Page 61 of Vail

“I hope it was worth your life.”

He tried to beg again, but he’d lost his fight.

I held my hand out. Reghan took his gun from the holster. I left home so fast, worry for Vail riding me, I forgot to grab mine. I didn’t even wait for the fucking elevator. I started running down the stairs with Reghan behind me.

Reghan placed his gun in my palm. I aimed and fired, hitting the man in the head. “What a waste of my fucking time,” I growled and handed it back. “Call someone to clean this shit up.”

Stripping off my clothes, I left them on the floor and went into the shower to scrub the blood and bits from my body. It was one of the suits Hartley had made for me too. I was pissed about that. I should have shot the man in the knees first. Then the stomach. And finally in the head. Nothing to be done of it now.

Once I scrubbed myself clean, I shut the water off and checked the mirror to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Hartley and Vail knew what I was down here doing. They didn’t need a reminder of it.

With a towel around my waist, I went to the cabinet and withdrew a pair of black slacks and a white button-down. No jacket, but it wasn’t necessary.

Sheldon got into the shower after me. Reghan would follow suit. Luckily, Oleander wasn’t bloodied more than he already was from being shot.

Oleander followed me up the stairs and I made sure to firmly close the door behind us. We walked through the house, following the sound of voices to find Vail, Hartley, and Sylvan sitting at the table with plates in front of them with muffin crumbs dotting the ivory-colored dishes, along with empty cups of coffee.

Hartley was the first to see me. “Okay?” he mouthed.

I nodded.

Vail turned to me next. He didn’t stand, though he looked me up and down. “I’m not going to ask what you did, but did you find anything out?”

“No, he was useless.” I wouldn’t go into detail of what was said. Vail had enough to give him nightmares without me adding the man’s words to it. “Did you enjoy your time with Sylvan?”

“He told us how you met and changed his life.”

When I focused on Sylvan, his gaze wasn’t on me but on Oleander by my side. A blush colored Sylvan’s cheeks. Now there was a relationship I could get behind. Sylvan was a sweet man. Oleander was as loyal as they came with a gentle touch when needed. He was also lethal. It was why I put him with Vail. If I placed someone like Reghan or Raiden with him, Vail wouldn’t have been able to form a bond as fast. Although he probably knew more about the twins than I did at this point.

Sylvan finally looked my way. “I forgot to give them the tour.”

“It’s okay,” I said to calm him. He didn’t need to get himself worked up thinking he disappointed me. No matter how many times I told him that wasn’t possible, he still worried. “You can give it to them now if you’d like.”

“You don’t have to leave?”

“No, Sylvan. We’re good here for a while. It’s peaceful. We could use a bit of that.”

“Okay.” He stood. “Follow me. I’ll show you to the library first. It’s my favorite room in the house.”

The four of us went from room to room with Sylvan as he explained what every room was for and what he loved about it. Nothing that came from him was negative. Even the bathrooms, he found a way to say something positive. That was just who he was. After almost being evicted, he’d been forever grateful to me.

People thought I was a monster, a man out to do every illegal crime they could think of. And while I did do some that weren’t above board, I wasn’t all bad. Okay, maybe I was seventy-five percent bad and twenty-five good. Who the fuck knew? Either way, I had a heart, no matter how dark, and I cared about the people in my life.

At one point, Vail held my hand and Hartley came up on my other side, looping his arm through mine. They walked with me as we listened to Sylvan speak about the home he loved so much. While I didn’t hear every word he said, I was here with the men I loved on either side of me. They were in one piece. Sheldon and Oleander brought Vail home safely.

Wait… “Where the fuck is Forest?”

“Oh, he’s outside,” Hartley said. “He wanted to walk around the grounds.”

“Sheldon,” I barked. He was around here somewhere. I’d caught a glimpse of him as we were walking the halls.

“On it,” I heard come from downstairs. He’d find him.

“Can he get hurt out there?” Hartley asked.

“Not unless there’s a bear,” Sylvan said. “But that’s unlikely. The entire property is fenced. Forest is probably out back by the stream that trickles through the property. It freezes this time of year.”

“As long as he’s okay.”

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