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“And thank you for saving my brother…” He cleared his throat, like the upcoming words were the most difficult for him to say. He rubbed his hands together again and closed his eyes for a brief moment, struggling to get the words out. “And for saving my son’s life.” As much as he wanted to look down, he didn’t. He held my gaze, giving me the respect he’d never granted me before.
“You’re welcome.”
“And for my daughter-in-law…and my future grandbaby…thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said for the third time, appreciating the fact that I was honored for every single life I’d saved. If the guys hadn’t gotten there first, Sapphire would have been raped and killed. Even if Conway survived, he wouldn’t have been able to survive that revelation.
Crow crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window, thinking for a long time. The silence continued, but the conversation obviously wasn’t over because he was still there. “Do you know why the Skull Kings put a hit on my son?”
“No.” I had no idea what he’d done to initiate their wrath. Conway seemed like a careful man, especially now that he had a wife he wanted to protect. “But I’m sure there’s a reason…and your son knows what that reason is.”
“I haven’t asked because we haven’t had a moment alone together.”
That meant his family was here. They were sitting at Conway’s bedside. Instantly, a dagger went straight into my heart at the thought of Vanessa being there. She was in the same hospital as me, but she wasn’t at my bedside. After everything I did for her family, I would have expected her to be holding my hand with tears streaming down her face.
“I haven’t told her.” Crow read my thoughts. “I will…but I just needed some time.”
After everything I’d done, he kept that secret from her? “You’re fucking kidding me.”
He raised his hand to silence me. “I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Why?” If I weren’t stuck in this bed, I would rise to my full height and look at him with all the power I could emit. “To see if I would agree to keep all this a secret?”
His eyes narrowed, like he was offended. “No.”
“Then why?”
“We obviously needed to talk first.”
I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I wanted her. I wanted the woman I’d missed for the past three months of my life. “And what else is there to say, Crow?” I didn’t bother keeping the anger out of my voice. “That I’ll never be good enough for her?”
He rose from the chair, his dark eyes on me with the same aggression. “No.” He slowly came to my bedside, his boots tapping against the tile floor. He stood at the rail, looking down at me with his hands in his pockets. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you did…especially after the way I treated you.”
“I didn’t do it for you.” Even though he loomed over me, I didn’t give him the upper hand. “She can live without me. She can’t live without you.”
It was the first time Crow’s eyes softened in front of me, that he showed me the same vulnerability he showed with his daughter. He looked at me differently, not with the look of disgust he used to wear. “You have my gratitude forever. If there’s ever anything I can do for you—”
“I want your daughter.” I barked it loud, aggressive, and quick like a dog. I gripped the rails on either side of my bed, needing something to keep me steady. My monitor was starting to beep quicker as my heart rate spiked. “I earned her. I want her. Give her to me.” I spoke of her like an object rather than a person, but that’s what she was to me—my baby.
“Your feelings haven’t changed, then.”
My eyes shifted back and forth as I stared into his gaze. “They’ll never change, Crow.”
He gave a nod so slight I wasn’t sure if I saw it. “She’s seeing someone.”
The words meant nothing to me. “She doesn’t love him. She loves me.”
He didn’t challenge me. “From the beginning, I could never look past my hate. Neither could my brother. Even my wife, brighter than the sun, struggled with it. I think I’ve always been looking for a reason to get rid of you. I promised my daughter I would try to accept you, but I didn’t try hard enough. I couldn’t look past our history, past what your father did to my family. But as I got to know you, I should have accepted you as your own man. When you said we’re the same…you were right. I was never any better than you. It was wrong for me to judge you. When it comes to my daughter, I can’t see straight. I had very specific expectations of how I wanted her life to be…and now I realize I can’t control it. I shouldn’t control it. I should trust her…trust her instincts.”
