Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(83)

I quickly grabbed the brick and the frame off Flint’s desk, tucking them into his drawer before they ended up broken on the ground.

Liv walked back into the room with her father, Leo, behind her. She nervously knotted her fingers as she said, “Okay, he’s not at his apartment. And no one answered at Mia’s parents’ either. Her car was parked out front though, so I’m pretty sure they’re together.” She shrugged. “I honestly have no idea.”

“I tried tracking his phone—” Leo said, and Till quickly interrupted.

“Why didn’t you do that two f*cking hours ago?” Till’s eyes narrowed in a murderous glare I’d thought only Flint possessed.

Leo stepped toward him, crossing his thick arms over his chest. “It’s dead, jackass. Calm the f*ck down. It’s a goddamn press conference. You can always reschedule.”

But it wasn’t just the press conference. No one had heard from Quarry since he and Mia had gone out to dinner the night before. Till was worried, and judging by the hole Eliza was pacing in the floor, so was she.

“Right,” Till bit out, storming past him.

Just as he got to the door, Johnson came flying around the corner and announced, “We found him. We need to go now.”





“Don’t you f*cking touch her!” I yelled through the burn in my lungs. Stepping protectively in front of Mia’s lifeless body, I blocked her from view.

“I’m not going to ask you step away again.”

I watched his hands form the words, but my brain was no longer able to process rational thought.

No one is taking her from me.

I sucked in a hard breath then snarled. “Back. The f*ck. Up.”

“You need to leave.”

My chest heaved as I frantically tried to find a way out of my nightmare, but my mind was riddled with memories of her tiny body seizing in the passenger seat of my car as I rushed her to the hospital. “Fuck you. You’re not touching her. Ever.”

“Quarry, please. She’s my daughter.”

“She’s my life!” I roared.

Her mother stepped forward, tears streaming from her deep-jade eyes—Mia’s eyes. “And you think she would have wanted this?” Her words never made it to my deaf ears, but I heard her voice break all the same.

I couldn’t bring myself to consider what Mia would have wanted at all.

I needed her.

I lifted my shaking hands to sign when my voice lodged in my throat. This is not your decision to make. You don’t get to play God.

Her mother shook her head in regret. “We didn’t make it. She did—six months ago when she found out there was no treatment for the newest tumor they discovered.”

My legs buckled as the excruciating pain hit my gut.

She knew. Oh my God, she knew all along.

“You’re lying,” I declared. “She would have told me.”

She shrugged. “Come on, Quarry. You of all people know how stubborn Mia was. She didn’t want you to worry.”

I stumbled back a step.

She hadn’t wanted me to worry?

I was dying right alongside her. I’d have given anything to have more than just a few hours to adjust to the fact that I was never going to see her again.

No.

I wasn’t letting her go.

I could fix this. We’d find some new doctors. Get a second opinion. She’d wake up and be fine.

I’d fight for her, because she would have fought for me.

“I don’t care. I’m unmaking her decision. I should get a say in this, and I say she lives.” I swallowed hard, packing my desperation down. “You will not f*cking touch her,” I seethed, swinging my gaze between her parents.

“I’m done.” Her short, overweight father stepped forward. “I will not stand here listening to you throw a temper tantrum at the side of my daughter’s deathbed. If there was hope, trust me, we would be clinging to it. But that is the shell of our Mia. She has no brain activity. People don’t just come back from that. We all loved her. But she didn’t want to live like this.” He choked on the admission.

“Love. I love her. She’s not gone, and I will not let you take her from me!”

He stepped even closer. “Either you get the hell out right now or I will have security escort you out.”

I ground my teeth, and my entire body flexed, preparing for war. “Then make your call, because there isn’t a force in the world that could drag me away from her.” I menacingly bumped my chest to his, forcing him to stumble.

Suddenly, a pair of hands slammed into my chest and Liv slid in front of me. I read her lips as she yelled, “Stop!”

My head snapped up as Till, Flint, and Slate filed into the room. My shoulders slacked at the sight of reinforcements.

“Get them out of here,” I barked at Till while nodding to Mia’s parents.

“You need to come with me,” he replied with his hands and voice and then grabbed my arm.

I snatched it away. “Fuck you.”

When motion at Mia’s bedside caught my attention, I turned to look over my shoulder.

Liv’s silent wails as she clung to Mia’s hand drained my soul.

What the f*ck is going on?

My mind swirled as devastation sank in.