touched his arm
again. “I plan on being very careful after this is over, especially
since my step-dad hasn’t been arrested.”

He looked exasperated, “I’m sorry, we
just aren’t finding any evidence to support your suspicions, but we
do have you and your mother under twenty-four hour
guard.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. I was
exhausted from the conversation and ready to drift back to
sleep.

One week later Officer Tidewell and
another detective came to my room. I was finally out of ICU and
able to sit up in a bed. They were both smiling and I wondered what
prompted this visit.

“
I just wanted to stop by
and be the first to tell you, we got him,” Tidewell
stated.

My heart painfully thudded as I
wondered what he was talking about? Was this something to do with
Micah? “Who?” I asked.