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I start to stand, but Atom grabs my hand, pulling me close. “You’re shot too, Sunshine.” He says it in a whisper, a secret that I’m sure more know of. His words seem to unlock the pain I feel in my shoulder now that he mentions it, but I push it off, just a little longer.

“I know.” I lean down, kissing his lips briefly before standing, grabbing something off him as I take a few steps forward.

“Goodbye, Uncle.” I lift my arm and fire. I’m close enough to him that it doesn’t matter that I’ve never fired a gun before. And I don’t think about the repercussions of it to my psyche. I just do what needs to be done.

At least with him, I said goodbye. When I move the gun and fire it at my father, I say nothing.

Chapter 30 - Atom

“You’re by far a better patient than my last,” the doctor says with a kind smile to Sunshine, to which her Grandfather, who’s sitting in the corner, scoffs.

“I was of great decorum as a patient,” he says in defense.

“Oh yes, yes, indeed.” The doctor bows to him, but I watch him share a glance and a small smile with Natalie before he bows to her and leaves us.

I remain still, watching through slitted eyes. I woke a little while ago from the anesthesia, but I continue to remain still to allow myself time to come fully out of it. This isn’t my first time being shot and cared for, so I know how to act. Or at least how long it takes me to feel normal again. Plus, I prefer to listen and see what’s going on around me, noting things without people knowing I can hear.

The steady beeping is the only noise in the room for a moment. I know things are happening outside this room right now, but Natalie promised me she would let others take care of them while the doctor patched us up.

After she killed her father, no more bloodshed was necessary. At least not right then.

We stayed in the meeting room at Natalie’s request. She wasn’t about to let those at the other end of the table leave to gather their thoughts and plot something new. The bodies were removed by Psy’s men, who seemed to act as if it was fun to drag dead bodies around. They even started playing with them, putting them in chairs and ramming them together to see if that would get them down the hall faster.

Most of the remaining men were appalled, but Psy winked at Natalie and looked at me to say, “And you wonder why they call me Psycho.”

He left after that. Well, after having a staring contest with just about every Hound there, including me. He and his three men, compared to the half a dozen men Casper had come up with him, left little mark on our group. But the number of shenanigans dropped immensely at their departure.

Natalie didn’t call him back, and I’m not sure he would have listened if she did. But he showed his support, it was noted by all, and that was all their agreement was. A show of force. If they get to a point where one of them needs the other, only time will tell how that negotiation will go.

Till then, I’ll just keep hoping Gina remembers where she buries all her bodies so Sunshine can use that if she needs to again.

Casper and the Hounds he brought stayed in the room too, but they were mostly security, along with Shin’s people and those Natalie’s grandfather had moved to her side after all the work they did on the phones before the meeting.

Natalie ran the rest of the meeting, with Vinny at her side. Okay, it was all him. Her ability to talk wasn’t all that great, as pain kept creeping in, but she refused to leave. One of the men who was there, on the other side of the table, was actually a doctor, and he gave her aid—with Gina’s knife digging into his throat the whole time.

He stopped the bleeding in her shoulder before doing the same with my side. I wasn’t planning on bringing attention to myself, only to be at my girl’s side, but she only accepted aid herself once I agreed to be looked after as well. Natalie is more stubborn than me, it seems, or maybe just like me. Kindred spirits, wanting to get the meeting over with before we took time to recover.

I think we both saw that if we left then, the recovery would be a Band-Aid for what was going to happen. No, it was better to sit in pain, sweating with unease, than wait for another time to convene.

So we stayed and finished it. Which was basically just paperwork at that point. Vinny wasn’t lying about how much there is.

When we left, we came back to Shin’s safe house, and Natalie and I got tended to, side by side.

Even now she lies beside me in a separate bed. Our surgeries were quick, and other than another day of rest, we’re free to leave. I suspect that if either of us got up now and started walking around, no one would scoff. But I rest because I want Natalie to do so as well.

This is the fourth bullet I’ve taken for her in some way. Gladly. She’s worth saving every time. And I won’t let this be the last time I do so.

Not that I plan to get shot on a daily basis, of course. But if it keeps her safe, I’ll do whatever needs to be done.

“You have it all now. Everything you could have wanted is yours,” Takahashi-san says with a small bow of his head, and I see Natalie give him one in return.

But she doesn’t smile. How can she? She still doesn’t have the one thing she’s always craved.

Freedom.

“You sure this is what you want to do?” Casper asks in a hushed tone to keep our conversation just between us, which I appreciate. While we can’t see the people who guard Natalie’s home, I know they’re there.

“It’s what has to be done.”