“I’m sure whatever kind of row you had will be water under the bridge once we explain to him what’s going on,” Alissa adds.
“You don’t understand. The reason we started fighting in the first place was because he suspected Rouge was up to something nefarious. And I didn’t believe him. I took her side.” She buries her face in her hands. “And now it’s years later. Who knows how many countless lives could have been spared if I’d just listened to him then?”
I wrap my arm around her waist. “Babe, you can’t think that way. Hindsight is forever twenty-twenty. What matters is that we can help the Jack of Hearts now. And everyone else at Aces, and at Jade, Second Star, and the rest.” I pace the room again. “I don’t love that more people I care about are going to have to put their lives on the line to get this done. Who knows what we’ll run into if we follow Jack back to the Caterpillar Hotel after his last night at Aces? Hell, this wasn’t even my escapade to begin with. It was Maddox’s. He was the one who dived down the rabbit hole in the first place with you, Alissa.”
“He did so at my urging,” Alissa admits. “It wasn’t until he brought me to Aces, saw it through my eyes, that he began to see the cracks in the plaster.”
“Even so…” I rub at the back of my neck. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. It just… Sometimes I feel like this isn’t my story.”
Bianca looks up at me with those stormy dark-blue eyes. “It’s all our story. Yours. Mine. Maddox and Alissa’s. And we’re going to finish it.” She gestures to the music box. “Someone clearly wants us to do it.”
“And what if the music box is a trap?” I ask. “It could have been Chet who planted it in my trunk. And we know we can’t trust him.”
“But what we do know is that Jack’s tenure is coming to an end,” Bianca says. “No matter what, he’s next on the docket. There is probably a patron who’s already put down a request for his heart.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, take a deep breath in. “I need… I need to check on Maddox.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Bianca asks.
I shake my head. “I’d love your company, but I need to talk to him in private if he’s conscious.”
“Of course.” Bianca grabs my hand and squeezes it. “I’ll keep Alissa company. Once you get back, we’ll plan our next move.”
“Right.” I kiss her on the lips, give Alissa a nod, and then cross over to Maddox’s room. I check his vitals. They’re all good. Dinah’s been doing a great job nursing them back to health.
I shake his shoulder gently. “Hey…Maddox.”
His eyelids flutter for a moment, and then he raises his head weakly when he sees me. “Harrison O’Rourke, as I live and breathe.”
“It’s thanks to me you’re living and breathing at all. Me, Bianca, and Dinah, that is.”
“And Alissa,” he says. “Even back in that hotel, before I passed out, when I could feel myself starting to slip away…the thought of leaving her alone to fend for herself… It kept me here.” He twists his lips into a small grin. “I love her, man.”
I chuckle. “You knew her for all of two weeks when you walked through the gates of hell with her. I’d hope to God you at least liked her at the time.”
He shakes his head. “I’m serious. She’s the woman I’m going to marry. The woman who’s going to carry my children. I knew it the moment she walked into my shop.”
“How did you know?” I ask. “Because I think I might feel the same way about Bianca.”
He grins. “Dinah told me you were getting along with her. I’m glad it’s working out. She’s gorgeous.” He shifts his gaze. “But she’s a Montrose. You sure she can be trusted?”
“She’s nothing like her sister. But we’re getting off track. How did you know about Alissa?”
He shrugs. “Probably the same way you know about Bianca. I just…knew. There was this sudden clarity the moment I met her. Like every failed relationship up to that point didn’t work out for a reason. Because my heart was waiting for one woman and one woman alone. Her.”
Damn. It’s the same way with Bianca. She’s perfect in every way—even in her imperfections.
I squeeze Maddox’s shoulder. “We’re going to make this right. We’re going to bring Rouge to justice.”
“I know you will.” Maddox coughs a few times. “Because you’re the best fucking guy I know, Harrison.” He swallows. “But watch out for Rouge.”
“Of course. We’re not going to let her?—”
Maddox silences me with a wave of his hand. “I’m serious, man. She’s into some fucked-up shit. The things I’ve seen…” His heart machine starts to beat rapidly.
“Hey. Stay calm. It’s all right. Deep breath in.”
He squeezes his eyes shut, inhaling slowly through his nose and then exhaling through his mouth. The heart machine slows down.
