“Wait here, Lucy,” Delfino said as the two of us reached the nurses’ station in the middle of the intensive care unit. The entire ride over—and the night before that—I’d anxiously wondered what this moment would be like, yet even in my wildest imaginings, I didn’t think I’d be this scared.

I’d been to Pleasant Lakes Memorial once or twice in the years I’d lived in town, but my first visit would always be the one that colored my view of the place, and not for the better. I still remembered lying in that bed for days while doctors and nurses alike fussed over me, spending countless hours scared that I would die there due to some horrific complication worthy of a TV drama, bereft of the comfort of looking into the eyes of anyone that I knew or loved. Standing there now dragged all those feelings back to the surface, only this time it was Leo that I was afraid for, not myself.

And not just because he’d been in some kind of accident—it was the fact that he was here at all that disturbed me the most. What was he thinking, returning to Pleasant Lakes after all this time? He couldn’t be here because of me, could he? It had to just be some kind of coincidence…

All around me I could hear the soft chiming of the machines and equipment that were so instrumental in keeping people alive. I admired the work that was done in places like this, and more than once I had expressed a desire to get some kind of medical degree so I could help people when they felt afraid and alone just like I had. But the mere mention of that idea had turned Delfino’s face the deepest shade of scarlet I’d ever seen, so different from the often emotionless mask that he wore every day. He took me by the arm in those moments, pulling me close so that his face was only a few inches from mine as he told me all the ways he could make my life hell if I ever talked about leaving him again.

But in all those years I never truly understood just why I was meant to stay—the reason that Delfino, a man I’d never known before coming to this damnable place, was so dead-set on keeping me here. Was I some kind of trophy? A pretty little thing that he could keep on a shelf? Or was it something more than that? For all the times I’d tried to probe, Delfino only answered in cryptic vagueries, giving nothing away.

I’d always been a willful girl, but I hadn’t truly yearned to take control of my life until I’d laid my eyes on Leo. He was beautiful in the way the sky or the ocean is beautiful, a force of nature that you couldn’t help but be in awe of… or at least, that was how I remembered him. There were still nights that I’d lie awake and think of him, wondering if he was out there somewhere, thinking of me the same way. But the longer he stayed away, the less often those thoughts crept into my head, and the more I began to wonder if he’d cared for me at all.

Those were the dark kinds of thoughts that made me furious with him. And truth be told, it was much easier to hate Leo than it was to accept that I’d loved and lost him. The way he’d blown into my life like a hurricane, upending everything in his path, and then gusted away just as quickly without sticking around to clean up the damage—it left me foaming at the mouth, nursing a pain in my heart that even cold, callous rage couldn’t heal all the way.

But the idea of Leo being hurt had stirred something inside of me that I’d thought was dead and buried. I cared. I was worried. I’d thought those feelings had departed town when he did. Yet the night I’d learned of his accident, I’d been haunted by the thought of his mangled body on the side of the road, blood pouring onto the asphalt. That image had brought back a myriad of other memories that I would sooner forget, memories that were too painful to visit in the light of day, especially in Pleasant Lakes Memorial.

My reverie was cut short by a sudden clatter of metal instruments. It drew my gaze to a broad window that took up about half the height of the wall, allowing me to peer into the tiny hospital rooms beyond. This kind of window was repeated all around the nurse’s station, allowing the medical staff easy visual access into each of the patient rooms in case of an emergency.

At first all I could see were the backs of three nurses in the room, struggling with someone in the hospital bed. Part of me wanted to look away, immediately assuming it must be some older patient that was confused… until I heard a voice I hadn’t thought I’d ever hear again.

“You can’t keep me here!” the patient was screaming. A patient who was most definitely not elderly. A patient with a voice that sounded disturbingly familiar.

Could that really be Leo? I sighed and closed my eyes. Of course it was. Who else would be fighting every person who was trying to help them?

Part of me wanted to be wrong, to believe that all of this was a mistake and that it wasn’t actually him that had been in that accident. Because if he was here, then he really had been hurt, and the thought of that left me with a vile taste in my mouth. Yet at the same time, the way he whined and complained meant that he was at least well enough to pitch a fit. He was okay.

“Mr. Richards—” I heard one of the nurses say, but before I could eavesdrop on the rest of the nurse’s admonishment, Delfino cut in.

“It would appear that he crashed his motorcycle,” he said, his voice almost slithering into my ear as he came up behind me. It always disturbed me how silent he could be when he wanted to go unseen. “He’s one of the men that passed through here a few years ago. Those… bikers. I’d hoped that we had seen the last of them. Do you remember the last time they were here?”

“Yes,” I murmured, thoughts drifting to the past—to a place where my life had seemed on the cusp of changing for the better. That had been a time where everything had promised to be different, where I would go from being a prisoner to having a life filled with adventure and excitement. Yet here I was. “They were… terrible.”

Terrible, not because of their tattoos or their manners (or lack thereof)—but because of how much I’d envied them and their freedoms. Because of what Leo did to me.

Delfino snorted in disgust. “Children, playing at rebellion. At ‘organized’ crime.” He shook his head. “Aspiring to goals above their station. Pitiful.”

I wanted to look into the room again, wanted to stare at Leo for the first time in so long, but would doing so give away my feelings for him? I had done my best not to give Delfino any indication of the secret Leo and I had shared—that first, passionate night when he’d taken my innocence from me, stolen it for himself and stole away the very next day. If Delfino ever found out, there was no telling what he might do.

“If I might ask…” I began, glancing over toward the room as the three nurses filed out into the hallways. I could see Leo in my peripheral vision, and I knew immediately that he could see me as well. My heart stopped for a moment before I tried to regain my composure. “Why are we seeing to this person? Wouldn’t we want him to leave?”

Delfino, seeming not to notice Leo trying to get my attention, smiled—only this time, more condescendingly.

“We must practice our goodwill, Lucy,” he said, his hand on my shoulder in what I was sure was meant to be a comforting gesture. It wasn’t. “And taking in a soul that had once been an enemy of our community is the ultimate act of charity.”

“Taking him in?” I asked, my eyes opening wide as I lifted my brows. “Into our house?”

“Of course,” Delfino said. “Nothing less would be expected of a man of the cloth. I must be an example to the rest of the community.”

My common sense filled in the blanks. He has to keep up appearances. If Delfino was going to continue to play the role of Pleasant Lakes’ most esteemed and trusted resident, he was going to have to do some dirty work.

But I remembered what he’d said on the phone last night. That terse conversation he’d had with… with whoever had been on the other line. It seemed to me there was another motive for Delfino’s apparent generosity, but I couldn’t call him on it. Not without outing myself as a spy.

I could feel a lump rising in my throat. I was torn between what could be the best and worst of this situation. Deep down I wanted to see Leo again, to touch him and hold him like I’d done before he’d left, and yet on the other hand I was still so angry with him, so undeniably enraged at how he had simply left me here with the promise of freedom fresh on his lips after our night together.

And what if Delfino discovered what had happened between us? That kind of proximity was hardly conducive to keeping secrets, and the things I still felt for Leo would be hard to deny, especially if I ever gave into the desire I’d felt from the moment I saw him. After all this time, he could still make me shiver all the way to my core.

“Do you think that’s the best idea?” I asked, immediately regretting that I’d even opened my mouth. Delfino didn’t like to be questioned, and he tended to be… explosive, on the few occasions he became angry. “I mean… he doesn’t seem very trustworthy.”

He looked at me for a long moment—a moment I swore would go on forever. All the while I stood there, bracing for what I was sure would be a rather violent bout of reprimanding. But the admonishment never came. Instead, he smiled and squeezed my shoulder gently.

“Mr. Richards is a criminal, yes,” he answered, using the voice he often did when consoling his flock. “He has the potential to be… dangerous, just as all criminals do.” I wasn’t sure if that was just a statement on Delfino’s part, or a veiled threat. His tone was always so matter-of-fact. “But that puts me in a unique position, Lucy. A man such as myself is duly equipped to deal with a man like Leo Richards. I’m likely the only one here who can handle him without instigating a series of unfortunate events.”

So that was why he hadn’t just dumped Leo on the outskirts of town like he’d originally threatened—he was worried about retribution from the Hounds of Hell. Likely not in any physical aspect—Delfino was a formidable man, and with the town’s police force at his beck and call, the Hounds would be in for one hell of a fight. But drawing attention to the town would upset Don Carliogne, and that was the bigger issue. Getting into a spat with a motorcycle club was one thing. Blowing the lid off of several major mob operations? That was a whole different animal.

“That makes sense,” I answered. I’d grown accustomed to lying to him. Wearing the costume of the obedient servant had kept me in Delfino’s good graces all these years, affording me certain “privileges” that put my life on just the right side of bearable. Leo’s return, however, threatened to upend that.

That was Leo’s curse. Wherever he went, he turned things upside-down and took sense right out of the equation. The certain ground I’d stood on just twenty-four hours ago was crumbling beneath my feet, and I had a feeling that once Delfino’s plan—whatever it was—had come to fruition, I’d never know what it was like to have a solid foundation below me ever again.