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“He’s gonna kill ’em all,” Huck said in a low voice.
“Yeah,” was all Gage said.
I didn’t know whohewas and who he was killing. I just knew I was going to fade into the darkness again. I wasn’t going to die. I wouldn’t lose Blaise. I’d see him again. The comfort in that was enough.
I began to slowly fall away, but before I did, I heard Gage say, “You hung the fuckers upside down on a cross?”
Followed by a laugh, and then there was nothing.
Thirty-One
Blaise
She’s alive.I’d repeated that over and over the past twenty-four hours to keep from losing my goddamn mind.
The machine beside my bed beeped as it took her blood pressure. Since I’d walked into this house, I’d not left her side. She was so fucking pale. The bruising on her body was turning a dark purple. Every time the nurse pulled the covers back, I felt a cold rage burn through my veins.
I heard the footsteps coming down the stairs. Glancing at the clock, I knew it was the nurse. My eyes went back to Madeline. Even with the bandage around her head, dark circles under her eyes, and the lack of color in her skin, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
I had hated her for being beautiful. The first time I’d had to go find her, start checking in to make sure her so-called father was keeping her safe, she’d been thirteen. I’d been her age now.
She was even beautiful then. She wasn’t like any female I’d ever known. She was selfless, kind, tough, caring. The older she got, the harder it was for me. I fought it. God, I fucking fought it. This wasn’t the life I wanted her to get. She deserved to be given the perfect family. The family she never had.
Then, in one second, my plans for her changed. It was to save her, and I swore I would keep my distance. Saxon was a good choice. I’d fucking chosen him for her. He was in the family but far enough removed that she could enjoy life without this darkness.
It might have happened just like I had told my father it would—if I’d been able to let her go.
Garrett had seen me the night of the gala, unable to stop looking at her, and he’d laughed in my face. All my plans, all I had wanted for her, I couldn’t give it to her because I couldn’t let someone else have her.
The nurse checked her stats, then looked at me. “I’ll stay with her. Go eat.”
Lynn had been working for the family for the past ten years. She was the only one we brought into the house. Other than Carmichael, the doctor that the family had used for over twenty years. He would be here in an hour. He’d been coming to check on things every eight hours.
“No,” was all I said to her.
She didn’t argue. She just nodded.
“Any change?” I asked her.
She smiled down at Madeline. “She’ll be awake soon.”
Was I ready for that? Facing her after she had almost been killed because of me?
I dropped my head into my hands. I was going to be haunted by this for the rest of my life. Knowing she had gone missing and I was a thousand miles away.
A small moan came from Madeline, and I snapped my head up to look at her. I watched her breathing. Another small moan, and her lashes fluttered.
She whispered something. Her eyes still closed. I moved, leaning closer to her, and covered her hand with one of mine.
“Bl-a-ise,” she said softly, and my heart slammed against my ribs.
“I’m right here, baby,” I said, pressing a kiss to her hand.
She blinked again and slowly opened her eyes. Those blue eyes met mine, and everything in my world felt like it was centered again.
“You’re okay,” I told her. “I’ve got you now.”
She looked over at the machine beside her and at her hand, which still had the IV attached.
