Chapter Twenty-Six 

Lily opened a window in the viewing room of her funeral home to let in the unseasonably warm air. Dense fog hung over the neighborhood like an unwelcome blanket. She had set up the room for a small gathering to honor the lives of Klaus Gusev and Linda Bernardo. And when she finished, a sense of calm had come over her in the process, as if this was the closure that she and everyone else involved needed.

“You did a nice job,” James said, approaching her in a crisp black suit. She’d given him the bright blue paisley tie for his birthday last winter. The way the blue brought out his eyes made her giddy.

“Thanks. Did you know Zachary is bringing Julie?”

James made his way to the buffet table. “Are they back together? I had no idea.” 

“I guess they are. That was Rick’s doing.”

James looked up from the platter of grilled shrimp. “He got them back together? Wow. I guess he did something good.” He popped a shrimp in his mouth. 

“Hey, don’t start eating yet. The guests of honor haven’t even arrived and keep your voice down. You don’t want them to hear you complimenting Rick Drakon.”

“What about Rick Drakon?” Zachary announced as he walked in the room with Julie close behind him.

“Ah, speak of the devil,” James said, slapping Zachary’s back. “Hey, Julie.”

Lily shook her head. “Nothing. There’s nothing to say about Rick. But we’re glad you’re both here.”

“It’s good to see you,” Julie said, as she hugged Lily.

“Julie? Is that you?” Shanna’s voice rang out. 

Julie laughed as she turned to Shanna’s open arms. “It’s me.” 

“Good to see you,” Shanna said, rubbing Julie’s back in between squeezes. 

Lily fluttered around the room making sure everything looked perfect as Stuart Bernardo and Katia Gusev made their way inside. 

“This is lovely,” Katia said, looking around at the white lilies and blush roses spread throughout the room.

“Come in, come in. We have some small dishes if you’re hungry,” Lily said, gesturing toward the buffet. 

“Oh, I’m too nervous to eat,” Katia said. 

“I’m not,” Stuart said barreling his way to the platter filled with pigs-in-a-blanket.

Lily came up to Katia. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. We’re here as friends.” Lily walked her to a seat in front of the photomontage display of Klaus and Linda. 

Shanna—God bless her—sat next to Katia to keep her company. 

“No Abrams?” Lily asked, noticing she’d come solo. 

“You know him, always doing the most while looking like he’s doing the least.”

“That’s an interesting way of putting it.”

Shanna continued. “He promised to stop by after he wrestled with the mountain of paperwork on his desk.”

“His words I take it?”

Shanna nodded. “Exactly.”

“Well, he’s the one missing out on a rockin’ good time. His loss.”

Shanna chuckled. “Agreed. I promise to give him a hard time later.”

“Deal.”

Lily looked around at their small gathering. Her staff had dwindled to bare bones but at least she had no anxiety about who was in the room. She noticed her manager, Chris Tuchman enter the room as she walked toward the front. She nodded at him as he sat in the audience near Zachary. With Marcia and Antonio officially off the payroll, Chris didn’t have many people to manage. She’d have to consider new hires fast before he got bored and left them as well. 

“Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. I thought spending the day honoring and remembering those we’ve lost would help with the healing we all need after the tragedy we’ve had to endure.” Lily gestured toward Stuart and Katia. “No one suffered more than the families. I can thankfully say that the threat is no longer with us and we can now lay our client’s family members to rest in peace.” 

A rumble of acknowledgement and light clapping ensued. 

“Peace? What a luxury. To have peace in one’s life,” a deep raspy voice rang out from the entrance. 

Lily turned around to face the intruder. As the figure slowly emerged from the shadows, her stomach sank to her knees as she realized he had a gun in his hand. and it was pointed at her. 

“Antonio?” Lily asked, her knees buckled, almost sending her to the ground. But she remained upright in the same position at the front of the room. His dark eyes stared straight into hers. Anger made his upper lip quiver. Lily heard rustling from the group behind her. No doubt James wanted to make a move. 

“Don’t move,” he barked, waving his gun at anyone who looked threatening to him. “I have no problem shooting all of you.”

Lily watched his disheveled brown hair fall into his eyes as he waved the gun around. Of course he was upset. They had spoiled his plans. 

“Now what am I supposed to do?” Antonio snarled. His bloodshot eyes gave him a crazed look. This was not a crazed man. This was a desperate man. 

“Antonio, it’s all right.” She put her hands up in defense. “We can work out a deal.”

“Deal?’ He pointed the gun straight at her. “There’s no deal. I have no future now.” 

James had a gun with him. She could only imagine the amount of frustration he must be going through at this moment. If only she had access to her gun but why would she carry one to a memorial gathering? 

“Antonio,” James announced. “I’m not sure you’ve thought this through. What were you planning to do here? Shoot everyone?” 

An audible gasp came from Katia.

Antonio shifted his attention to James. He’d stopped pointing the gun at Lily. 

She turned her neck to see that James had stood and was clearly trying to take the attention off her.

“Yeah, Antonio.” Zachary stood up. “You were really going to shoot me after all we've been through?” 

The gun swung over to point at Zachary. Antonio gritted his teeth. Sweat pooled above his brow. There were too many people for him to round up.

Lily saw the look in James’s eyes. Fear mixed with determination. Her limbs began to tingle as her own fears rose to the surface. Things were happening too fast to think straight. 

She watched James snatch his gun out of its holster. As soon as he did Antonio swung his gun back over to James. Shots rang out from all sides. Screams from the crowd added to the noise and commotion. Lily ducked down to the ground, hoping against all odds that no one had any target skills. 

A moment of quiet went by before Lily popped up from the floor to look for James. Their eyes met as her heart thumped in terror. He stayed on the ground as she ran to his side. Blood stained the black fabric over his left shoulder. Lily searched for more wounds but didn’t find any. She took her cardigan off and pushed down on his wound. He grimaced and sucked in a breath. 

“Are you alright?” She asked, already knowing the answer. Thankfully, she could hear Chris calling for an ambulance. She knew she could count on him. 

“I’m fine, just a little bruise.” He groaned and closed his eyes. “Better me than you.”

“You would say that.”

It dawned on her that she was going through the same scenario that he did when his ex-girlfriend, Andrea, died in a crossfire. He took the bullet this time instead of going through the agony of losing someone again. Except this time Lily wouldn’t let him die. She forced back the tears and grabbed his face with her free hand. “You stay with me. You got that.”

He chuckled and then scrunched up his face. “I’m too scared of you to die.”

“Good.” But the truth was she didn’t know. She didn’t know if the bullet hit a major artery and if he had only a few minutes left with her. “And don’t forget, I love you.” 

He opened his eyes and smiled. The blue in his eyes was as bright as the sky. He cleared his throat and said in a whisper. “I love you, too.”

Finally, the paramedics came bursting into the room to attend to the wounded. She backed away to let them get him on a stretcher and stabilized. She glanced at the area where Antonio had been standing. His lifeless body now lay on the floor as another set of paramedics tried to revive him. James’s bullet had gone through Antonio’s chest, a much more dire circumstance. She hadn’t considered Antonio’s fate. It hadn’t mattered in the face of losing James. 

Shanna rushed to her side. She buried her face in her hands. “Are you alright?”

“Nothing happened to me. But he could’ve taken down the whole room. Is anyone hurt?” Lily announced to the others.

“No, we are fine,” Zachary said, holding Julie’s hand. 

Lily glanced at Katia and Stuart. She had just finished promising them a crime free experience in her funeral home. There was nothing she could say to make it better nor did she have the energy to try.

“Is James all right?” Zachary asked. 

“I think he’ll be fine. He was very lucky. I’m going with them in the ambulance. You guys stay here and keep our guests company.” She turned toward her manager. “Chris, you hold down the fort.”

She turned to her sister. “Shanna, call Abrams to let him know what happened.”

“I already have.” Shanna replied.

“The police are going to want a statement from everyone,” Lily said as she rushed toward the exit but then turned around once more. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

Then she sprinted toward the ambulance with James inside. Her heart leaped into her throat. She didn’t want to alarm the others, but she didn’t really know if he was going to make it. Antonio had not. And what would she do if he didn’t? Images of her life with James flashed before her eyes.

From the moment when she’d first laid eyes on his silky black hair and tattooed biceps in the basement of her funeral home to their wedding day when he told her they would be together forever, this could not be the end. She would not want to go on. Tears flooded her eyes, clouding her vision as she ran toward the ambulance James had been loaded into. Yanking the back door open wide, she propelled herself inside.

His eyes were closed but his body had been hooked up to monitors that beeped incessantly. Intravenous fluids ran down the tubing and into James’s arms. And there was blood—lots of blood on the floor of the truck and on the linens of the stretcher. She willed herself into tunnel vision to avoid seeing nothing but red. The paramedics sat on opposite sides of the ambulance monitoring the machines hooked up to him.

She stood at the foot of the stretcher watching for any movement. Was he unconscious? Had he slipped into a coma? Was he only minutes from death? She’d stopped breathing altogether until she touched his leg and his eyes popped open.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve ever been shot.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. 

She released the air from her lungs and chuckled at him. Her heart could beat again. “Congratulations. I’ll tell you what you’ve won later. Now work on not dying.”

He smiled and laid his head back on the pillow. “Yes, ma’am.”