Forty-five minutes later I had a private ambulance pick him up and we flew to Mayo. They were pissed, because I didn't tell them we were coming. If I had, they'd have said no. They will take an emergency case with enough palm greasing, but normally it's a 'no'.
I was not in the mood for 'no'.
There wasn't a chance in hell I was gonna accept a 'no'. Not from anyone.
And when we got there, the doctor said if I had waited another few hours to get him to the hospital and start treatment, Legion would have died.
Died.
Next to me, in bed.
So actually—and this is kinda fucking ironic—the fact that Cash and the sheriff showed up that morning, waking everyone up, causin' a commotion—is the whole reason Legion is still alive.
God is funny. Not really funny. Not at all funny, actually. He just has a way of showing you things you don't wanna see in the most unexpected ways.
His entire body was infected by the time he arrived at Mayo. The wound required surgical debridement, and four high-grade antibiotics failed before the doctors reached for the last-resort:colistin—powerful enough to kill almost anything, toxic enough to risk shutting down his kidneys to do it.
For six days, I sat beside his bed, watching machines breathe for him, praying so hard. Begging for divine intervention.
It worked.
But there was a price.
There's always a price.
Cash thought he was so clever. Get Mercy, get me back to the ranch, problem solved. But he didn't count on Mercy refusing to eat unless she could visit Legion.
Didn't count on me using the Ashby money—my money, not his—to hire the best medical team in three states.
Didn't count on me bringing Legion home to recover at the mansion.
I turn away from the window, looking around the circular room. As a child, I used to hide up here when my mother wanted more photos, more poses, more perfect smiles. I'd curl up with books about places I'd never see, people I'd never be.
I never thought I'd be bringing Legion Kane into this house. Not as a guest, not as my... what? Boyfriend seems too small a word for what we are. Too normal. There's nothing normal about us.
Movement catches my eye—a dark spot against the blue sky, growing larger.
The helicopter.
My heart thumps as I press my hands against the glass.
It's really happening. He's coming here.
"Mercy!" I call down the spiral staircase. "It's time! He's here!"
I hear her footsteps pounding through the house, the excited yapping of that ridiculous puppy Cash bought her. Within seconds, she's racing across the lawn, a tiny figure in jeans and a t-shirt, Puddles bounding after her.
But I stay where I am, watching as the helicopter descends toward the helipad near the eastern fence line. From this distance, it looks like a toy, the blades stirring up dust that spirals into the air.
The ambulance is already waiting, just as I arranged. The medical team will bring him to the east wing, to the suite I've had prepared with everything he'll need. A hospital bed, monitoring equipment, IV stands. Private nurses on rotation. Windows that look out over the land that's supposedly mine.
Cash thinks he's won. He thinks bringing Legion here, to Ashby land, somehow proves that the Ashbys always come out on top. That I've chosen my inheritance over Legion.
What he doesn't understand is that he's just given me exactly what I wanted.
Legion and Mercy, both under my roof, where I can protect them.
Where no one can take them from me again.
