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Then I went to work.
It allowed Siena to sleep as long as possible before she spent the entire day with our baby. At least she was refreshed before she took up the task.
I headed to work then sat behind my desk in my office. Bates hadn’t shown his face, only working with clients through emails and handling everything remotely. He knew what would happen if he crossed my path.
I was still livid with him.
Siena and I had finally found our way back to each other, but it was full of uncertainty and terror. I wasn’t sure if she would ever fully forgive me. If the shooting hadn’t happened, she still would have been angry, but not so pissed off. So Bates fucked that up for me—big-time.
Not to mention, he could have killed her. If his aim had been off just a little, she could be brain-dead right now.
To my surprise, Bates stepped into the doorway. Dressed in a fresh suit like he was ready for a day at the office, he stared at me hesitantly, like I might pull a gun out of the drawer and shoot him in the head.
It was tempting.
Bates continued to watch me, trying to assess my mood.
I leaned back in my chair and opened the top right drawer. Inside was a blade, a blade perfectly designed to slit someone’s throat. I shut the drawer, pulled it out of the sheath, and then played with it between my fingers.
Bates didn’t cross the threshold into my office. “So you’re still mad, then?”
“You tell me.”
He glanced at the knife. “Yeah…I think so.”
“You’re stupid to show up here.”
“I was hoping you’d had enough time to cool down.”
“Cool down?” I asked incredulously. “You shot my woman. You could have killed the mother of my child.”
“I was never going to kill her.”
“It was dark. Sometimes the hand slips.”
“My hand doesn’t slip, and you know that.”
I spun the knife between my fingers. “You seem confused. Not killing her isn’t the issue. Shooting her in the first place is the issue.”
“And I apologized—”
“Which means nothing.”
“What if I apologized to her?”
I scoffed. “She doesn’t care enough to hear your apology.”
“Then what can I do, Cato? I know it was a dick thing to do, and I’m sorry. I don’t have a legitimate justification.”
“No, you don’t.” I tossed the knife on the desk. “It took me weeks to get her to speak to me again. Weeks to get back into her bed. Weeks to get her to kiss me. She would have forgiven me if we’d done things my way, but I almost lost her because of you.”
“She would never leave you. She loves you too much.”
“And you’d shoot the woman who loves your brother?”
“She still needed to be punished—”
“I will decide how to punish my woman. Not you. This isn’t the fucking bank. There are no joint decisions when it comes to my private life. You had no right to overstep your boundary like that. I’ll never forgive you for it.”
It was the first time he seemed genuinely heartbroken. “Cato…come on.”
“Come on, what?” I hissed. “I asked her what she wanted me to do about you. I told her I would kill you if that’s what she wanted. Whatever vengeance she wants, I’ll honor. You know what she said?”
His skin started to fade to the color of paper.
“She said she never wants you to hold our daughter. Ever.”
Instead of being relieved by that sentence, he seemed heartbroken again.
“Do you understand me?”
“I would never hurt—”
“That’s not why. You’ve lost your rights as an uncle. She’s stripped away your title, and I’ll honor it.”
“I think I would rather be shot…”
“I’m not done.” I held up a finger. “That was her justice. I have my own.”
He leaned against the doorway, prepared for whatever sentence I would hand down.
“One day, you’re going to meet the woman you can’t live without. And when that day comes…she will pay the price.”
He started to breathe harder, like the sentence had struck a chord. “You don’t think that’s a little unreasonable?”
“Not in the slightest.” I held his gaze without blinking.
“But she’s innocent. Siena—”
“Was punished for her crime. You took it further than necessary. I will hurt your woman the way you hurt mine. And I promise you, I will keep my word.”
“Good thing I’m not into monogamy…”
“For now. But trust me, she’ll walk into your life when you least expect it. I’ll be waiting for that moment, Bates. When I see that affection in your eyes, that devotion that’s written all over my face every day, I will fulfill my promise.”
“Couldn’t you just kill me instead?”
I smiled, getting the exact reaction I wanted. “No. That would be too easy.”
“Siena doesn’t seem like someone who would approve of this.”
“Because she doesn’t know—and you aren’t going to tell her.” He’d betrayed me once. He’d be stupid to do it again.
