CHAPTER 050: Greedy Brother
I exhale. “Just our usual problems. You know how it is.”
She’s still skeptical but nods.
“Alright. So who do I need to call? Your mom? Your dad?”
I shake my head. “No. Don’t. My family’s far away. There’s no need to make them panic and hop on a plane. You’re my only friend here.” I meet her eyes. “You’re enough.”
She hesitates. Her gaze drops to the floor, then back to me.
“I’ll call Knox.”
“No!”
Too fast.
“I have to let someone know,” she says. “Just relax, Finn. Lay back.”
I watch her pull out her phone and walk toward the hallway. My stomach sinks. This isn’t going as planned. She’s supposed to sit here. Feed me jello. Fluff my pillow. Cry a little maybe. Re–forge the bond I’ve been trying to drag back together since the wedding fell apart.
But instead, she’s dialing him.
And just before she walks out of earshot, I hear her say:
“Hey, babe. So, um, your brother got in an accident and-”
I close my eyes.
Shit.
Knox is going to come.
He’ll hear Sloane’s voice. Hear that she’s with me.
And he’ll come storming through these doors like a hurricane, all brooding intensity and murderous intent.
I groan.
My brother’s greedy.
He already took her from me.
But apparently, he won’t even let me have one night with her in a fucking hospital bed.
***
~~KNOX~~
***
I listen to Sloane’s voice on the phone, and it’s not as melodic as I’m used to. It’s thin. Wobbly around the edges. Rushed like she’s pacing or running or trying not to cry.
It’s a good thing this room is soundproof, or else I wouldn’t hear her voice over all that trembling.
“Hey, hey, Bunny,” I say, voice low, calm. “Slow down. What hospital?”
Around me, the room is still heavy with the tension I left in it. One man is tied to a chair, half his face swollen from the last punch. Spy, snitch, or whatever label fits best today. His arms are zip–tied behind his back, his knees bruised from how hard Levi made him drop when we caught him trying to scale the rear wall behind the club’s service lot.
Levi and Jade, Obsidian’s managers, stand on each side of the spy, looking at me like I’ve grown a second head. Can’t really blame them. Thirty seconds ago, I was threatening to snap this guy’s kneecap clean out of its socket, and now I’m speaking softly into the phone.
I don’t mean for my voice to change–it just does. She calls, and the rage dials down without permission. The rough edge in me smooths like it’s been trained to respond only to her voice,
They say every man’s got a weakness.
Looks like they’ve found mine.
It’s a damn good thing Jade–who’s still staring at me like listens the bout a halo–doesn’t know the Bunny on the other end of this call is his stepdaughter.
Successfully unlocked!
Sloane says the name of the hospital–one I know, about thirty minutes from here.
“I’ll be there soon,” I tell her. “Just stay calm. It’s not your fault. Stay on the line with me, okay?”
I mute the call and turn to Levi and Jade. My voice drops into something colder. “I’m heading out. Take care of this for me,
1/2
CHAPTER 050: Greedy Brother
will you?”
Levi nods without a beat. “Got it.”
Jade doesn’t. He just stares. His confusion and a thousand questions are worn on his face like a fresh bruise
You’d think a guy with Krav Maga certification, former army reserve, and a résumé that reads like a UFC highlight reel would have better control over his poker face. But no.
He’s still stuck on the fact that the Knox Hartley–the same man who once dislocated a man’s shoulder for spitting in the wrong direction–is cooing into a phone like it’s a newborn.
Levi reaches over and yanks the mouth wrap off our spy.
“Come on, man,” the guy blurts, voice cracked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got to let me go.”
I walk away and don’t glance back.
Once outside the door, I shut it behind me and step into the hallway, swallowed by the muffled pulse of the club in full bloom. Bass rattles beneath the floors. Laughter and moans bleed into the walls. Bodies are pressed against each other under red light and shadows.
But my head’s not here.
By the time I’m in the car, door slammed shut and engine purring awake, I unmute the call.
“I’m on my way.”
“Okay.” Her reply comes fast, like she never took the phone off her ear.
I don’t say much as I drive. I don’t have to. I can hear her breathing. The rustle of fabric as she paces or shifts. The faint beeps and murmurs of nurses in the background. It’s all I need.
It means she’s not in that room with Finn.
Means I’ve still got time to get there before he tries anything else.
Because apparently, one clear–cut deal wasn’t enough.
Because somehow, “Stay away from her” translated to “Manipulate your way into her apartment, traumatize her, and now stage a fucking accident.”
When I get to the hospital, the parking lot is half–lit. It’s almost midnight.
And inside, I see her.
Seated in the lobby, in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants that hang off her like she barely remembered to get dressed. No makeup. Hair pulled into a sloppy knot. Still holding the phone to her ear.
Beautiful.
Inconveniently beautiful.
It’s nearly midnight. A normal person with a 9–to–5 would be asleep by now, not rushing through fluorescent–lit hospital
lobbies.
Finn’s bullshit dragged her out of bed.
And yeah, it does piss me off.
But fuck me, she looks good like this.
Soft. Real. Like someone I could get used to waking up beside. Even though I haven’t woken up next to anyone since I left the military. Not once. Not until now have I even thought about it.
She stands the second she spots me.
“Knox,” she says.
Her face crumples just a little. And my heart does too.
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