The door to her grandfather’s library is locked, and I have to break it down. When the thing finally gives, we find two nurses huddled on either side of the hospital bed.

“It’s okay,” I say to them. “I’m Julia’s husband. We’re here to help.”

They stand, look at each other, and then they run. They don’t even look back as they bolt out the door. I sigh.

“You do look scary,” Sydney says, smiling at me.

“No I don’t. I’m friendly as fuck.”

She shakes her head. “There’s blood on your face.”

“Oh.” I wipe my face off. “Did I get it?”

She shakes her head. “You just spread it around more.”

“Shit.”

“It’s okay. Look.”

I follow her gaze over to the hospital bed. Her grandfather is there, and although he looks horrible, his eyes are open.

“Granddad,” Sydney says, walking over to him. “I’m so sorry, granddad.”

I watch as she leans over and kisses him softly on the cheek.

“Sydney,” he croaks and looks at me. “Connor.” I don’t think he notices that I have blood on my face and that Sydney was clearly beaten up recently. He’s too distracted by his pain and his mind obviously isn’t totally clear.

I stand behind Sydney, nodding. “Julia wanted to be here. But Evan stopped her, turned her away.”

“Why?” he asks.

“I don’t know, granddad, but it’s true,” Sydney takes his hand. “Mom’s been fighting for you. But Evan sent his men here and they were trying to keep us from you.”

“Noise,” he says.

“That was the men,” Sydney says. “And Connor, he...” she tails off.

“Took them out,” I say, grinning.

A small smile passes over his face. “Good,” he says. “Nurses were scared.”

I laugh and Sydney smiles.

“Are you okay?” she asks him.

“No,” he says. “Not long. I need my medicine.” He looks over at the side table.

I walk over and pick up a syringe. I frown at it then comprehension dawns.

“How many?” I ask.

“Three drops,” he croaks. “Or... more.”

“One for now,” I grunt, and drop a bit of morphine into his mouth. He accepts it gratefully and lets out a breath.

“Granddad,” Sydney says, kneeling down next to him. “You know Mom wanted to be here. You mean a lot to her.”

He coughs and then smiles. “No. Hates me.”

Sydney looks confused. “What?”

“She does. Wasn’t always. The best.” He coughs again, and there’s some red on his lips. Sydney wipes it off with a tissue next to the night table.

“Syd...” I say.

She gives me a look and goes back to her granddad. “I don’t think it’s true. You two had a hard time, but look. She got married, she runs the company. She loves what you made, and you helped to make her.”

He smiles at her. “You. Remind me. So much. Of my Annette.”

I cock my head and assume that’s the name of his wife.

Syd smiles. “I miss grandmom.”

“I’ll be. With. Her soon.” His eyes glaze over slightly.

“Granddad, listen. I need to know something.”

He looks back at Sydney. I can tell he’s struggling to remain coherent, but the morphine is working and he’s dying, really dying.

“Are you leaving the company to mom?”

He smiles at that. “Love you, honey.” He looks away, his eyes glazed open. He’s still breathing, but he’s not there anymore.

Syd stands up. I take her and move her away from the bed before wrapping my arms around her.

“Is he...?” she asks.

“Not yet,” I say. “But soon. He’s going to cough up a lot of blood. It’s going to be very unpleasant. But I’ll do what I can.”

She nods against my chest. I can feel her crying, but she does so noiselessly, like she doesn’t have any noise left to make.

I hold her like that before finally walking her out to the main room. Jonathan and Ryan are out there, waiting respectfully.

“The goons outside?” I ask them.

“Left,” Ryan says. “Scared them off, I guess.”

“No,” I say. “Evan called them back. He knows we won.”

“How’s the old man?” Ryan asks.

“Not great. Give us a second?”

The two men nod and walk a ways away. I look back at Sydney. “I’m going back in there. Wait out here. I’ll take care of your grandfather.”

“Okay,” she says, nodding. She looks into my eyes. “Thank you, Connor. For everything.”

“Just doing my job.”

“I mean it,” she says. “I love you. Really. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t...”

I kiss her hard, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against me. She returns my kiss, and I don’t care that Ryan and Jonathan can see it. I just don’t care anymore. It doesn’t matter. It’s all done now. The old man is going to die in there, and I’m going to take care of him in his last moments. Whatever decision he made about his company is going to stand. We’re not going to get the will changed.

I don’t care about any of that. I really don’t. I have what’s important, and that’s Sydney. She’s the only thing I need, the only thing I care about in this fucked up world. She’s the only one I need.

We kiss long and hard before slowly breaking off. She smiles at me and I cup her chin. “Be back soon. After this, we can do whatever we want.”

“Good.” She hugs me, pressing her face against my chest. “Let’s travel.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere. I don’t care.”

I grin and kiss her one last time. “You got it.”

I squeeze her hand then step away. She walks over to Ryan and Jonathan as I head back into the library, back over to her grandfather.

I’ll keep him comfortable in his last hours, since there’s nobody else. The nurses ran away, and who knows how long before Julia gets here. I’ll take care of him, and then I’ll take care of Sydney.

Because she’s mine now. I fought and killed for her, risked my life for her. I’d risk a lot more. If she wants to travel, we’ll fucking travel, that’s all there is to it.

I shut the door. I’ll do my job. And I’ll have my prize. Sydney is mine, always will be mine. I’ll spoil her rotten, take care of her, because she makes me feel better than I ever guessed she could.

Things are going to be okay.