Page 129 of Ruthless Savage

Over twenty minutes pass, and finally, one of the doctors steps out from behind the doors, removing his blue scrub cap.

“How is she, Doc?” I rush forward, my pulse blasting in my ears.

“She’s fine. No serious damage.” His attention flicks to everyone. “We gave her some blood, stitched her up, and she’s resting now in room seven. But she was asking for you,” he tells me. “So if you wanna go?—”

I don’t even wait for a response, running through those doors and down a hallway until I find room seven.

Through the glass window in the center of the door, our eyes connect. And with a trembling bottom lip, she starts to cry. Immediately, I rush inside and reach for her, my arms tighten around her while that soft crying rips at my heart.

I scoop her up and place her on my lap. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, mo stoirín.”

Her sobs grow heavier. “It all just hit me.” She sniffles. “It could’ve been so much worse.”

“I know, love. I know.” My own emotions pound through me. “The thought of losing you, the one person in this world I love more than anything… I did this to you, and I need to end it.”

She slants back. “End it how? Are you leaving?”

Her whispered worry makes my chest tight.

“I have to find out how Mason knows the people from my past, the ones who came after you. I’m going with your sister and brothers to get answers. But I swear…” I grasp her jaw and kiss her slow. “I swear I’m coming back to you and making you my wife.”

Tears gather in her eyes. “Please don’t let anything happen to you. I won’t survive it.”

“I promise to do everything I can to come home to you, lass. You’ve given me purpose. Made me believe that I’m a man worthy of something. Worthy of a love from a woman like you.”

She lifts her good arm and clasps a palm around my cheek. “You have always been worthy of love, Devlin. I’m sorry your parents made you believe otherwise.”

She lays her head against my chest, my fingers stroking her back as we stay there, minutes bleeding into one another, until it’s time for me to go.

Before I do, I vow to come back to her one last time. I just hope it’s a promise I’m able to keep.

CHAPTER 30

ERIU

Once he’s gone, it’s like a piece of me is missing. I can’t stop the scary thoughts in my head. What if something happens to him? To my sister? My brothers? What if I lose someone else like I lost Mom? I don’t want anyone else to die.

My eyes sting. I swipe at them just as the door opens, and in walks my father. We haven’t had a moment to talk. After Devlin left, Iseult and my brothers came to check on me before they too left.

“Hi, darling. How are you feeling?” He strides toward the bed and takes the chair beside it.

“Could be better.” I shrug.

“I’m sorry this all is happening to you.” He sighs. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to shield you from the dangers of what we do, but it seems like there’s no escaping it.”

I glance down at my lap, unsure how to respond. Of course there’s no escaping it. We are Quinns. We are the Mob. I still don’t see us that way. It’s all just strange.

“Dad.” I reach my hand for his, and he scoots to the edge of the chair so he can grab it. “I’m not a little kid anymore. I know how dangerous our world is. I saw it with my own eyes when I was kidnapped by that Russian guy.”

“Yes, Konstantin’s father. How could I forget?” His features twist with indignation. “If he wasn’t dead already, I’d have killed him.”

“Can I ask you something?” My stomach tenses. “And please tell me the truth.”

He sits up straighter. “What is it?”

My stomach twists and turns, pulse unsteady. “Did Mom really die in an accident?”

He draws in a breath that he doesn’t let go of. When his eyes shut for a moment, I know I was fed a lie.

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