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“Five minutes for you is another five hours,” I replied, lifting my hand from her.
She pouted, sticking her pink lip out and still not opening her eyes, “Five more hours then… It's not like I have job to get to; I married rich for a reason.”
I couldn't help but smirk at that. “And here I thought it was my charm, good looks, and your desperate desire to get out prison.”
She grinned, opening her blue eyes to look up at me. “The last one. And money helped, too.”
“You’re shameless.” That was why I loved her… The moment I thought it, I realized I still hadn’t said it. I opened my mouth to speak, however she interrupted me before I could.
“I love you,” she said, looking me in the eye…
Hearing those words from her made my heart ache and throat feel as if it were set on fire. Of course, she had to be the one to say it first. Shaking my head, I reached over to the bedside table and picked up her breakfast tray.
“This is very romantic,” she grinned, sitting up. She was completely awake at the sight of food, forgetting her earlier words.
“This isn’t from me,” I said, watching as she drank the soup right out of the bowl. “It’s from Dona. I’ve told you, I’m not romantic.”
She paused, the bowl stopping right at her lips. “Donatella sent me breakfast in bed?”
“Yes,” I said, lifting the tea bag out of her cup, “drink it, apparently it's a better alternative to the pills.”
“Says Dona?”
“Says the nurse Dona hired for you,” I said, taking the bowl from her hand and giving her the cup of tea instead. She took it but didn’t drink it. “I know you don’t like medicine, but at the very least—”
“It’s not that,” she interrupted, making a face I couldn’t read. “First, you should be in bed, you were shot and almost died. Second, why is your sister giving me herbal tea and breakfast in bed…and a damn nurse?”
I sighed, shifting back to lean on the bedpost opposite her.
“First, I’ve had worse. Second, because she’s…Dona.” I snickered, making her frown more.
“Can I get a cheat sheet or instruction manual for your family?” she asked.
I thought of the simplest way to explain this to her, but I wasn’t used to explaining anything to anyone for any reason. I simply did what I wanted, and everything fell into place soon or later. However, with her it was different… I wanted to walk through everything, step by step. I wanted to show her there was a method to the madness that was this family, even if it often didn’t look like from the outside. But doing so dragged her further into the madness along with us.
“You’re staring and not talking again,” she said ironically as she stared back.
I glanced down at her food and the cup in her hand. “Let’s compromise, you eat everything and listen to your nurse, and I’ll explain what is happening, as well as answer any questions you might have.”
“Deal. Win-win for me.” She grinned, leaning back against her pillow and sipping from her cup. “Go on.”
She’s crazy.
“While we were in Boston, Donatella ran things here in Chicago—”
“Drug things,” she interrupted, leaning forward eagerly.
I paused… In our family we made a rule to never speak of the business so blatantly, especially with people not part of the business. But as I looked at her, I remembered once again… I make the rules and break them at my own leisure.
“Yes,” I answered blatantly in return, “Drug and family things. She figured out that the Mexican cartels are trying to cut us out of product and sell on their own. Savino Moretti, Klarissa’s father, as well Tobias Valentino, one of my former men—”
“And Donatella’s lover,” once more she cut in, opening the yogurt in her hands.
I clenched my jaw, not wanting to even think of my sister like that, so I went on. “One of my former men, made a deal with the cartels for power on the southern drug trades. However, knowing I wouldn’t simply roll over, they decided to attack my family. They were the ones selling the bad drugs to the Finnegan brothers—”
“But you knew that before you went there and used it as a way to get Wyatt back,” she replied, excited as she stuffed another spoonful in her mouth.
“Ivy, would you like to tell the story?”
