Lillianna Marshal. Ryder's little sister.

I knew her before I ever met him. We'd been very good friends, but I hadn't seen her in years. Why? Because until very recently I had believed her to be dead . . . and that's kind of a long story.

I continue to stare at her.

She smiles mischievously back at me. "You look like you're seeing a ghost."

I can't help but smile back at her. "Pretty sure I am, Lillianna."

She rolls her eyes and scoffs at me. "Nicolette, you and I both know that if I was a ghost, I'd be haunting at least ten people's house's by now."

I can't argue with that. Nor would I want to.

Here's the thing about Lillianna (Lily) Marshal, she may only be Ryder's half-sister, but she's crazier and more mischievous than he'll ever be.

Devin Kessler also has an . . . interesting personality. So these two together is not the best idea in the world.

Everyone should be prepping for World War III at this point.

She turns away from me to glare down at Ryder's unconscious form.

"One week," She grumbles. "Seven days. One hundred and sixty-eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. Six hundred and four thousand and eight hundred seconds."

I wait for her to explain her statement, but she doesn't. "Excuse me?" I finally question.

She blows out an angry breath. "That's how long I had with my parents. One week of pure bliss where I was the center of attention." She continues to glare at Ryder. "Until this attention hog just had to go and get himself shot."

She shakes her head as she stares at him. "Completely selfish." She suddenly rolls her eyes and throws her hands in the air. "And he went and wasted one of his lives."

Devin rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he didn't do it purpose Lily."

She shrugs. "Doesn't matter." Her eyes suddenly get big like a light bulb's gone off in her mind. "I'll be right back," She announces before quickly walking out of the room.

I turn to Devin. "Where's she going?"

He shrugs and shakes his head. "I haven't the slightest idea."

I look back to Ryder, squeezing his hand slightly and brushing a strand hair from his face afterward. I feel tears start to fill my eyes at the thought of losing him. At the thought of him not waking up.

Devin comes up behind me and puts his hand on my shoulder. "He's going to wake up," He tells me, squeezing my shoulder in silent comfort.

"You can't be sure," I whisper.

Devin just shrugs. "Let's call it a hunch," He says as he eyes Lily as she comes walking back in the room. There's a large cardboard box in her hands and a devilish smile on her face.

I blow out a sigh. "This can't be good."

Lily's smile widens and she winks at me before turning the box over in her hands and dumping everything out on the floor at her feet.

Devin raises his eyebrows. "I thought that was for Everly's house."

Lily rolls her eyes before glaring at Ryder once again. "It was, until he derailed all my plans." She waves him off dismissively. "Besides, this is only one box. I have like twelve more stashed away."

She rubs her hands together gleefully and lets out an evil laugh. "I'll still be getting around to Ev's house. It'll just take a little longer."

She kneels down and starts digging through the pile of Halloween decorations at her feet.

I stare down at her. "Do I even want to know why you clearly already had that in the car?" I ask her.

Lily smiles. "Well, I was on my way to go decorate my friend's house before Ryder just had to go and waste one of his lives." She rolls her eyes again. "Idiot."

She holds up a clump of white spider webbing. She holds it out to Devin. "You going to help me or not?"

Devin smiles before taking the clump of spider webs from her and moves to one side of the room.

I look between the two of them as Devin starts putting up the spider webs and Lily starts hanging up a bunch of skull lights.

"There's no way the nurses are going to allow you two to keep all of this up," I tell them.

Both of them scoff at me before each one pulls out their own badge and flash it at me as if to say, "Let them try and make us take it down."

One hour, three angry nurses, one highly amused doctor, and another two boxes of decorations later, and the whole room looks like something out of a haunted house. Including Lily, who's used a ton of face paint to paint her face and Devin's like a skeleton.

I'll give props to Lily and Devin for making sure their decorations didn't get in the way of the nurses or the machines or anything else that would be needed to help Ryder.

Most of the decorations are on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, or stuck to the floors. They took care to make sure nothing is actually in the way of the doctors or nurses.

But they still managed to make sure the entire room was covered in decorations.

They even sat a fake skeleton (dressed in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around its neck) in a chair next to Ryder's bed.

Correction-what I hope is a fake skeleton. When I asked Lily where she got it, she said the local cemetery. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

Now that she's finished with her interior decorating, she's staring down at Ryder with a look of disgust on her face.

I can feel the sibling love.

She shakes her head. "Freaking disgraceful," She mutters.

I look at her questioningly. "What?" I ask her.

"One bullet, that's what," She replies. "He went down because of one bullet." She shakes her head. "He wasted one of his lives on one bullet."

I stare at her. "And that's disgraceful because . . . ?"

She rolls her eyes like I'm the stupidest person ever. "It took three to take me down the last time and he goes down on one? Disgraceful."

I can't help but roll my eyes at her and shake my head. I look down at Ryder, my hand still holding his, wishing he'd wake up, so at the very least, I'm not stuck alone with these two lunatics.

I think I imagine it, the slightest twitch of his hand, until it's tightening around mine.

"Ryder?" I whisper as I lean toward him.

His eyelashes flutter and he lets out a soft groan.

I squeeze his hand back. "Ryder," I whisper again as I stare down at him. Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks as I watch him start to wake.

He squints up at the lights and lifts his hand in an effort to block it out, letting out another soft groan.

I lean toward him, still holding his hand. "Ryder, I-"

I don't get the chance to finish what I want to say-I'm not even sure what it is anyway-because Lily is pushing herself between me and Ryder as she leans in toward him.

I'm half pissed off with her because she just seems to be dismissing me. But I remind myself that she is his sister while I'm . . . well, I'm not entirely sure what I am.

Of course, after she opens her mouth, my anger and frustration with her flies out the window.

Why? Well, this is why . . .

"Oh my gosh!" She shouts as she clutches at his hand like it's her only lifeline. Tears pour down her cheeks and she stares at him with such worry and concern that it's frightening. Mostly because this is the girl who was complaining because he'd taken the attention away from her when he got shot.

Ryder turns to look at her, his eyes squinted as he tries to completely bring himself out of it. "Lily?" He whispers, his voice hoarse as he stares at her. He looks toward the door. "Where's Nicky?" He asks.

He takes a second to look around the room, specifically at the decorations. He doesn't even notice Devin or me.

"What the hell?" He mutters.

Lily continues to cry hysterically.

"What happened?" He questions. He suddenly looks worried and tries to sit up, hissing in pain as he does so. Lily pushes him back down, keeping him from moving.

"It's Halloween," She tells him between her sobs. "You've been asleep," She continues to cry, her sobs making it impossible to finish her sentence. She finally sucks in a sharp breath, wipes at her tears and says, "for ten YEARS!"

I facepalm. Devin turns away, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter as he struggles to keep quiet.

Ryder stares at his sister for a long time, not saying anything. The look on his face is complete disbelief, but at the same time, he totally thinks she's telling the truth and is trying to accept it.

Ryder continues to stare at her for a long time. "You have not aged well," He finally says.

Devin can't keep quiet any longer.

Lily scowls at Ryder as his attention goes to Devin who's hunched over in the corner.

Ryder ignores her scowl and Devin as he turns back to Lily. "What happened to Nicky?" He asks.

Lily (very dramatically, might I add) takes Ryder's hand in both of hers and puts on a face of pity.

"I'm so sorry Ryder," Lily whispers. "But she got tired of waiting around for you. Her and Damien got married."

Devin completely loses it, at this point.

"They have three children, a dog, a big blue house with lots of-"

I shove her out of the way and take her place at Ryder's side. "She's lying," I tell him quickly, noticing the look of defeat on his face, Though, as soon as he sees me, it's gone. "You've been out for eight days."

He nods, sinking back in the bed, a look of relief on his face, his head resting on the pillow. He closes his eyes and rubs at his head, wincing as he accidentally presses against the bandage there. He waves his hand around the room. "And the decorations?"

I scoff. "What do you think?" I ask him. "She's your sister."

He nods again, his eyes remaining closed. "Hey, lunatic," He calls out.

"You better not be talking to me," Lily replies.

"Who else would I be talking to?" He questions sarcastically. "Can you give us the room?"

Lily rolls her eyes. "Talk quietly if you don't want us to hear," She tells him. "Because we're going to be standing outside the door with our ears pressed against it."

"Just get out."

Ryder waits until he hears the door close before he opens his eyes and looks at me. I notice he looks me over from head to toe, his eyes lingering on the bruises and scrapes I acquired.

"Tell me he's dead," He says flatly. "Because if not, I'm going to hunt him down and kill him."

I sit down in the empty chair next to him, my hands in my lap. "He's dead," I reply.

Ryder lets out a breath of relief. "Do I even want to know how it happened?"

I shrug and decide to stick with my story. "He jumped."

Ryder just blinks at me. "He jumped?"

I nod. "Yep."

Ryder groans. "You suck at lying."

I shake my head but don't reply, instead, I stare down at my hands in my lap.

"You alright, gingersnap?" Ryder asks.

I look up at him. "I'm not the one that got shot," I tell him.

He shrugs. "And yet, you look like hell."

I glare at him. "Just what every girl wants to hear."

Neither one of us say anything for a while. I'm the one to break the silence.

"I'm so sorry Ryder," I whisper. "This was all my fault."

"Did you shoot me?" He asks.

I stare at him in confusion. "What?"

"Did you shoot me?"

"No." I did say I'd forever deny it.

"Then what the hell are you apologizing for?"

I glare at him, suddenly angry he's not taking this more seriously. "How about the fact that you nearly died because you were protecting me? Or maybe because you've been risking your life and your family protecting me? Or how about-"

"Shut up," Ryder cuts me off.

I blink. "Excuse me?"

Ryder rolls his eyes. "Shut. Up," He repeats.

I open my mouth to protest and he holds up his hand.

"I'm not finished," He says. "I acted of my own free will-mostly-and I will not have you taking credit for me nearly dying. Which by the way, is a massive exaggeration since I have nine-well now eight-lives. You can disagree with me all you want, but quite frankly, I don't give a shit."

I narrow my eyes at him.

"Now, I've been sitting in this bed listening to my lying lunatic of a sister and you continue to talk and I am dying of a dry throat." He points to the water glass sitting on the furthest edge of the table next to him, away from him. "Please just give me the damn water."

I continue to glare at him.

He lets out a sigh. "Please," He groans. "You can argue your point and yell at me later about why this all really, Volkov's fault."

I pick up the glass of water and hand it to him. He winces as he takes it. Damien suddenly bursts through the door and Ryder jumps, spilling half the water all over himself.

"Son of-" He cuts off abruptly and glares at Damien. "Ever heard of knocking?"

Damien's look of concern vanishes and he rolls his eyes. "I don't know why I'm ever concerned about you."

Ryder flashes him a mischievous smile. "Because I'm just so lovable."

Damien gives him a flat look. "I'm sure that's the reason," He replies sarcastically. He walks forward and holds out a manila envelope with Get Well Soon written on it in big letters. "Here you go."

Ryder peeks inside. "This is the paperwork for . . . everything that happened."

Damien nods. "You haven't lost your touch," He says sarcastically.

Ryder throws it back at him.

Damien turns to me. "So, here's something interesting," He starts. "The autopsy on Volkov just got back to me."

He stares at me as he continues on. "Not only did he suffer multiple broken bones before the fall, but it was also found that he had a nasty wound on his side that was actually nearly a week old already."

Ryder frowns and looks to me. I shake my head, silently telling him that I have no idea how that happened.

Ryder turns back to Damien. "How did that happen?"

Damien shrugs. "Coroner doesn't know. His best guess was that someone stabbed him multiple times, but with various different knives." He shakes his head. "No wound was the same size."

"Try a nice hard kick with spiked heels," Lily announces from the doorway.

All heads turn toward her.

She shrugs. "Well, he didn't introduce himself. Took off just as fast as he showed up after I kicked him. I didn't feel like dealing with him long enough to find out who he was." She shrugs again and winks at Damien. "Now I know, thanks."

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