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“Did she pass?” he asks, but I can see the question in his gaze; he wants to know what is going through my head and why I let her live.
“She came, didn’t she?”
“And if she hadn’t?” he probes.
“Well, she wouldn’t be sitting on your lap right now, I would have shot her,” I say, letting that sink in. He swallows thickly, and I turn my gaze to the window.
As we pull up to the gates of my mansion, I’m already formulating plans. Anticipating moves, readying myself for the shit storm this girl is about to unknowingly create.
The driver pulls into the mansion’s driveway, the gravel crunching under the tires like bones being ground into dust. He parks the car and climbs out quickly, opening the back door for Milo, whose usual composure is rattled.
“Where do I put her?” he asks, his arms still cradling Fallon’s limp body protectively.
“My room,” I answer steadily. My gaze doesn’t waver from Fallon’s face, but I can feel Milo’s confusion almost palpable in the air between us as his gaze watches my face. No woman has stepped foot in my bedroom since my ex-wife—a fact well-known to those closest to me.
“Your room?” Milo echoes, his eyes wide with surprise, but he doesn’t question the order further. He knows better than to push for answers I don’t want to give yet.
“Yes, now walk,” I command, climbing out of the car after him. As we ascend the grand staircase, I ponder the decision I’ve just made. The corridors of my home, usually echoing with the sounds of subservience and hushed whispers, now seem to hold their breath, waiting for the outcome of tonight’s events.
Fallon McAllister, the dealer who should have been easy to break, is proving to be a wild card that could either bolster my hand or cause the entire game to collapse.
Once in my room, Milo stands awkwardly, like he doesn’t know where to put her. I motion toward the bed, and Milo moves toward it just as Doctor Stevens knocks hesitantly at my door. I motion toward where Milo is laying her down. Without a word, he rushes to her aid, another woman rushing in with him. Dr. Stevens’s wife, she hooks a drip up to her with a cannula in her hand, then starts ripping out blood bags. Dr. Stevens slings orders as he works quickly.
The sterile scent of antiseptic fills the air, a stark contrast to the blood that stains my hands. The Doctor’s swift motions blur as he works over Fallon’s limp form, her shallow breaths ghosting out in uneven rhythms. Milo hovers close, his dark eyes never leaving her face. The sharp angles of his jaw tense with unspoken worry he isn’t able to mask.
“Keep pressure here,” Doctor Stevens instructs Milo, who complies without hesitation, his fingers pressing down on the makeshift bandage, having just removed the bullet.
A minute later a knock sounds on the door, and I quickly answer it, knowing it’s Rocco with what I asked for. Milo glances over at us as I take the tiny package with a tracking device in it. My entire empire is on the line with every person I bring too close to me. I need to know her whereabouts at all times and this will ensure it. Taking the sterile package I move toward the Doctor and drop it on the bed. He nods once recognizing it instantly then sighs heavily.
“Is that necessary?” Milo asks.
“It will be if she runs, you made sure to have one added to her sister?” I ask Dr. Stevens, and he nods once. This doctor, who knew not to ask too many questions, was how I was able to get the heart for her sister. He may be a surgeon but he also deals in the underground trades. Everything has a price if you know the right people. He also helps when my men are wounded, just like he is tonight. His wife also functions as his assistant. She was found by one of Dr. Stevens’ scouts who worked in my club. She would’ve likely been chopped up and her organs sold off, but something about her caught the doctor’s eye and he kept her. They’ve been married now for twelve years.
Moving to the bathroom, I quickly wash my hands, her blood swirling down the drain. I study the man in the mirror and hardly recognize him. I’ve never been this careless or let a stranger into my home so quickly. Yet the thought of killing this girl twists my stomach knowing I’d be hurting Milo. Drying my hands, I walk back out and take a seat, watching Milo and Doctor, but his wife is now gone, and Milo holds the remainder of the blood bag up while the Doctor works.
“What do you want to do about her father and sister?” Milo’s voice breaks through the charged silence, and my gaze lifts from the blood staining Fallon’s shoulder to meet his questioning stare, only to realize they have finished and Stevens is now cleaning up.
“Let them go,” I answer simply, my words slicing through the tension.
Milo’s brow furrows. With Fallon under my roof, bleeding yet breathing, I can almost taste victory—a victory that will secure my position and lineage but will also tether her to me indefinitely.
She owes me millions, but it’s more than money I seek—its power. And as I watch the rise and fall of her chest, the fight in her even as she lies unconscious, I know she will give me what I need. She has no choice, not if she wants her family to live.
“Let them go?” The words hang in the air between us as Milo repeats my command, his voice laced with disbelief.
I lean back in my chair, feeling the weight of Fallon’s fate pressing against my bare chest. “Yes,” I say, my voice steady, watching Fallon’s shallow breaths. “She won’t comply with us, if they are dead.”
Milo’s sharp eyes search mine, trying to understand the shift in strategy. “I did not just pay all that money for her sister’s heart and surgery for her to die now.”
A muscle twitches in my jaw as I consider how much to reveal, how far into my thoughts to let him tread. One misstep could send everything we’ve built into disarray. Milo deserves an answer; his loyalty has earned him that much, and he is half the reason I am keeping her. I won’t risk him taking off with her, yet by keeping her, I know I’ll need to share her if I want to keep the peace.
“My father wants me to marry, and I need an heir,” I begin, my words clipped, deliberate. “She’ll provide one.”
The air shifts. Charged with the implication of those words, I can almost see the cogs turning in Milo’s head. The calculations of risk versus reward, loyalty versus desire. My decision would test my friendship with Milo, knowing she is a woman he has longed for over the last five years but was too scared to have.
He studies Fallon’s unconscious form, his expression unreadable. Yet, I know the turmoil brewing beneath his stoic facade; the same storm rages within me.
There’s no turning back now. She will be my wife, and I will cement my legacy with her.
