She looks up at my husband.“After he finally had your father killed, he thought he could manipulate you.I guess you grew into your own.”She shifts her gaze to me.“Broderick must have found out about you.Patrick said he was trying to keep your relationship quiet.”
“A man approached me online,” March adds in.“Said I could have her.Said she was available to purchase, that I could acquire her myself.I just had to get her out of Las Vegas by tonight.”
“What’s the plan for tonight?”Andrei asks the room, and it’s Harry who speaks up.
“He told us to be prepared.”Harry uses two fingers to pull his gun out and hand it to Sloane.“I’ve been listening to him, but I don’t tell him anything about the mistress.I didn’t tell him about the marriage.Someone else told him that.I didn’t know about the baby.”
“We don’t know if she is pregnant, but we suspect.It’s why we got married right away,” Patrick says as he explains to my brother.“You told me to marry her before I got her pregnant.I assumed that was your consent.I married her nine days ago.”
“I should shoot you or beat the shit out of you, but I get it,” Alek says.“I did the same thing with Lyric.I just ask, did you tell her you love her before you married her?And we’ll be throwing a big wedding for her so hermammacan be a part of it.”
“A priest married us, but I will consent to another bigger wedding if that’s what she wants.I told her I loved her when I proposed.”
“Good.”
“Paddy, I have a private doctor waiting at the house to check on Daria.”
Patrick pulls away from me and looks at me.“I have to stay here and deal with him.”He points to March.“I want you checked out, sweets.Please go with Hayes and Sloane.”Patrick pauses again and looks at Harry.“Then I’ll deal with him.”
I feel a bit betrayed that Harry was working with Broderick.But the fact that he volunteered the information and gave up his weapons shows he’s trying to cooperate.
I look up at Patrick.“I want to know if the baby is okay, and if there really is a baby in there.I’m in a bit of pain too.”
“I’ll make his death painful, my love.”
I lean up, and he leans down until our lips touch.He kisses me gently but thoroughly.
When he pulls away and squeezes my hand, I tell him I love him.Then I turn to Hayes, who walks with me as I slowly walk from the room.
My brother stops me.“I love you.You made a good choice.”He kisses my forehead.
When we’re in the elevator, Hayes turns on Sloane with his gun in hand, and places it under his chin.“If you betray us, I’ll kill you myself.”
“I didn’t know he was working with Broderick.He tried to talk to me about the direction Paddy was taking the family, but I always said I supported the head of the family.”
“Good.”Hayes puts his gun back in his chest holster, and the elevator doors slide open to the garage.
Hayes looks at the SUV we came here in and moves past it to the next one.He opens a door to help me into the back while Sloane gets in the driver’s seat.
Before I know it, we’re heading out of the main part of town toward the Southern Highlands, where Patrick’s house is.This isn’t how I expected to go there, but I’m glad we aren’t waiting to find out if there’s a problem.
A sudden jerk has me hitting the limit of the seatbelt.
“Down,” Hayes orders me, and I lean over my knees and start to pray for my and my possible baby’s safety.
Gunfire erupts around us, but the SUV holds its own.The windows show a cloudiness from the glass being impacted by bullets.
“Son of a bitch,” Hayes yells.Then the SUV jerks hard before it feels like we’re airborne.
We land hard, and glass and debris explode around me as I scream.I hear grunts from the front, then nothing but the beeping of an alarm and breathing.
“Daria, are you okay?”
“I think so,” I tell Hayes as I shake my head.
We’re on our side.My seatbelt is holding me in place.I hear a groan and look up to see Sloane hanging from his seatbelt, his head lulled to the side before he finally jerks.
“They’re coming in,” Sloane says from his upper position, and I watch as Hayes moves from being seated and belted in front of me to slipping between the seats and coming to stand over me.
