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DANTE
“I’ll stay.”
I shake my head, looking up into Tempest’s eyes as she sits perched on the edge of my hospital bed. “I’ll be sprung within an hour.”
A scowl comes over her face. “Says who?”
“The doctors.”
“Whichdoctors?” she blurts, her tone suspicious.
I smile. “I’m fine, little hurricane.”
Her cheeks flush a little pinker, like they always do when I call her that. Which always makes me want to keep saying it.
“Besides, I think I need to have a chat with your brothers.”
We turn to see Alistair and Gabriel, each in their own hospital bed, glaring at us from beyond the glass partition separating my room from theirs.
“I’m a grown woman,” Tempest mutters under her breath. “Neither of us needs to explain a thing to them about our…”
Relationship. Say relationship.
“Arrangement.”
I grit my teeth a little.
We live together. We share a bed every night. Wefuckin that bed—and several other places—on a very,veryregular basis.
We’remarried, for Christ’s sake.
But we both stop short of calling this what most people would. Despite how close we’ve gotten, and opening up to each other, we’ve both still kept our defenses up a little.
Because we both know this has a time limit, and calling this anything but an “arrangement” hurts too much.
“Tempest, Lorenzo’s waiting for you downstairs. Take Maeve with you and head back to my place. I’ll meet you there as soon as I get out of here.”
She frowns uncertainly. “We’re not…I mean, do you think we’re in danger?—”
“No,” I quickly shake my head.
“But Dante,arsenicpoisoning?”
That’s what made the four of us fall down puking all over the place before blacking out. We were fuckingpoisonedby arsenic.
“It can happen with old bottles of wine,” I lie, smiling at her.
It wasn’t the food. That became obvious because Tempest and Maeve, who ate it, were fine. But they didn’t have any wine. Itwas just Gabriel, Alistair, Charles, and I who did, and ended up in hospital hooked up to IV drips. Even Pam had to get checked out by the paramedics when they arrived at Gabriel’s house, because of the tiny sip of the outrageously expensive wine she blushingly admitted she’d snuck for herself.
“You don’t think it’s…deliberate?”
“No.”
Of course I do. But I’m sure as fuck not going to freak her out with that little tidbit right now when she’s clearly at her wits’ end after everything that’s happened tonight. Right now, I just need her to get to my place, where Lorenzo and some more of my men can discreetly watch over her and keep her and Maeve safe.
Tempest sighs and nods. “Okay. I’ll grab Maeve from Charles’ room downstairs and go find Lorenzo.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you soon.”
