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“And you’re sure you’re on the mend?” Her voice is lively but concerned over the phone. “Don’t let them boot you out just because they’ve run some tests!”
“I’m sure,” I reply, smiling despite myself. “The pain’s still there, but it’s getting better. Hell, I’m even up and walking around again. That’s one for the books, right? Besides,” I add as I make my way down the long hallway toward the visiting area, “I can’t let you and Craig run the gallery without me. The man’s probably beside himself.”
Callie laughs. “He is. Don’t tell him I told you that, though. Selling art to the rich and famous doesn’t leave much room for concern.”
“I’ll take it to the grave,” I assure her, and then sigh. I probably will, actually; it’s not like Lucas is going to let me keep working for Sterling once I’m out of the hospital. It doesn’t matter that his business launders more money for the London underworld with its artwork than all the other big galleries put together, or that he’s a useful connection for getting the details on the inventory our families are shifting; it was never about logic with Lucas. Just power.
Callie must hear the bitterness in my voice, because she says, “Hey, you’re going to get out of there before long, Vivian. Keep your chin up. You know how many people die from stray bullets? I mean, it could be a whole lot worse.”
A fresh wave of guilt washes over me. After everything that’s happened, I’m still letting her think my family is just a bunch of wealthy investors, that I just happened to wander into a gangland shootout on my way home from work, that I’m not married to one of the most fucked up men in the world. I want to let it all out, but I need Callie, now more than ever, and if she finds out I’ve been lying to her all these years...
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you were here,” I manage to joke instead. “Drive-by shootings are a pain, but bad food and crappy hospital beds are a whole new level of awful.”
“Come on, I’m serious,” my friend protests.
“I know,” I reply. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated, I guess.”
“Understandable, but don’t get down on yourself. You were just...” She hesitates. “In the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess.”
“Yeah,” I say, my voice distant. “I guess you could say that.” I come to a stop outside the visiting area. “Listen, Callie, I should go. My folks are here.”
“Okay,” my friend replies. “I’ll call you again tomorrow.”
“Deal,” I reply, smiling, and end the call.
This is the first time my parents have come to see me since I’ve been in the hospital, although they’ve been bombarding me with phone calls ever since I regained consciousness. The one person in my family I haven’t talked to over the phone, who is currently waiting patiently at their side, is Violet. That takes me by surprise.
The last time I saw my sister was the night my parents told us she would be marrying Theo, when she called me out for never thinking about the family. And maybe she had a point. But right now, I couldn’t be happier to see my family, away from Lucas’s influence.
“Hey,” I say as my mother rushes to hug me. “Hi, Mom.”
“Oh my god, Vivian,” she says. “How are you feeling? What have they said?” She pulls back to look me over. “Are you in pain? Are they feeding you enough here?”
“The same amount as they were the last time you asked,” I quip, moving to hug my dad while avoiding my injury. “Thanks for checking, though.”
“Glad to see you’re up and about,” Violet says, giving me a polite nod, and to my surprise, she looks like she genuinely means it. My sister has always been the more level-headed one, the one who never fucks up and is always willing to put her family first. If I hadn’t been such a loose cannon all these years, she would have been first to marry an Emmerico and end our families’ long-time rivalry. God knows she would’ve done a better job than me, and some part of me envies her for that.
“Thanks, Vi,” I tell her. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”
She sighs and shrugs. “Just picking up the pieces, you could say. Considering everything with Theo—”
But my father cuts her off. “The doctors say you’re almost ready to be let out.” He looks haggard and weary; not surprising, I guess. He’s got quite the mess on his hands keeping the alliance from falling apart, and it isn’t lost on me how much of that mess is my fault.
“That’s what they’re telling me,” I reply, settling into a chair across from the others near the windows.
“Good,” he says, nodding. “You’ve been down for the count for a while, Vivian. A lot has happened while you’ve been here.”
I open my mouth to speak, then pause and steal a glance around to make sure we’re the only ones in the visiting area. Everyone’s steered clear of giving me any real information over the phone, and I’m not going to let this opportunity go to waste. Leaning forward, I ask in a low voice, “Are you talking about the alliance?”
An unreadable expression crosses my sister’s face as my parents exchange a look. “Let’s just say there’s been a... bit of a restructuring,” Dad says cryptically. “This business with your brother-in-law has...” He clears his throat. “Created some tension. Victor Emmerico is very upset about this whole thing, and he’s taking steps to prevent anything like it from happening again.”
“Steps?” I blink. “What sorts of steps, Dad?”
My father looks away, but that’s when Mom speaks up. “He also sends his sincerest apologies, Vivian. None of us could have known what a sick man Theo was. If we had—”
“He’s not sick,” I interrupt for what feels like the millionth time.
“Delusional, then,” Mom supplies. “It takes a lot of loose screws to make someone unravel the way he did. I don’t know whether it was being kicked out of the Emmerico business when he was younger, or if he was just a bad seed from the beginning, but he’s a dangerous man.” She sighs. “Thank god Lucas was there, or he might even have killed you.”
