Cane helped me lift and put Bones into the back of the car along with Conway.

“Bones!” His friend was there in a flash, shaking him vigorously. “Don’t you fucking die on me. Wake up.” He smacked him across the face.

I’d just felt his pulse. “His pulse is still strong, but we’ve got to get him to the hospital.”

“Shit.” His friend heaved with sudden sorrow. “No…I’m not going to lose you. Fuck no, that ain’t gonna happen.”

I hadn’t even had a chance to check on Conway yet. “Cane, drive.”

Cane followed my orders and got behind the wheel. The engine was still on, and the car was still drivable.

Bones’s friend hopped into the passenger seat.

I got in the back with Conway and Griffin. “Conway—”

“I feel like shit, but I’m fine,” he said, hardly able to open his bruised eyes. “Sapphire…she’s okay, right?”

I didn’t have the strength to tell him the truth, that his wife had been captured and I had no idea where she was…along with his baby.

“Father?” Conway opened his eyes wider, focusing on my face when he didn’t get the answer he wanted. “Tell me she’s alright.”

Max turned around to look at us. “We got her. The boys took her to a safe house.”

I snapped my head in his direction. “You got her?”

“Yes.” He turned farther to look at Bones, seeing his body shift and vibrate with the movements of the car. “Fuck. If he dies, I’m coming after you.” He turned his eyes on me, full of threat. “This man is the greatest guy I know, and he was never good enough for you. Yet, he’s the one who saved your ass. You better kiss the ground he walks on when he’s back on his feet.” He faced forward again. “Bones had two of our men take her and the butler from the house and head north. She fought the entire time, so they put a syringe in her neck to put her to sleep. The drug was safe for the baby. She’s fine.”

Conway breathed such a deep sigh that his voice shook. “Thank fucking god.” He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump I knew had to be in his throat.

I turned to Bones next, seeing the man who saved my life…and my son. He was still breathing, but his skin was starting to pale. I ripped off my vest, yanked a strip of fabric from my shirt, and tied it over the wound. I applied pressure and kept him stable, placing my hand against the window so his head wouldn’t bump into it. He was an enormous man, at least fifty pounds heavier than me, but I made it work. I’d despised this man for so long, was so relieved when he was finally gone, but now…there were no words to describe what I felt.

I was indebted to him.

He didn’t have to tell me about the hit on Conway.

He didn’t have to risk his life to save my son.

He didn’t have to save Sapphire.

But he did it anyway.

Now I owed him…I owed him big-time.

Bones was taken into emergency surgery the second we got him to the hospital. I wasn’t given any information about what they were going to do. The priority was keeping him alive, and from the loss of blood he’d just suffered, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Normally, I wouldn’t care.

But now, I needed him to live.

Conway was checked in and immediately sent for scans and blood work, but the doctors never considered him critical.

Thank fucking god.

Once everything was under control, I finally had a moment to talk to my brother.

“I can’t believe we’re both alive.” He had a cut down his arm, which had been bandaged up. His left eye was black and blue, like someone had slammed the butt of a gun into his face. “So, what the hell happened? Why is Bones involved in this?”

I looked past his shoulder and saw Bones’s friend in the waiting room. He was a thick man Bones’s age, and he was on the phone with an agitated expression on his face. He rubbed his temple, clearly distraught over what had just happened. “I stepped into the open to blow out the driver of the car. If Conway got away, I knew I would never find him again. It was stupid and suicidal, but I didn’t know what else to do. I just had to stop them. That’s when a guy kicked the gun from my hand and pushed me to the ground.” I looked away from my brother, remembering that moment clearly because time had slowed down. I pictured my wife as a widow, spending the rest of her life alone and mourning me. I pictured my daughter’s children, my grandkids I would never meet. I thought of the life I wouldn’t experience because my time had been cut short. “I thought that was the end, Cane. Bones got in the way…and took the bullet.”

Cane crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowed in shock.

“He killed the guy, handed me a gun…and slaughtered everyone.”

Cane didn’t act impressed even though he’d be stupid not to feel that way. Barsettis were stubborn, but we couldn’t be that stubborn.

“He saved my life. He saved my son’s life.”

“Jesus…”

I took a deep breath, the guilt heavy in my gut. “So he’s gotta live.”

“I don’t even know what to say. I never expected him to do that…”

“And his men got Sapphire out of the house before the assholes could take her. I hate to say it, Cane, but we’d all be dead right now if it weren’t for him.”

He gave a slight nod, still caught up in the gravity of the situation. “Yeah, I think you’re right. When I first saw him, I wasn’t sure what to think. He and Vanessa broke up months ago, and I’ve never liked him. Pretty incredible that he put his life on the line like that…especially when we never asked him to.”

I’d put a gun to Bones’s head and ordered him out of my office because of what he did to my daughter. His noble actions didn’t change the past, but they certainly changed my perception of him. I’d seen him in action, and he was a monster that couldn’t be taken down. There was no one better to protect my daughter.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure.”

“They’ve been broken up for a while, and she’s seeing someone else now…”

In my heart, I knew that didn’t matter. I never questioned my daughter’s love for that man. Now I knew I never should have questioned his love either. “Yeah…but I don’t think that matters to either one of them.” I stepped away and pulled out my phone. “I’ve gotta call Pearl and tell her Conway is alright.”

“Me too. I barely said ten words to Adelina before I left.” He took out his phone and moved into the hallway.

I called Button, and she answered on the first ring. The sound of the moving car was in the background, and I guessed she was driving to Milan right now. She’d probably left the second I was gone. “Conway is okay. I’m okay. Everyone is okay.”

Button didn’t say anything, no doubt taking a moment to breathe slowly and let the tears fall from her eyes.

Vanessa’s voice broke over the line. “I’m so glad you’re alright, Father. Mama is a bit overwhelmed right now, but she’s okay.”

My heart broke imagining my crying wife. She did the same thing when I’d been taken. Then, I attributed her emotions to her pregnancy, but I knew these emotions were all her own.

“Uncle Cane is okay?” Vanessa asked, her voice sweet as ever.

“Everyone is alright,” I said. “We’re at the hospital right now. Conway is beat up, but he’ll be okay. Nothing to worry about.” I should tell her about Bones, but I couldn’t, not when she was still hours away in the middle of the countryside. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do about him in the first place, so I had to make up my mind before she got here.

Button finally found her voice. “Our son is okay?”

“He’s fine, Button,” I said gently. “Got a few bruises on his face, but everything else is intact.”

“Thank god,” she whispered, her voice still weak. “He’s my baby…”

“I know.” My son was over six feet and muscular, and I’d seen him as a man for the last decade, but Button didn’t see him that way. He would always be the boy who once fit within her arms.

“You’re alright?” she asked, a plea in her voice.

I didn’t tell her that I’d almost been shot in the face. I would tell her later, when I revealed that Bones had been part of everything. I would tell Cane not to say anything. And I would send Max to retrieve Sapphire so Conway would see her. “Not a scratch. Everyone is fine. We killed everyone. It’s over.”

“What would we do without you, Father?” Vanessa said, emotion in her voice. “You always protect us…”

The guilt exploded inside my chest at the thought of taking credit I didn’t deserve. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

“We still have about two hours,” Vanessa said.

“Alright,” I said. “See you then.”

“I love you,” Button blurted, saying the words quickly like she needed to hear herself say them more than hear me say them back, like it was an opportunity she didn’t want to waste.

“I love you too, Button.”

Hours later, Button and Vanessa were in Conway’s hospital room, sitting with him while he slept. He’d passed out from the pain medication, finally relaxing once he knew Sapphire was safe and on her way to see him.

Adelina, Carmen, and Carter were there spending time with Cane. Even though Cane was perfectly fine, Adelina cried like he’d died instead of lived. Carter seemed to take Conway’s condition the worst because he was as pale as snow. He hardly said a word, staring at the ground most of the time.

I still hadn’t uncovered the reason all of this had happened. My son and nephew had visited the Underground to bid on women, but they stopped that months ago. Conway promised me he wouldn’t do it again, and I knew my son wouldn’t break a promise to me. But they must have been doing business behind my back and something went south.

It was the only thing I could think of.

Max wasn’t there, so the doctor came to me with an update on Bones.

“We stopped the bleeding, gave him a blood transfusion… He’s going to be alright. He just needs to stay here for a few days to recover. We’ll keep an eye on him to make sure there are no complications.”

“Is he awake?”

“No. He’ll be asleep for a while. But you can visit him anytime you want.” He walked away and left me alone in the lobby. Thankfully, no one had witnessed the conversation I had with the doctor, so I didn’t have to answer any questions.

When I walked into Bones’s hospital room, the relationship would be different. He used to be inferior to me, but that had changed. He’d proven himself to me, not just that he loved my daughter, but he was the powerhouse he’d always said he was. He’d proved he could protect my daughter. He’d proved he was worthy of her.

So now I had no choice but to give him the prize he’d earned.