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He laid Grace down in the bed where he’d o and tucked the covers around her chilled skin He had no idea what to do for her He had no idea to what extent she’d be ill

Judging by what she’d said of the other illnesses and injuries she’d healed, she’d taken the baby’s ail to thrive, for the next while, Grace would also struggle to thrive and survive He just had to hope to hell she had the strength to fight long enough not to succu battle

CHAPTER 27

RIO never left her bedside over the next two days He sat with her, not sleeping except in fits and spurts He tried to get her to eat, to drink, but as with the baby, it did no good She lacked the strength and will to survive

Rio knew that it wasn’t her It wasn’t her wanting to give up But she was having to battle not only the weakness and the illness itself but the child’s will He could only i

And so he stayed with her through it all, never once leaving her side He held her through the night Sat with her during the day He spoke to her, mostly nonsense, but he was determined that she not think he left her even for aher to know that he was fighting with her, then he’d da after he’d retrieved Grace In terse tones, he informed Sam they were short a man When Saaged the ene of Rio’s team to him He trained his men He trusted them He dealt with any issues that arose Rio’s men followed him and him alone They didn’t take orders from Sam or KGI They came from Rio

"I’ll send someone to you," Sam said

"No," Rio said shortly "I need a few days here and then we’re going to n else"

"No, we’re clear right now I can provide all the backup you need"

"I’ll need it e bug out I don’t want to draw attention by having you guys swarm in here We’ll move out and then meet up with the teams at a different location"

"Name it and I’ll make damn sure we have the manpower there," Sam said

"What’s the word on Shea? I’d like to be able to give Grace good nehen she co pause

"What the hell happened, Rio? When we spoke last, Grace was doing better, or so you said"

"She will be better," Rio said, deter fro else"

There were severalto have to fight, Saive up and we can’t run forever I’ as much time as possible because I need Grace as close to a hundred percent as I can get her before the shit hits the fan But it’s co I can do about it"

"No pissant special ops wannabe group is going to get one over on us," Saance Titan was far from a special ops wannabe, but Rio liked the insult that Saive Grace so when she comes around"

"She’s not happy with you or me at the moment," Sam said dryly "When I told her that you’d called, she i her it wasn’t possible because I didn’t exactly knohere you asn’t one of my more favorite moments in my leadership capacity"

Rio chuckled "No, I don’t iine it was"

"But she’s fine Tell Grace she’s doing far better than Grace herself is froood care of her She’s desperate to reconnect with Grace, and she askedthat she’s felt close to the path "

"I will," Rio said in a so It hurts her that she’s been unable to forge that path again If you could talk to Shea again, tell her…Look, I know Grace hadn’t wanted Shea to see what all she’s endured But Grace needs her help She wouldn’t want ht now I’ll take whatever I can get She’s not doing well, Sah to her, I think it would make a world of difference I need…I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back"

"What the hell happened out there, Rio?"

Rio hesitated a e of what Grace is able to do He put her in a position where she couldn’t say no, and she was in no condition to be healing another She nearly died when I found her, and now she lies here hovering between life and death, fighting a battle that I can’t help her with"

"You care for her More than just in a capacity of theto acknowledge Sam’s realization

"I should have seen it when you jumped on this s aren’t good, man I’ll talk to Shea immediately She’d want to know Nathan won’t be happy about it but he can’t very well tell Shea she can’t help her sister out Particularly when Grace helped Nathan and Swanny when Swanny was injured during their escape"

"I appreciate it, Sa, but for Grace, he’d set aside his pride He’d do anything to get her back "I’ll be in touch"

"Tell o"

"I’ll contact you in forty-eight hours Hopefully the situation here will have changed for the better by then"

"I’ll be waiting," Sam said "We all will be"

Rio ended the call, and then returned to where Grace lay so quiet and still on the bed He sat on the edge, angling his body so that he could see her face He reached out to touch her, flinching at the chill of her skin and how pale and translucent her face was

She looked so vulnerable and defenseless even though Rio knew her to be far froest of warriors He’d never witnessed anything like it

"Co hurt you You’re safe here Just coht one more time Come back to the people who love you"

GRACE knew she was dying and it pissed her off Her body just sort of accepted it, lying there like it was already dead and her brain just hadn’t gotten the h and finally just shut down Her natural ability to heal wasn’t responding as it nor to her, enveloping her in their uncoer she drifted as she did, the more the darkness crept in until she existed in that dark place A world with no lights It was the ultiht It was scary and overwheler it went on, the more she seemed to drift farther away from where she knew she wanted to be