Read Online Fearless: Complicated Creatures Part Three by Alexi Lawless - Free Book Online Page A

consuming…
    “God— God —” he panted through clenched teeth as he turned his head away from the nurse who came to check on his IV. He hadn’t been able to keep any food or water down since they’d checked him in, and the doctor and nurses had finally pinned him down, manacling him to the bed when he’d torn the IV’s out of his arm with his wild thrashing.
    “Breathe, Mr. Roman. Focus on your breathing,” a nurse told him as she wiped the clammy sweat from his brow. Jack squeezed his eyes shut.
    “I can’t— I can’t breathe —” he gasped.
    He felt a pair of hands touch him so gently, he wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating. One hand just above his heart, the other on his heaving belly.
    “Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth,” the voice guided him gently. “Breathe slowly. Just focus on the breath. Let go of everything else…”
    Jack tried to follow directions, but he was being bombarded by sensory overload. His head was pounding, and his body felt like it was on fire.
    “ It hurts . It hurts too much—” He gritted teeth as another wave made his stomach muscles clench.
    “Breathe, Jack. Just breathe.” A violent convulsion nearly lifted Jack off the bed, the cords of his neck distended as he fought against the bonds that manacled him to the frame.
    “Tesoro…” he whispered, aching. “ Tesoro… ”
    *
    Jack opened his eyes.
    He was in a nondescript white hospital room, mural paintings hung in soothing watercolors. The linens were fresh, and his arms were free, albeit tired and a little sore. He tentatively touched the IV in his arm as he took stock of his body’s sluggish bio-feedback.
    Had he dreamed it all? Was the worst of it over? He felt aching, raw and dehydrated, his mouth dry and bitter from the bile.
    A movement across the room caught his attention, and Jack turned to look. His father stood beside him, his face lined with fatigue and worry.
    “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Gianni .”
    “Where am I?” Jack croaked, struggling to sit up.
    “Germany,” his father answered. “They had to restrain you,” he said regretfully, gesturing toward the leather guards locked onto Jack’s wrists. “You kept trying to leave.”
    Jack shook his head, trying to clear the fog. “Where is Samantha—how is she?”
    His father watched him with a grave expression. “She’s safe, Gianni .”
    Jack tested the guards, tugging weakly against the restraints. “I need to go to her.”
    His father shook his head, regret lining his face. “You need to clean out, Gianni . That’s all you need to worry about now.”
    “No,” Jack spat out, getting angry. “I need to see her. I need to know she’s okay.”
    “She’s okay. But you’re not,” his father answered matter-of-factly. “You’re a goddamn disaster. You’re no good to anyone like this.”
    Jack knew in his heart that his dad was right. He closed his eyes.
    His father helped him sit up in the bed, and Jack had a fleeting memory of him doing something very similar when he was just a child, sick with the flu. Just like then, Jack’s father cradled him gently, giving him a sip of water. Jack closed his eyes in relief, gulping down the cool fluid, his body accepting it gladly, like the quenching rain over the cracked earth of a desert. He could have sworn he felt the cleansing water fill the empty and desiccated spaces.
    “Thank you,” he croaked.
    “You’re through the worst of it,” his father told him. “I’d like to move you to a facility near Lake Como.”
    Jack shook his head tiredly. “I need to be close to Samantha.”
    “Carey is taking her home, Gianni ,” his father told him with a sigh. “She’s going to recover in Texas. He feels it’ll be safer as long as Lucien Lightner is still on the loose—”
    Jack blinked, struggling to focus. He’d seen Lightner shot by the mystery woman. A woman who worked for Samantha—the same woman who’d saved him and Mitch in London. “But