“Baby girl, you haven’t eaten,” he said, checking the food on her tray.
“I’m not hungry. I want to know what’s going on.”
He frowned. “Well, North isn’t happy. In fact, he nearly yelled.”
“North? Yell?”
“Yeah, which means he’s really not happy.”
“About the Fox? Was he worried about you?” she asked.
“Me? Why would he worry about me? No, he was enraged that the Fox got that close to you. He thinks it’s best that we get you out of the hospital and back home. Which I agree with. But you won’t heal without eating.”
“Food isn’t important.”
“It is when you were already underweight.” He lifted the lid of the tray. “But not this crap. I’ll get North to bring you some food.”
She frowned. She wasn’t going to eat it. Although she wasn’t silly enough to say that.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she urged.
“Right.” With a sigh, he sat on the bed, facing her. He ran his hand over his face, looking exhausted. She felt a pang of regret for pushing him, but she had to know. “So, growing up with my father wasn’t easy, as you can well imagine. I was the heir, groomed to take over the family when he died. But he also saw me as competition. He both hated me and needed me. My mother killed herself when I was ten. But before then she’d checked out of life. I couldn’t blame her. My father hired tutors to take care of me. Staff to feed me and keep me clothed. I had to be careful not to get attached to any of them, though. Because my father didn’t like it if I had too much care and attention.”
“What . . . what would happen if you did get attached?” she asked nervously.
“Then those people would disappear.”
God. What a way to grow up.
“You must have been so lonely,” she said.
“I was supposed to only play with my cousins. Who would become my seconds, my advisors. Only problem is that all of my cousins are psychopathic assholes. Antony was the best of the lot. So when I was old enough, I suggested to my father that we branch out. That I should go down to South America and build relationships with our drug suppliers. That if I was there, I could keep an eye on things better.”
“Is that where you met North?” she asked.
“Yeah, it was. I was walking down this alleyway in Cali with two of my men. Some assholes who were working for a drug lord that didn’t like my family attacked us. North saved me. He killed all of those men, then he dragged me out of that alley, patched me up, gave me antibiotics so I didn’t die of infection. So when I was feeling better, I hired him to be my assistant. It was a bit of a front, even though he does help me. He’s also deadly, smart, and loyal.”
“Wow, that’s crazy.”
“I know. It was like we were meant to meet. Anyway, I had my own reasons for moving to Colombia. I knew that if I ever wanted to get out from underneath my father’s thumb, that I had to build up my own fortune and power. So I started to amass my own contacts, and my own people. I started gathering people. Only my people didn’t work for me because they feared me, but because I took care of them. North kept calling me soft because I didn’t just take in those that could help me, but their families. Elderly. Children. Soon, I had a small village of people living in my compound.”
Oh God.
She had a feeling that she didn’t want to know what had happened to them. But on the other hand, she had to know.
“What happened to them all?”
“North and I were away for business. Rex had come with us as I didn’t trust anyone else to cook our food. Along with six of my men. While we were gone . . . while we were gone, the compound was invaded. Everyone was killed.”
“Even the children?” she whispered as tears filled her eyes.
“Yes, even the children. Everyone. When we got word, we rushed home. Two of the guards with me had families they’d left behind. They were all killed.”
“I’m so sorry.” She tried to reach for him, to hug him, but the pain in her side stopped her from moving.
He glanced up, then stood. “Easy, baby girl. Stop moving around so much.”
“I just wanted to hug you. Because I’m so damn sorry that happened to you.”
