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Winter nods, and sparing Cillian a last glance, she follows me out of the room. As soon as we step into the hallway, Winter wraps her arms around my waist.
“God, Damien, he’s alive. We left him behind for them to torture.”
Holding her to me, I say, “We didn’t know. It looked like he died.”
“I should’ve checked,” she blames herself.
Placing a finger under her chin, I nudge her face up, and when our eyes lock, I say, “No, you had no choice. I pulled you away, and there was no way I was endangering your life a second longer. I’d do it again.”
Winter pulls out of my hold. “Would you have left him there if you had known he was alive?”
“Of course not,” I mutter.
“Where’s Demitri?” Alexei asks.
I gesture at the closed door. “In there with Cillian.”
Alexei turns his gaze to Winter. “Where are the antibiotics?”
“Oh, in the kitchen.” Winter rushes away to go get it.
“She did well today,” Alexei mutters.
“She did.”
“Will you let her go on runs with you?”
I stare down the hallway before bringing my gaze to Alexei’s. “Not if I can help it.”
“She’ll fight you.”
“I know,” I mutter. Winter proved herself today. She was caught off guard by Cillian being there, but still, she kept her calm and killed Antonio Blanco. Not once did she hesitate.
“Maybe if Cillian recovers, you’ll allow it,” Alexei mentions.
I narrow my gaze on him. “Why are you pushing this?”
“She’ll resent you if you try to keep her out of the business.”
I let out a breath of air. “We’ll see what happens.”
Winter comes back, carrying a first aid kit which she hands to Alexei. “Everything’s in here.”
Alexei takes it into the room, and then I say, “Let’s go gather the weapons and put them away.”
Together we leave the house and reaching the plane, the other men have already off-loaded everything. We inspect the weapons before carrying them to the barn. There’s a trap door, and opening it, we descend into the Hemsley’s armory.
We stack all the machine guns and extra handguns before I close the trap door and lock it.
Keeping our personal weapons with us, we head back to the house.
The extra men Alexei organized go to the kitchen to help themselves to food while Winter and I head up the stairs to Cillian’s room.
“Let me check,” I murmur as I push the door open. Seeing Cillian’s covered from the waist down, I pull Winter into the room.
“How’s he doing?” she asks.
“He’ll be out of it for a few days. He needs to rest and heal from the infection. That’s my biggest worry,” Demitri says. “Dana will be able to care for him.”
My eyes lock with my brother’s. “You’re leaving?”
He nods. “The job’s done here. We need to get back to LA.”
“When are you heading back?” I ask.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you for all the help,” Winter murmurs as she walks to Cillian’s side. She takes the cloth from Demitri’s hand. “I’ll continue to wash him.”
Demitri and I step out into the hallway while the women clean Cillian.
“You’ll be okay?” Demitri asks.
“I will,” I assure him. Seeing the concern in his eyes, I say, “I have to do this. The sooner, the better.”
“Alexei expects his fifty percent paid on time. Don’t mess it up.”
“I won’t.”
Demitri gives my shoulder a squeeze before he leaves. I lean my shoulder against the doorjamb and watch as Winter carefully washes Cillian’s neck.
My gaze locks on Cillian. I have no idea how he’ll react when he finds out I took Winter as my wife and Alexei took half the business.
He’ll probably lose his shit.
Chapter 24
WINTER
Once Cillian’s clean, the bruises are prominent, and it tells a stark tale of how much he must’ve suffered.
I sit down on a chair while Dana sits down on the side of the bed. She brushes her fingers through Cillian’s hair, tears silently spiraling over her cheeks.
“My love,” she whispers. “I should’ve known they wouldn’t be able to kill you.” Leaning over him, she presses a soft kiss to his lips. “Thank you for coming back to us.”
It’s the first time I see Dana interact in such a loving way toward Cillian.
“Why did you hide your relationship?”
Dana swallows hard then gives me a trembling smile. “Your father would’ve worried. Cillian’s attention needed to be focused on you.”
It was. He never left my side at the expense of his own happiness.
Now that I’ve experienced my own love with Damien, I can only imagine how hard it must’ve been for Cillian and Dana.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur.
Instantly Dana shakes her head. “We love you like our own, Miss Winter. It was our choice.”
My gaze turns to Cillian, and a burst of happiness explodes inside me.
He’s home.
I didn’t lose everyone.
Emotion wells in my chest, but I swallow it down and clear my throat.
The time for crying has passed. Now it’s time to celebrate the wins we’ve had.
