CHAPTER 25

Brock

The room wouldn’t come into focus, with one eye refusing to open, but I’d heard enough of the conversation to know I had to say something, before one of them tried to kill the other. As the words left my lips, pain radiated outward from my chest.

Both Amanda and Malcolm whipped around to face me. Anger etched in every inch of Malcolm’s aggressive stance. Yesterday I would have worried about Amanda, but not after what she did today. The years with Marcello had obviously prepared her to take care of herself.

The fog in my head was making it difficult to concentrate. The only thing I knew was that I needed Malcolm to see the truth.

Malcolm stormed toward the bed, but Amanda jumped into his path, refusing to let him get any closer. Malcolm growled down at her.

“How can you still defend her? Miller is lying in a room two floors above you fighting for every breath he takes, and you—”

“Not . . . her,” I wheezed out, gripping my side to try and tame the throbbing.

That was when Amanda pushed back. “Do you honestly believe I’d be sitting in a hospital room waiting for you if I was responsible? Do you think I would have called you to come here?”

“You didn’t call me,” he snapped. “A nurse named Amanda did.”

Amanda dropped her hands on her hips. “And my name’s Amanda.”

“I tri-tried to.” The coughing started, making the pain in my ribs worse. I fisted the sheets in the blanket, my knuckles turning white.

Amanda raced to the side of the bed, running her hand down my arm. “What do you need me to do?”

“Up,” I managed to gasp out.

Amanda found the control on the side of the bed, lifting me higher into a sitting position. “Tell me when it’s high enough.”

When I was upright, but reclined a bit, I tapped her hand. She set the remote down and turned for a cup on the table. The coughing slowly subsided. If only the agony in my ribs had gone away as well. Cool liquid passed over my mouth, soothing my dry lips.

“Thank you,” I whispered, hoping to avoid a repeat of earlier.

Amanda’s eyes became glassy. “I love you,” she said, placing the softest kiss on my lips.

Shock held me immobile. It was the sweetest gesture I’d seen from Amanda since I’d found her again. Her words finally registered in my head. I closed my eyes and returned her kiss. It was gentle, not the hot and passionate I was used to from her. Then again, I felt like I’d been thrown down a mountain, so soft was probably in order. Amanda pulled back and smiled.

“I love you, too.”

“I figured you couldn’t handle a normal kiss right now,” she said, dragging her gaze down my body. I doubted I had an inch of skin that wasn’t battered and bruised.

When I glanced over Amanda’s shoulder, Malcolm stood looking at Amanda, his brows drawn down in confusion. “What the fuck is going on here?”

Amanda swung around to face him, arms up, ready to fight.

“Malcolm.” I kept my voice low. “It wasn’t her.”

“Yet there she was all cozied up with Jimmy Delgado at dinner last night.”

“Trying to keep Jimmy from shooting your son,” Amanda snapped.

“If you told Jimmy to stay the fuck away from my son, then why is he lying in a goddamn hospital bed?” he thundered.

The door flew open and two nurses came barreling inside. “Is everything okay?” the tall one asked.

“Yes,” Malcolm and Amanda answered at the same time.

The tall nurse hesitated for a moment, keeping her eyes on all of us. After a moment she nodded and left the room.

The stockier one came over to the bed. “Mr. Phillips, how’s the pain?”

“Tolerable for now.”

She checked my vital signs, marking things on the chart near the foot of the bed. “If anything changes, hit the button to call the nurses station and I’ll bring you something to ease it.”

“Thank you.”

The nurse moved her gaze back and forth between Amanda and Malcolm as they stood on opposite sides of the room, like two lions about to pounce. “Are you sure everything is all right?” she asked, looking back at me.

“Yes.”

Warily, she gave me a brief nod and left the room.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t call Charlie to drag your ass out of here and bury you next to your piece of shit husband?” Malcolm demanded. “I want some goddamn answers right now.”

And I wanted to climb from the bed and stand between the two of them before Malcolm could lay a finger on her. Shockingly, he was waiting to hear what she had to say. I opened my mouth to answer, but Amanda laid a hand on my arm. “Because Jimmy’s been dying to take over for Nathan for years. And he got the perfect opportunity a few weeks ago. It’s why I went back in the first place. I’d hoped my place as Isobel Marcello would mean I could command them not to come after your family. That Nathan had pushed too far.”

Malcolm ran a hand through his hair and walked over to the window. “Jesus fucking Christ. Another narcissistic psycho. I want that son of a bitch dead.” Malcolm put his phone to his ear. “I want round the clock cover on Faith, Tess, Miller, and Elena. No one gets to see any of them unless they’re with you, Dean, Ashton, or myself. Understand?”

I didn’t have to hear Charlie’s voice on the phone to know that was who he’d called. My guess was Ashton already had someone with Elena. Most likely his driver/bodyguard Lewis. Malcolm turned back from the window.

“How the hell did he get his hands on you?”

“They trashed . . . my house. There was blood . . . I thought they’d taken Amanda.”

She squeezed my hand.

“But they hadn’t. I’d gone back to stop Jimmy. I had dinner with him, trying to prove I was now in charge.  I didn’t figure out until later that night he planned to kill Miller anyway. He wants to prove himself to the rest of Nathan’s men by taking out a member of the Hawes family.”  Amanda let go of my hand and moved away from the bed. I hadn’t noticed the bag sitting on the floor next to the window. She pulled out a laptop. “I caught him on one of Nathan’s private cameras setting up the hit on me and Miller with Anthony Neymann. I got out of there as quickly as I could to warn Brock, but by the time I got to his place they’d been there. I dumped my car an hour outside of town and checked into a motel.”

“Private cameras?” Malcolm asked, his eyes focused on the laptop in her hand.

The tension in Amanda’s shoulders seemed to lessen the more Malcolm listened. I had to hope he was finally starting to believe everything I’d told him about Amanda and her  marriage to Marcello.

“Yeah. Nathan had them installed to watch over the guys who worked for him. Wanted to make sure no one was cheating him or trying to take over. They can be viewed on the program he kept with my actual name as the password.”

“Where’s Jimmy now?”

“I don’t know. Once I realized that leaving to get Jimmy to chase after me didn’t help and got Brock in this mess, I only focused on the cameras at the warehouse where they kept him.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed and I worried about what he might say. “And who was going to protect you?”

Amanda crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t need protecting. I can take care of myself.”

Malcolm watched her for a moment. “I’d say that you can. If you dumped your car, how did you get Brock here?”

Amanda laughed humorlessly. “Nathan taught me a few useful things, like how to steal a car. It’s parked in the back of the lot. I wiped down the fingerprints, but I didn’t have time to deal with the blood.”

“I’ll call cleanup to deal with the car and the mess at your house. And I’ll send someone to get your stuff from the hotel.” Malcolm gestured toward the laptop. “We can keep tabs on Delgado until I can figure out how to deal with him.”

Amanda reached into her pocket and handed over the key. “Everything should be right on the bed where I left it and went after Brock. I didn’t have much with me.”

“Thank you for going after him. He’s part of our family.”

My chest warmed through the pain hearing him say that. I always knew they saw it that way, but hearing it felt good.

“I’ll always go after him.” She smiled and it made my heart race.

“I want you to stay with Brock, while I go fill Faith in. I’m sure she’ll be down to see you.”

Amanda smirked. “What if I say I’m not good at being told what to do?”

Malcolm reached for the door handle. “Then I’d say that’s good because I have some plans to make and I’m going to need your help.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“What plans?” I asked, not liking the sound of that at all.

“To end this shit now,” Malcolm said, walking out the door.

“Amanda,” I warned.

She covered my mouth. “Stop talking and sleep. You need the rest.”

I wanted to argue with her and tell her we were having this conversation now, but my tolerance to the pain was diminishing with every minute I was awake. I’d have more fight in me to argue with her when I didn’t have to struggle through the fog in my head.

 

***

 

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” Faith asked, bustling around the living room.

Three days had passed since the hospital released me. Most of my house was still in complete fucking disarray, and with nowhere to stay, Malcolm and Faith insisted Amanda and I stay with them. Malcolm had finally seen her for who she truly was. A woman who’d been sold to a piece of shit by her father and did the best she could to survive.

“I’m sure.”

“Nothing to eat? No pain medication?”

I shook my head. “I’m good, thank you.”

I couldn’t put any weight on my leg and my ribs still hurt like hell when I moved too much, which made using crutches a real bitch. They’d given me a wheelchair, which made me feel even more helpless. That left me sitting in bed or on the couch more than I wanted to.

“Okay, if you’re sure.” She brought over a tray with a glass of water anyway.

It was good to see Faith back to her normal self. They’d moved Miller out of the ICU two days ago and each day they saw more and more improvement. He was finally breathing on his own and the doctors expected that eventually he’d make a full recovery.

“I promise I’m good. You’ve done so much for me already.”

Faith cupped one of my cheeks with her hand. “The same as I do for any of my boys.” She left her hand there for a brief moment before stepping away to pull on her coat. “Have you talked to your mom and dad?”

“I called them yesterday. Told them I’d be staying with you until my leg heals.” Needless to say, my mom was upset I’d been in a car accident. At least that’s what I told her happened. They might know what my job was, didn’t mean I wanted them to worry.

“You know they’re more than welcome to come visit you here?”

“I know. Thank you. Mom offered for me to stay with them, but they know it’ll be easier for me to get around your place.”

“When she’s feeling up to it, tell her to come over and I’ll make dinner for everyone.”

“Thank you, Faith.”

She picked up her purse. “I’m going to check on Miller, but I’ll be back to make sure you get dinner and get your medicine.”

“You don’t have to leave Miller. I’ll be fine.”

“Nonsense. Elena is coming to the hospital later to stay with Tess, and I’ll come home to stay with you. I wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up while I was gone.”

I was about to suggest Amanda would be there to help, but I wasn’t sure she would be. She, Malcolm, and Ashton spent many hours in Malcolm’s office, no doubt trying to figure out the best way to rid ourselves of Jimmy Delgado and to guarantee that none of the other morons who worked for them tried to take over. It sucked being on the outside looking in. It wasn’t a place I was used to being. Usually, I was leading the charge.

“If you need anything and can’t find Amanda or Malcolm, call me. I’ll get it taken care of.”

And just like that, in a flurry of blue cashmere, she was out the door. I’d never spent much time at home during the day, so TV didn’t hold much interest for me, although I let it play in the background for noise. Around lunchtime I heard the front door bang open and I knew it had to be Elena. Wherever Amanda and Malcolm went, I had a pretty good idea I wouldn’t see them until later that night.

“Brock?” Elena’s voice sounded from the foyer.

“In here,” I called back.

She came in, a large white shopping bag in her hand. “I brought lunch from the Bluewater Grill.”

“Is Ashton cooking again?”

She dropped down onto the couch opposite me. “Don’t I wish. He’s still off somewhere with Malcolm and Amanda. But some good news. Miller woke up a few hours ago.”

“That is good news, but I hate being in the dark about all of this.”

“Hey,” she said softly. “I don’t think they’re trying to keep you in the dark. Right now, there’s not much you can do to help them. They want you to rest and not worry about anything.”

I scoffed. “Not worry. All I do is worry. I lost her once. I will not lose her again.”

Elena smiled. “From the few times I’ve talked with her, I don’t think she’d let you lose her again.” She pulled the containers out of the bag, removing the lids and handing one to me. “I want to spend time with you both one of these days and get to know her better. I already like the way she’s softened you a bit.”

“She hasn’t softened shit,” I growled.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, she certainly hasn’t softened your language, but you light up whenever someone mentions her name.”

When I narrowed my eyes at her, she laughed.

“All right. How about we say you’re only softer with her?”

“That’s not as bad.”

“Shut up and eat your lunch. Lewis will be here soon to take us to see Miller.”

It wasn’t long after we finished eating that Lewis showed up to take us to the hospital.

“Man, you’re looking much better than the last time I saw you,” he said, clasping me on the shoulder.

I moved to stand up with my crutch, when Elena stopped me. “Don’t even think you’re going to hobble through the hospital on crutches you can’t even use properly.”

“Elena,” I warned.

She lifted a hand a me. “Don’t start.” She turned to Lewis. “There’s a wheelchair in the guest room. Can you grab it while I put on my coat?”

Lewis didn’t give me a chance to argue. He walked down the hall, leaving me with Elena.

“I can use the crutches just fine.”

She rolled her eyes. “You cannot. Stop being a baby about it.”

“A baby?” I scoffed.

“Yes, a baby. The hospital is not going to let you hobble through there either. Stop arguing, use the chair, and blame it on me.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, regretting the decision almost instantly. Pain shot up my sides, but I did my best to ignore it.

She raised a brow. “Do you want to stay here and pout or do you want to see Miller?”

I huffed. “Fine, get the goddamn chair.”

As if I called him out of thin air, Lewis appeared, wheeling the chair in front of him. After struggling into it, we took the elevator down to the car. I would never admit it to them, but it was a hell of a lot easier to get in and out of the car with the wheelchair. Especially once we arrived at the hospital where we couldn’t pull directly up to the curb.

On the way up to the correct floor, I grew nervous at the thought of seeing Miller. I knew he was awake, but not much else. Only a few steps from the door we heard arguing. Lewis opened the door to see Faith standing next to Miller’s bed with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot.

“Miller Anthony Hawes, you better explain right now why I find out weeks later that you got married without us there.”

The chair stopped abruptly and I glanced over to see Lewis and Elena were frozen in their tracks, obviously deciding if they were willing to risk going in when Faith looked like she might strangle Miller where he lay.

“Mom, please.”

Tess sat in the corner, her face three shades of red.

“Miller,” Faith warned.

Miller’s eyes caught mine. “Brock. Mom, Brock’s here.” He gestured for us to come in which left us no choice but to enter and shut the door behind us.

“Don’t think for one second you don’t have to answer my question ’cause Brock, Elena, and Lewis are here. They’re family too.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be worried about my health and welfare?” Miller drawled.

“I would be if I hadn’t heard you arguing with the nurses about getting out of here. I think you’re strong enough to answer me. Considering the only reason I know is because you were shot, were you ever planning on telling us?” Faith’s voice cracked on the last word.

“Shit, Ma, don’t cry.”

Faith sniffled. Tess looked over at Elena, pleading with her eyes for some help. Elena moved around my chair to sit next to Tess and whisper in her ear.

“What do you expect me to do? My baby gets married and doesn’t want me there.”

Tess jumped up and took a seat next to Miller on the bed. “Oh, Faith, of course we wanted you there. That’s why we didn’t tell you.” She glanced over her shoulder at Miller. “We hadn’t planned on getting married in Vegas. It just happened. We were going to hold another small wedding here and tell everyone then.”

Tess pulled her left hand from her pocket, which now held a huge, square cut emerald and matching wedding band. Between her fingers she held a larger platinum band encrusted with onyx that she slipped onto Miller’s left hand.

“I thought you might want this now.”

Miller lifted that same hand and caressed Tess’s cheek. “I absolutely do,” he said, bringing her in for a kiss.

There was no way Faith could resist that show of love after the week the family had. When they broke apart, she looked between the two of them. “I forgive you both, but we will not be having a small wedding. Since I couldn’t be there for the real thing, you two are letting me plan this one.”

Tess stood and moved forward to wrap her arms around Faith. “I would love nothing more.”

Faith smiled. “Good. Now stop calling me Faith. It’s Mom.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Miller smiled, watching them. Then his attention was drawn to me. “Thank you. I know I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for you.”

“It’s my—”

He shook his head. “Don’t you even say it’s your job. We both know that’s not why you did anything that night.”

I wheeled over to the bed. “You know it, brother.” I laid my hand on his forearm, giving it a brief squeeze.

“How are you feeling? Tess was giving me the rundown before Mom went crazy.”

“Miller,” Faith warned and, like always, Miller ignored the warning.

“Not crazy, so batshit.”

“Shut up, Miller,” Tess said on a groan.

“Leg hurts like a bitch,” I said, not wanting to give him a chance to egg her on anymore. If he pushed her too far, Malcolm would be down here kicking his ass and not caring he was in a hospital bed.

“Ribs?”

“I’ve had worse on those.”

Miller nodded. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ll say my thanks to Amanda later.”

Without coming outright and saying it, Miller made it clear he held no ill will toward Amanda for what Jimmy did.

“I think she’d like that.”

We spent the next hour or so with Miller, but after a while the pain pills I’d taken earlier had started to wear off. Seemed to be the right time too. As Miller’s annoyance with hospital staff began to increase because they wouldn’t let him leave, Tess’s patience with his behavior toward them started to dissipate. The arguing started and there were moments I thought Tess might really lose it. 

Eventually, Elena, Lewis, and I decided to leave. Faith was quick to join us. With Miller’s sparkling personality on full display, I had a feeling Faith wanted to go home so she didn’t have to watch Tess strangle Miller after he’d just woken up.

With Miller making more progress each day, it became easier to focus on the positives in life. Not only were Elena and Ashton planning a wedding, Tess and Miller were too. On the car ride home, Elena told me all about the plans for her and Ashton’s wedding. A small part of me longed for a wedding of my own. The only time Amanda told me she loved me was that day in the hospital. Since then, we’d been like passing ships in the night, very little time together when we were both awake.

Eventually, my eyes became heavy. I picked up the crutches and slowly hobbled my way down the hall on one foot. We’d taken Ashton’s old room for now because it was on the first floor.

The medications for pain put me to sleep quickly. A few hours later I felt Amanda crawl into bed beside me. I pulled her as tight to me as I could.

“I missed you,” I whispered into the dark room.

“It’s almost over,” she answered, running her fingertips up and down my chest.

That statement had me fighting through the medication to wake up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ll explain in the morning.” She laid her head down on my chest.

“And how the hell do you expect me to go to sleep when now that’s the only thing on my mind?”

She slid down my body. “Well, I guess we’ll have to find other things to occupy your mind that won’t hurt you.”