AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shakes her head. "There’s nothing more to say Hunter." She pulls back, and I release her. She secures her bag over her shoulder, then pivots and heads for the doorway.
"Zara!" I call out after her.
She pauses.
"This isn’t over."
* * *
"The coffee actually is quite good here." I slide the paper cup in Michael’s direction. We’re seated at a table which has been pushed up in the corner of the waiting room of the hospital.
"I think I should be with Karma." His gaze remains focused on the doorway. His shirt is crumpled, and for the first time since I met him, he’s not wearing a jacket or a tie. His hair is mussed, his chin shadowed with whiskers with hints of gray peeking through. There are dark circles under his eyes and hollows under his cheekbones. He looks like someone who’s wife has given birth by emergency cesarean to a four week early premature baby.
He insisted on sitting by Karma’s side, his fingers entwined with hers as she slept. It took the combined efforts of Sinclair and me to get him out of her room. He only agreed when Zara, who dropped by to see her, insisted that she’d stay with her. A Zara who refused to even acknowledge my presence, much to my annoyance. Not that I expected anything more, given how we parted yesterday. I left the hospital soon after and returned this morning to check in on Karma and Michael.
I found the waiting room, once again, full—this time, with Michael’s brothers who had taken to keeping watch outside Karma’s room and the nursery. Not that there’s any danger to Karma from anyone, given the Sovranos have made peace with most of their enemies—and, rumor has it, neutralized those who didn’t accept their offer to end any clan wars.
Still, given the newborn is Michael’s heir, the first in the next generation of Sovranos, they feel duty-bound to stay alert and ensure no one gets through to mother and child. The hospital didn’t protest about their presence, which isn’t a surprise, considering the kind of weight the Sovranos carry with those in power. And while I’m confident that same influence extends to keeping their presence out of the media, I don’t particularly want to tempt fate by being seen with them in public. But Michael’s my friend, and I want to be here for him and Sinclair. Which is why I grabbed a couple of coffees on my way in and insisted he join us for coffee in the waiting room. Now, I train my gaze on him.
"She’s in good hands," I reassure him.
"Weston is the best in his field." Sinclair leans forward in his chair. "Along with the Chief Consultant of Obstetrics from the hospital, they won’t leave any stone unturned when it comes to her safety."
Michael drags his fingers through his hair. "The doctors have been wonderful, and the baby is going to be fine. I just worry what impact going through the delivery has had on Karma.”
"The challenging part is over, and she has a new baby to look forward to. She’s going to be back on her feet and healthy very soon." Sinclair takes a sip of his coffee, and an expression of shock skims his feature. "What the—" He glances at the coffee, then back at me.
"Told you." I try not to recall sitting here with Zara when she said the same thing to me just yesterday. Yesterday… When she reiterated that I shouldn’t try to keep in touch with her, while her actions conveyed the opposite. She was upset that I hadn’t messaged her or called her since the time we last met. Yet, she was as insistent that nothing could develop between us. She’s not even willing to give us a chance, which is bloody frustrating.
"Did you hear me, Hunter?" Sinclair’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
"It’s Zara who introduced me to the coffee." I roll my shoulders, trying to dispel the niggling ache that has settled there.
"Zara, huh?" Michael seems to grow alert and narrows his gaze on me. "So, you and Zara—"
"Me and Zara, nothing," I add quickly.
"I think he’s protesting too much. Don’t you think he’s protesting too much?" Sinclair turns to Michael.
"I think he’s protesting too much," Michael agrees.
I scoff. "Since when did the ex-criminal and his victim begin to see eye-to-eye?"
Both of them stiffen. "Tread carefully, Whittington. Spouting bullshit to your constituents seems to have loosened your tongue," Michael says in a low voice.
I raise my hands. "You’re right. I’m sorry. I crossed a line there." I glance between them. "Still, you have to admit the two of you sitting across the table from each other and ganging up on me is a far cry from when you two were essentially on opposite sides."
The two of them exchange glances. Something passes between them, then Sinclair cracks his neck. "It’s true that Michael’s family was behind the incident when the rest of the Seven and I were kidnapped. But now that I’m a father, I’ve realized no child should pay for the sins of the father. I haven’t exactly lived a blemish-free life, myself… And it’s true what was done to us changed the course of our lives forever. It left us emotionally crippled, and if we hadn’t met the women who’ve given each of us the courage to allow ourselves to feel again, things would have looked very different. But we did meet them, they did change us, and here we are today, with both of our wives having delivered newborns next to each other in the same hospital ward."
"Also, our wives are sisters." Michael rolls his shoulders.
"Summer would never forgive me if I held a grudge against her sister’s husband," Sinclair admits.
"And I am deeply apologetic for what happened to the Seven."
I glance between them. "I assume this apology also had a monetary aspect to it."
"It did cross my mind that an offer of investing in Sinclair’s company would help ease the pain of what had happened, but then Karma told me to put myself in Sinclair’s shoes. She asked me how I’d feel if I had been the one who’d been kidnapped and emotionally tortured as a child, and then had my perpetrator’s family tell me they’d make it up to me with money." He winces. "Rest assured, that put things in perspective."
