OnlyatTheCavern Read Online Free PDF Page B

slow blinks her lips twitched. Ah, there it
was. That tiny hint of a smile that warmed her eyes. “Of course. You bring me
some of my most interesting patients. But I think there is someone who will
miss you more. You’ve had a visitor pacing the floor for the last hour.”
    A visitor? “Who?”
    She went to the door and waved to whoever was waiting in the
hall. A young woman came barreling through the doorway. Dark shadows made the
red rimming her eyes appear even more harsh, and sections of black hair spilled
from her ponytail in a tangled mess. She wore her waitress uniform from the
diner, the apron still tied around her hips, confirming that she had raced to
the hospital in the middle of her morning shift. Hours of work missed that
Marco knew she couldn’t afford.
    Ah fuck. Abby. He closed his eyes on a groan. “I’m sorry.”
    “You should be, you asshole.” His baby sister drew up short
by the side of the bed. Anger burned across her cheeks in red patches and her
nostrils flared as her gaze took in his condition. She glanced back at the
doctor. “Are you sure he’ll live?”
    The doc shrugged. “For now.”
    “Good.” Abby punched him in the biceps.
    “Ow,” he hollered. “Careful. I’m tender.”
    “I’ll tender you.” She slapped him again. “What the fuck
were you thinking?”
    “Language. Please.” He glanced over his sister’s shoulder to
see Dr. Jovanovich ease out of the room with her little smile. “I was doing my
job.”
    “Yeah, right. Cassidy told me everything. You almost died
chasing after one of Smithwick’s men. And a lackey at that.”
    “But I didn’t die.”
    “You could have.” She flopped down on the mattress near his
hip. “Marco, you have to stop. It’s been three years. Smithwick has money and
men and weapons, and you only have the stupid city police force.”
    “And Coulter, and the rest of my team.”
    “Cassidy isn’t enough.”
    “Well they’re all I’ve got,” he growled then released a
weary sigh. “You know I have to finish this, Abs.”
    “Why does it have to be you?”
    “Because I’m the best. And I won’t stop until he’s caught.”
He reached out and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.
    “It won’t bring them back, you know,” she whispered in a
small voice as her dark eyes grew watery. “And I don’t want you to join them.”
    Along Abby’s forearms she carried the scars of the auto
accident that almost took her life. She refused to cover them up, answering any
who questioned her with stark honesty that they were the direct result of drugs
and stupidity. The drug use was compliments of her boyfriend. The stupidity
part she claimed for choosing to stand by him even when he made the shift from
user to seller. And when he hadn’t sold enough to satisfy Smithwick’s henchmen,
they had forced the car she had been riding in into a highway barrier at
seventy-five miles an hour. Of the five people in the car, only Abby and her
best friend’s boyfriend walked out alive. Or at least Abby had. The boy would
be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
    His little sister had gone from a starry-eyed young woman to
a jaded adult in the blink of an eye. It was the investigation of the crash
that led the police to their first solid lead to the mastermind behind the
rising drug scene in the city. And it was then that Marco vowed to personally
stop the man who dared to hurt his family and the families of others who had
been hurt by those working under Smithwick’s manipulations.
    He never declared himself a saint, or the self-appointed
savior of the city, but he never backed away from a challenge. That wasn’t
going to change now.
    “I know it won’t bring them back, Abby. But it’s my job to
protect this city the best way I can. I can’t stop when I’m so close to nailing
him.”
    She sniffed. “You’ve been saying that for over a year.”
    “It’s true.”
    “Damn straight it’s true,” Coulter said as he entered