Then again, if shedidmake it, I had to figure out what that meant. I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything had to change now. Merrick had beaten it into my head time and again that having feelings for people was a sign of weakness. It wasn’t like he didn’t haveanyonethat he cared about, he had me, and he had my adoptive mother, Tamryn, but we were unique cases. We could defend ourselves and understood this world as well as he did. He didn’t have to worry about us, but Avion was a different story. She came from a politician’s world that overlapped with the world of organized crime far more than most people wanted to admit, but the violence of it all was likely lost on her.
Avion wasn’t a violent woman. I’d need to defend her as long as she was around. That kind of thing was going to drastically alter my businesses and aspirations for them, and once my father knew that was my plan, all hell was going to break loose.
Speaking of the devil, the doors to the hospital slid open and he came striding through with two of his go-to men on his left and right. Just the atmosphere he carried about himself had the hospital staff sitting up a little straighter. Their eyes flicked to me and I could see them contemplating if they’d reached the point that they finally needed to contact someone, but I just slowly shook my head. The look of fear on them was only marginally comforting. If they didn’t call the police, then that was good, but they were also in charge of Avion and her life right now, which I was less than thrilled about.
Milly stood up to greet Merrick, slapping hands with him and pulling into a brief hug. “Hey Merrick.”
“Milli, thanks for hanging with my kid even when he pullsstupid ass shitlike this,” Merrick hissed, glaring down at me.
I looked up at him, exhausted, and not in any mood for a lecture. “I didn’t do this, you know?”
“You gave them a way to get to you. You created a vulnerability for yourself, and why in god’s name don’t you have bulletproof glass?”
“Dad, please…” I looked up at him weary-eyed. “I’m just… I’m really not in the mood.”
Milli glanced back and forth between Merrick and me, wondering how the interaction would go, but lingered on Merrick as he let out a sigh. He came over and sat in the chair on my other side, leaving his men to stand watch at the entrance to the emergency room. He folded his hands on top of his stomach and looked over at me like he was conflicted about what to say.
“You know I only want what’s best for you, kid,” he huffed, then a frown created a deep crease between his eyebrows. “What are you doing out here instead of back there, with her?”
“I can’t get back there,” I said, and Merrick immediately started to shift, but I put my hand out to stop him. “Don’t. I don’t want to cause problems. They said as soon as she wakes up, she’ll be able to allow me permission to come back. For now, it’s family only. The Narzand Brothers have been alerted and have interfered.”
He scoffed. “Bold of them to behave as if they care when they were the ones who shot her.”
“You know that for a fact?” Milli asked. He was still standing, looking down over us.
My dad shrugged. “I don’t know who else would do it. I can’t stick anything to them yet. They’re accounted for pretty much all day. I had men watching ‘em after you went and took their sister back, but according to them, the brothers never left.”
“Doesn’t mean that they didn’t call it in,” Milli said.
“I’m sure that’s exactly what they did,” Merrick said. “Which is why we probably just need to tank ‘em. Nip this in the bud right now.”
Milli turned a nervous eye to me and I could tell what was rolling through his head. He wasn’t the biggest fan of why I didn’t want to just fire off and drop the Narzand Brothers; Merrick was going to be livid.
“I wanna wait on that,” I said.
“What?” Merrick looked to Milli then back to me. “What do you mean, wait? So they can try and kill you or her again?”
“Regardless of what they mean to us, they’re Avion’s brothers, not to mention well-known politicians. I want them dead--they will be dead--but I don’t want to be hasty. I want to make sure we know for a fact it was them,” I explained. “Avion’s gonna need that confirmation, and so is the public once news breaks the Lieutenant Governor and the Secretary of State have died mysteriously.”
Milli watched my father, anticipating his response, but to both of our surprise, he just nodded. “That’s good. I probably would have flown off the handle if it was your mother.” He tapped my leg. “Thank god you’re a little less impulsive than me.”
“You’re okay with this?” Milli asked, holding out an accusatory hand towards me.
I looked up at him. “Youseemed okay with it a moment ago.”
He glanced at me, then at Merrick, then just shook his head and threw up his hands. “It doesn’t send the right message, I think, but do what you want. I’ll tell you one thing for certain, the Narzand Brothers aren’t going to wait around for legalities before trying to drop us for raiding them to get Avion. If we aren’t careful, they’re going to get us first.”
“How astute.” All of our gazes shifted towards the door to the emergency room, and both the Narzand Brothers were striding in with smug smiles on their faces. Merrick’s men had their guns out and pointed at them, but Merrick quickly put up a hand for them to lower their guns. They were, by all accounts, allowed to be there. It was a tenuous situation. Vincent led the way up to us, with his hands in his pockets. “He’s also not wrong. Raiding our base. Having us followed. Getting our little sister shot. That’s more than enough reasons forusto bring the war to you.”
Anton nodded. “I’d be careful.”
Merrick and Milli both were chomping at the bit to do or say something, but were both looking towards me to do something. Unfortunately, though I knew I’d be losing face to do so, I remained seated. The Narzands were allowed to be at the hospital, and because they had their political status to fall back on, if the police were called, the only way out of that situation was with a fight that would be well publicized. All I wanted was to get to Avion, and the only way I was going to accomplish that was by swallowing my pride.
The Narzand Brothers approached the receptionist desk and very loudly and boldly announced that they were there to see their younger sister. They were putting on their best, concerned brother acts and the staff ate it up, fluttering their eyes at them before pressing the button to open the doors. With one look back at us the brothers passed through the door and out of sight. My skin was sizzling so hard it felt like people should actually be able to see me bubbling.
“What the fuck was that?” Merrick said.
“I just want to see Avion,” I responded quietly. “If I made trouble, I wouldn’t be able to see her.”
