I glared at him but bit my tongue, forcing the lethal urge down. I wanted to drag myself out of this bed and put my hands aroundhis throat, but my body wasn't fully mine yet. The bullet wound pulled violently every single time I drew a breath.
Bael stood up straight, stretching his massive frame like he had all the time in the world. Then, he turned his cold gaze onto Jamie.
"Your brother and your daddy won't be looking for you anymore," Bael said, his tone entirely flat. "You can thank that country boy Marcus Beaumont for that. He sent word down the line that you’re under his official protection now, and nobody crosses the Beaumonts. As for the Colombians? I handled them. You can thank my dead momma's connections for that. Santiago Castaño wanted a piece of Miami. I don't give a fuck about any of that territory anymore, but I acted like I did. Sat across from the man. Let him think he was getting a deal, and negotiated your way out of the contract."
He paused, leveling a warning finger at her. "If anybody ever comes for you again, you mention the name Atticus Roman, or you mention Marcus. That will end it right there. Donotuse my name. You’re welcome."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out. The heavy door clicked shut behind him.
The bedroom became entirely quiet, the silence vibrating between us. Jamie still hadn't looked up at me. She just stood near the foot of the bed, her eyes glued to the hardwood floor.
"Jamie."
Nothing.
"Bael said you were going to leave me."
Still no response.
"Jamie. Come here."
She finally moved, crossing the space and sitting down on the very edge of the mattress. She did it carefully, deliberately, as if she believed I was made of fragile glass.
I reached out, my trembling fingers bridging the gap, and took her hand.
She looked down at where our fingers intertwined, then slowly raised her eyes to meet mine.
"How did you find me that night?"
"The day I took you I put trackers in yall your stuff. I also spoke to Moses.
Nodding"Why?" she whispered.
"Why what?"
"Why did you come for me again? You put your life on the line... you don’t owe me a damn thing, Vinny."
“What kind of question is that?” I asked, a faint, rough chuckle escaping my chest. “Because you were there. That’s why I came.”
She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. "That's it?"
"That's it." I shrugged, though the movement pulled sharply at my stitches. I didn't care. "You think there's supposed to be some big, dramatic speech? Some fairy tale reason? Nah. You were in deep trouble, Jamie. I went. That's just what you do for people you—"
I stopped myself, the words catching in my throat.
She waited, her breath hitching. "For people you what?"
I looked down at our hands. Her fingers had tightened around mine, holding on for dear life.
"For people you love," I said clearly.
The word hung heavily in the space between us. She didn't say a word, just stared down at me with those big, soulful brown eyes—the ones that looked like they'd seen far too much of the world, yet not enough all at once.
"You love me?" her voice cracked, raw with disbelief.
"Yeah," I said, stating it like it was the simplest truth in the world. Because it was. "Yeah, I do. It’s been that way for a minute now. You seriously ain't notice?"
She shook her head, a single, heavy tear finally spilling over her lashes. "I don't know how to do this," she whispered, her shoulders trembling. "I don't know how to let somebody... I was gonna leave you, Vinny. That proves I don’t deserve to be here."
