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VALENTYN
The private rooms we had secured for Dmitri and Rhys were at the far end of the hospital on the third floor, away from prying eyes and anyone else who would have tried to ask us questions. I stared at our fourth, hooked up to machines, beeps and whirrs filling the room until it made my head swim. Had we been any later, we would have lost DmitriandRhys and I would have never been able to forgive myself.
Hell, I was still beating myself up about the fact that they had been taken in the first place.
“Hey, Val, quit it. You’re going to pass out if you keep thinking like that.”
My eyes darted over to Gianni at my side, who was worriedly squeezing my hand to drag me out of my head. Chester was dead, Ada was in the wind – not for long – and Liam was on our heels for a program that we didn’t have. I knew there was someone above Liam but we hadn’t yet stumbled on who.We also figured out that Ernest wasn’t as naive as everything thought him to be.
“Why is Uncle Rhys on the bed?” Tia asked for the umpteenth time. She had jolted awake in Gianni’s lap, her wide eyes perusing the hospital room. Gianni clutched her a little tighter, nuzzling the top of her head.
“He’s sleeping. He got a little hurt and needs to heal so we’re here to make sure that happens,” Gianni pushed out. It was almost as if Tia didn’t believe him, the way she kept asking. She hadn’t tried to approach the bed but I knew that it was only a matter of time. We couldn’t lie to her forever.
How would she look at me when she realized I let her uncle get hurt? Could she still trust me to protect her? Tia had given in eventually, letting Gianni hold her until she passed out again.
Rhys had suffered several punches and kicks to the stomach and maybe a few other things but I wouldn’t know the extent of the horrors he had experienced until he woke up. The doctor told us that Rhys had a minor concussion and a few bruised ribs but that everything else was superficial. Dmitri was a little more banged up with that knife wound. On top of our last job, his body was going to give out if he didn’t get enough rest.
I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath as Tia snuggled into Gianni’s chest, her little hand curled up in his shirt. “Rhys will be better, right?” There wasn’t much that got past her, did it? The sleeping tactic had never worked on Paval and knowing Rhys, I’m not sure why I thought it would work on Tia.
“Yeah, he will be,” Gianni mumbled. She closed her eyes and relaxed against him just as Dmitri entered the room. He held his side, groaning at the effort it must have taken to get up and walk this far. “What the fuck are you doing? You’re-”
He wasn’t even listening to Gianni, as if in a trance, his feet taking him to the edge of Rhys’ bed. I could see very quicklythat the whole ordeal had messed with the both of them, that both of them needed each other to heal. I couldn’t imagine the strength it had taken Dmitri to tell Rhys to take off and still find our fourth at his side, nor the terror that Rhys must have felt running and then still getting caught.
Rhys shuffled on the bed, blinking a few times before trying to sit up, the cords attached to him making it nearly impossible. The cries from his mouth gutted me as Dmitri maneuvered himself onto the small mattress, both of them clinging to each other.
Rhys’ whispered words made it even worse. “You’re here. You’re okay.”
“Yes, Love. I am.”
I turned to Gianni, keeping my voice low. “This can’t keep happening. Almost losing both of them? I’m real tempted to find a safe house for these three.”
Gianni shrugged. “Might be safer physically but mentally? We need each other right now, more than ever. As much as I hate it, separating will only make it harder to heal. I just don’t know what our next step is.”
“Then we nip this shit in the bud.”
Gianni raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Everyone keeps talking about the guy who runs this shit, the France HQ. I know Caiden said it was dangerous but we need to find out who it is and set up a meeting. Figure out what he wants more than Rhys and the program. Deliver him that.”
“And if there’s nothing else?”
I thought for several long moments. “Then we kill him.” Gianni gave me a nervous chuckle but I was serious. There was going to be no more fucking with my family. I slipped a hand around the back of his neck and dragged him close, my lips hovering against his. “Gia, I’m done losing people. You four—five—are all I have and I’ll be damned if someone’s going torip you away from me. You’re mine.” Then I crashed my lips to his, loving the shock in his movements. When I pulled away, his cheeks were flushed, a wild grin on his lips.
He had always been the craziest of us and I could already see the wheels churning in his head. “I’m on board.”
“I thought you’d be.”
Chapter thirty
GIANNI
With Rhys and Dmitri permanently wrapped around each other and the kids sleeping on the lounge, we set up shop in the corner, laptops and phones whirring through data as we tried to narrow down the man who was running the show. The funniest thing was that with each piece of information we uncovered, it became easier and easier to find the next – as if whoever was running the showwantedus to find him.
My gaze darted over to Rhys who was currently sprawled over Dmitri, his head tilted back and mouth open, a little puddle of drool on Dmitri’s bare chest. Dmitri wasn’t much better off, his face contorted in pain but a small smile tugging on his lips, one hand firmly tucked beneath Rhys’ shirt. I turned back to Valentyn, “They need to be at a safe house. We’re vulnerable with only two of us and the fucking hospital is too open.”
“I agree but try fighting their nurse and then tell me we can move them.”
I chuckled. The nurse we had found was better than any of the other ones I had dealt with. The only concession we had gotten was being allowed two men in that bed. Everything else? That nurse was on top of it, making sure we didn’t break any of the rules. “Yeah, fuck that. Pretty sure that woman was in the army. What did you find?”
