He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175

(DeLuca’s POV)

Waiting was a special kind of torture.

I had learned that years ago.

Most problems could be solved through action. If there was a threat, you eliminated it. If there was an obstacle, you removed it. If there was uncertainty,

you gathered information until uncertainty became fact.

Waiting accomplished none of those things.

Waiting was standing still while somebody else decided your fate.

And I hated it.

The ICU doors remained stubbornly closed as I paced the corridor for what felt like the hundredth time. Every few minutes I found myself stopping in front of them, staring at the small window built into the center as though I might somehow see through it and discover what was happening inside.

I never did.

The result was always the same.

A glimpse of bright lights.

Moving shadows.

Nothing useful.

Nothing that told me whether Daisy was being cared for properly.

The thought made my jaw tighten.

Alive.

She had to be.

There was no alternative.

I dragged a hand through my hair and continued pacing, only to stop again moments later and lower myself into one of the waiting room chairs lining the wall. The decision lasted less than thirty seconds.

The chair felt wrong.

Everything felt wrong.

I was back on my feet before I consciously decided to stand.

A corridor stretched ahead of me, clean and bright and unbearably quiet despite the occasional passing nurse or doctor. Somewhere down the hall, a machine beeped rhythmically. Somewhere else, someone was speaking in a low voice.

The sounds blended loudly together but none of them mattered.

My attention always returned to the same place.

The ICU doors.

I hated those doors. I hated the fact that they stood between me and information.

I hated the fact that they stood between me and Daisy.

And most of all, I hated the fact that there was nothing I could do about it.

My gaze dropped to my shirt. The blood had dried in several places already. Dark stains.

Her blood…

My chest tightened.

For a moment, I could see the entire scene again with perfect clarity.

Daisy sprinting across the field. Daisy screaming for me to move.

Daisy launching herself at me.

Then gunshot.

The blood…

The way her eyes had slowly closed while she was still trying to joke about ketchup. The memory hit hard enough that I looked away immediately

A nearby trash can became the unfortunate victim of my frustration.

The impact echoed down the corridor as my foot connected with the metal side, sending it trashing into the wall.

Several nurses looked up in alarm, and one of them actually started toward me. Then she got a better look at my face and her feet slowed.

With that, she decided that whatever lecture she had prepared was no longer worth delivering.

Smart woman.

She turned around and walked away.

I exhaled slowly before dragging another hand through my hair.

Daisy couldn’t go.

The thought appeared with such certainty that it almost sounded like a fact.

She puply couldn’t.

With the thought, my attention shifted toward the shooters and immediately, the familiar coldness returned.

The emotional chaos inside me didn disappear, but it moved aside just enough for another part of my mind to begin working.

The men in black.

The positioning.

The escape route.

The timing.

None of it had been random. They had known where to be. They had known when to act.

Which meant somebody had sent them.

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