“I’m okay, just give me a minute with him.”
He lifts his eyes to the crime lord and sighs, “Call me if you need me.”
“I will,” I promise.
Once I’m steady, he lets me go, stepping back, but then his brows shoot up to his hairline when Cade offers him his hand.
“Keep her out of trouble,” Cade says, shaking Knox’s hand.
“We both know I can’t do that.”
I follow Cade to the door, his steps are purposefully slow so I can keep up, but he doesn’t open the door to leave, instead he turns to me.
“Go easy on him, De Luca,” Sliding his hand into his pocket, he tugs out his car keys, “Never seen a life drain from someone’s eyes when their heart is still beating but watching you die killed something inside of him.”
I swallow thickly, “I did it for him.”
“Maybe so,” Cade nods, “But that kind of love is rare. Hold on to it.”
“I plan to,” I nod. “Thank you. For everything.”
“You still have a bit of cleaning to do, De Luca, but the city is back where it belongs.”
I watch him leave, climbing into his car without ever looking back, and he takes his men with him, a line of cars exiting the estate. He never did tell me what he wanted from me, but I doubt he’ll forget.
When the dust settles behind the last car, I stay, leaning on the door frame, watching the sun send streaks of color through the sky as it sets on thecity, making the mountains a hazy blur in the background.
A gentle hand curls around my middle, and Knox presses his lips to my temple. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” There’s a rasp in my voice, Caden’s words replaying in my head.
Watching you die killed something inside of him.
Who thought stumbling onto a ranch in the middle of nowhere would lead to this? I only wanted the city back, but I gotso much more.
CHAPTER 47
Ishould have known Rossi was in on my uncle’s plans to steal the city from me. I’ve met the snake a few times, and every time he made my skin crawl. But if these papers from Caden are anything to go by, he never stopped paying, he just started paying a different account, my uncle’s, knowing I would call him out and demand a meeting.
The same meeting that was never going to happen because my uncle planned to murder me instead.
But here I am. On fucking top.
And now I’m going to takeeverythingfrom him.
It’s a little after nine, and this house is cold. It’s silent, and I don’t want to fucking be here.
“Take me home, Knox.” I slide everything back into the envelope. “We don’t belong here.”
“You want to go back to the ranch?”
“Yes,” I nod, “This isn’t our home.”
“Then let’s get you home, darlin’.”
The truck lights cut through the darkness, illuminating the wooden signpost that hangs from a post that shows the Carter emblem, and Knox rolls the truck slowly over the gravel drive. Something settles into my soul now we are here, a calm that I can only get here.
I’ll sell the property in the city, move our operations here, but they’re never going to look the same again.
