It didn’t take long for Barbie to fall asleep when I went back in to check on her. She’d crawled herself into a ball. I placed the sheet gently over her and kissed her cheek before I walked out of the room.

Quinn’s sitting on the couch with a drink in hand. He doesn’t look up or make a move when I sit down. He strapped my ribs after the shower, and it’s helped with the pain. Plus, the alcohol takes the edge off.

“Your father gave you the list, right?” I look up, confused at his words. He tips the rest of his drink back and continues on, “The list to incriminate them. Plus, the safety deposit box. He gave it to you, right?”

“He did. How did you know?”

He laughs. “Who do you think created it for him?”

Of course, he did. I completely forgot about the list. I put it in my pocket, and that was my last thought of it. I guess that’s what happens when your father dies. Running my hand through my hair, I hear Quinn pour another drink. He offers it to me and sits back down shaking his head.

“I’ll use it against him because he isn’t going to rest. I could see it in his eyes. He hates me. Hates that I made him cower and now he’s lost all respect from his people.”

Quinn nods his head. “You disrespected him in his place.”

I clench my teeth hard. “He deserved it.”

He doesn’t argue that I am wrong, he agrees with me. “You should’ve killed him because now he’s going to try to kill you.”

He’s right, Antonio won’t let this slide. He’ll be on a mission to bring me down. I just have to work out first, how to bring him down. I didn’t plan on killing him, he’s too valuable. But all things can be replaced, Antonio included.

“He won’t be able to.”

Quinn looks behind me to the room where she’s currently sleeping. “You sure she isn’t going to try to jump from the window?” he jokes.

“No, she’s passed out.” Plus, we’re up high in the hotel. We own this suite. And the only way for her to get out would be to pass us.

“Are you going to talk about what Livia did, or do you plan to just phase her out?” He means how she lied to me about the baby.

“I need time away from her. If I saw her now, I don’t know what I’d do to her. That’s what scares me.” It’s true. My love for Livia has changed, but my love for Barbie has stayed the same. I don’t even know why.

“Do you want to know what I think?” I shake my head but know he’s going to tell me anyway. “You never really loved Livia, you just thought you did. Because that’s what you should have done. Because that’s what your father told you to do. You think you love her because she was there for you.” He could be right, but then again, he could be wrong.

My cell starts ringing. It’s her, it’s always her. Livia never stops. I’m drained, though, so fucking tired that I could pass out right now and never wake up. But I don’t want to do that. Right now, I want to see Saskia, touch her, and feel her. To know she’s mine, and I can have her. Obsession is a word I’d use for her. It’s what I feel with her, day in and day out and have done since the first day I saw her. Even when I tried to convince myself to hate her. It never worked. How could it on someone so perfect?

“I’m going to sleep.” Standing, my hands touch my ribs. They hurt, but the painkillers and alcohol have finally kicked in.

“Try to not molest her when she sleeps,” he jokes as I walk away. “Oh, and where the fuck is Cane?”

Shit. I forgot he was even here.

Looking back to Quinn. “You can’t find him?”

He shakes his head. “Nope, his cell is off, so I can’t track him. He’s probably drinking and fucking,” Quinn replies, which is what Cane usually does these days.

“Still, try to find him anyway, especially now.”

Walking over to the room, I open the door and check she’s still there. She hasn’t moved from the spot I left her in, with a sheet over her and wearing my shirt. Pulling the sheet back, I slide in next to her, careful to place my arms around her so I can wrap myself into her. She breathes deeper and sighs in her sleep.

This is my happy place. Pity it’s fabricated and not to last.

***

SHE’S MOVED, ONLY TO come closer to me. Her hair is fanned out everywhere. I’m stroking my fingers through her beautiful hair, and I know she’s awake. She isn’t moving, though. She just lays in the same spot.

“Are you going to talk?”

She shakes her head in answer.

We stay in the same spot, both not speaking, just lying still.

The bedroom door swings open and it slams against the wall. We both move looking up, and Livia stands there. She looks to both of us, and the glass in her hand is thrown straight in our direction. I cover Barbie taking the glass to my back, followed by the cold water that hits us.

“You plan to move on that fast?” she yells.

Barbie jumps from the bed, her eyes wide and she’s shaking.

Fuck! Why did Livia have to come now?

“We didn’t do anything, we only slept.”

Livia looks to her, sneers, and looks back to me. “Get her to leave, Ryken, now. If you want to try to save us at all, get her to leave.”

Her threats won’t work anymore. Looking to Barbie, she hasn’t stopped shaking. She’s watching us with wide eyes and still dressed in my shirt.

Quinn comes to the door, and I glare at him. How the fuck did Livia get past him in the first place? He’s rubbing his eyes. That’s how she got in—he wasn’t even awake.

“No. Now get the fuck out, Livia.”

She gawks at me then looks to Saskia. She didn’t want anything to do with her before. She also knows that Barbie loves her. So if I don’t listen, guess who will.

“You plan this? To sleep with my man?”

Barbie’s hands shake, looks to me then back to her. “We only slept. Nothing else, Livia.”

“I want you to leave, Sass. I want you to go right now.”

Barbie doesn’t argue, picks up her shoes, and doesn’t look back as she walks out the bedroom door straight past Livia and Quinn heading toward the door. I go to stop her, but Livia steps in my way.

“She won’t choose you. Do you not see that? If I told her, she would choose me.” It takes everything in me to not strangle her. “Now you need to do the same. You can’t throw us away that easily, Ryken. We’ve been too good together. Built a life.”

I’m sick of this shit, fucking sick of it. I can’t handle it anymore. Taking a step toward her, I go to tell her something, and that’s when I see it. That’s when I see them.

Three other men are in the suite. Quinn turns fast and drops to the ground, and army crawls to where his guns are located. Grabbing Livia as shots fire through, I pull her to the ground covering her with my body. One hits me in the arm, and then a gun is slid in front of me. Quinn fires back, I can hear the shots next to me. Reaching for the gun, and keeping Livia under me, I do the same, lifting and firing. Two are shot, the third man runs. Quinn runs to the door to make sure everything’s clear before he comes back in.

Barbie.

I look up to him, and his eyes are wild.

“She left before this went down. I’ll find her.”

I release a sigh in relief then get up from Livia. Her eyes are wide as she looks at me. She looks scared. “Liv.” She doesn’t say a word, tears roll from her eyes. I go to move her, but Quinn yells at me to stop.

“If you move her, you could cause more damage.” He walks over and looks at her.

“Livia, are you hit?”

Her eyes leave mine and look to Quinn as she mutters a small, “Yes.” And he automatically dials an ambulance.

“Fuck.” I drop to her side and kiss her forehead. She cries harder, not moving.

“I can’t move, Ryken, I can’t feel my legs.” Her words shock me. I try to talk to her, to tell her everything will be okay.

A few minutes later paramedics arrive and assess her. She’s been hit, the bullet has passed through her side and lodged in her spine. They’re careful when they move her and rush her to the hospital. Quinn and I follow closely behind, and the moment we arrive, she’s rushed in for surgery.

“She’ll be fine, Boss,” Quinn says. His gun is still on him, I can see it tucked in his pants.

It takes hours. We sit in the same spot watching the clock tick by, until the doctor comes out. The police have come. Livia’s parents have visited. But there’s no sign of Barbie.

He tells us what we all don’t want to hear, that it did indeed hit her spine. They have to wait and see how she’ll recover. But they have high hopes that she will walk again, but it will be a long process.

My heart plummets to the fucking ground.

It takes everything in me to not go after Antonio right now. Because I know it was his men. No one else would be stupid enough to do that.

“Why were there guns?” Christopher, her father asks.

He listened when we spoke to the police, but we played dumb. We aren’t familiar with the police here. This isn’t our local territory.

“We don’t know, sir,” Quinn answers for me.

Christopher looks at him then back to me. “What is it that you said you did for a living, Ryken? Because I don’t really feel all that confident with you for my daughter.”

“I run my father’s businesses.” He looks to the floor and looks back to the door to where the doctor came from. Livia’s mother hasn’t said a word, she’s just sitting there with her hands tightly clasped together, and she’s rocking.

“I want you to leave, Ryken. I don’t want you here when she wakes up. I want to speak to my daughter without your influence.” If only he knew it was Livia that has the influence. She’s the one that pulls the strings, she’s the puppet master, and I’m just the puppet that doesn’t always obey.

“I want to see her.”

His lip turns up in a snarl at my words. “You will when she says you can. Leave, now, please. I can’t have you here with my wife, while we wait for our daughter to wake up.” I don’t argue with him. I stand, and Quinn stands. He doesn’t look back to us as he sits down holding his wife’s hand. Walking out the front of the hospital, Quinn pulls up his phone.

“He’s still at the Arena, you got a plan?”

I don’t answer because I’m still trying to convince myself to not walk in and rip his head from his body as he shows me the tracker. “I put it on him last night. When I shook his hand.” I smile at how smart he is, and clever. Who would have thought to do that, but Quinn? I need to thank him. Give him more than my father never could.

I would be dead if it weren’t for him.

So would Barbie.

“You haven’t found her?”

His eyes fall to the ground before looking back to me. “Nothing. I even hacked into the security cameras. Can’t find her, but I’ll keep looking, Boss.”

“Call the men.”

He nods, placing the cell to his ear as our car pulls up.

We’re about to make some noise.

We’re about to blow some fuckers up.

And they won’t see it coming.

Because unlike them, we won’t go in there with just a few. We’ll come in with a whole army and a huge bang.