Ronan left us alone.
I sat on the bed beside Conall, my body pressed against his and my arm curled around his shoulders. It wasn’t often that we managed to get a quiet moment like this, and I hated that it was because he was sick.
“You don’t need to babysit me,” he whispered, leaning farther into me.
I smiled. “I’m not. I’m spending time with my pet.”
He hummed. “Well, I’m enjoying it.”
“Me too.” I laid a kiss on his forehead, and he sighed happily. “I hired a chef. He’ll bring you three meals a day, no matter what you’re doing, and Rory will stay here for a day or so, and then we’ll have a new doctor living in the house.”
Conall groaned. “Why? I can take care of myself.”
“Maybe, but you don’t have to. Do you remember when we first met?” Warmth spread in my chest as I was thrown back to the day in the Virtue, when I’d first seen him and knew I had to make him mine. He sparkled with an unbridled flame that lit up the room and outshone every whore lined up for me to try.
“How could I forget? Terrance sold me off like a knock-off handbag, the bastard.” He quirked a grin up at me. “But I guess the result wasn’t too bad.”
“Could’ve been worse,” I agreed with a smirk. “You shacked up with a rich mob boss who’s good looking, great in bed, and takes care of you.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “With a lot of humility, too.”
“I wouldn’t be in my position if I didn’t know my worth. I run a multifaceted business.” I closed my eyes and breathed in his strawberry scent, though it was now mixed with the smell of hospital bleach, which I wasn’t a fan of. It reminded me of how close I’d come to losing him. At least he was here at home. Having him back in the house had lowered the anxiety tearing at my insides, and it felt good to relax with him in bed.
“What’s been happening with Lorcan?” Conall asked, all serious. I doubted he’d let me brush off the question because if there was one thing I learned in all the years of being with my pet, it was that he was stubborn but also dependable when it came to the company. My business was his.
“He’s handled. Don’t worry about him.” I laid a kiss on his temple, taking in the warmth of his body against mine.
“And the ones who were in on it? I know they’re young, Sloan, but?—”
“Shh, Pet.” I cradled his face between my palms and pressed my lips against his to calm him down. “We’ve sent men after them and they are going to learn the consequences. Their families, too. Trust me. Word will get around about what happens to those who betray us.”
Conall nodded, before a yawn escaped him. “I think I might still be a little sick.”
“A little?” I nuzzled his hair and kissed him on the head again. “Sleep, Pet. I’m right here.”
“Okay.” He was out before he even finished the word, his entire body drooping against me as he let the tiredness win.
I shifted, laying him on the mattress as gently as I could, before slipping out of the bed. I took a shower and dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and button-up shirt. Rolling the sleeves to my elbows, I left the bedroom, purpose in my steps. Conall was back home. I had plans.
Ronan was waiting outside our room, and after I told him to keep an eye on Conall, I stalked the hallways and down the staircase again. I left through the back door. A few of the men who guarded the backyard watched me, their gazes curious, as I stormed toward the greenhouse.
“Sir?” Duffy, one of our loyal soldiers, followed me. “Is there something I can assist with?”
I finally paused when I reached the glass walls of the greenhouse and turned toward him. “Get me a sledgehammer. Now.”
He blinked, eyes widening, before he ran toward the gardening shed.
I rolled my shoulders as I stared at the building, days of rage and turmoil boiling in my stomach. This place had once been my mother’s refuge, where she’d come for peace and quiet as she fought breast cancer. She’d moved in with me after Dad died, and it was here that she found out she was sick. As the years went by, battle after battle, I saw my mother slowly begin to disappear while she sat in this glass building, her will to fight waning until she took her last breath.
Now this was where I’d found Conall, delusional and hallucinating. My mother’s suffering came back to haunt Conall. Her treasured plants became a poison that infected the love of my life. This greenhouse was toxic, a festering wound that reminded me that the people I loved weren’t immortal.
No. The greenhouse had to go, be destroyed, so we could start anew. I wouldn’t let the poison spread until I had no one left.
“Sir?” Duffy returned and passed me the sledgehammer.
I raised the hammer and swung.
Glass shattered under steel and rained down around me. It wasn’t just a storm of destruction, but a purging of the sickness that festered within these walls. A history of pain. The greenhouse had taken Mom, let her waste away until she was nothing, but I wouldn’t let the same happen to Conall. He was mine, and if that meant destroying something Mom and he loved, then so be it.
