Page 43 of The Fox

“I have you, Amelia Conte. You are mine.”

CHAPTER 30

Rhodes---Take Me Home

There are defining moments in life—weddings, births, funerals, that first pull from a cheap beer. They become touchstones, guides on our journey back to safe waters.

I can still remember my first mission objective, the first exhale before firing that shot. I can still taste the stale air as that bullet reached its target, still have the sight of the collapsing body burned onto my retinas.

Amelia telling me that she is a Mafia queen, the ruler of an entire Outfit? It rattles me to my core. How did I miss the signs? I’ve kept her in my line of sight, stalking her out of fascination. Out of the innate desire to protect her.

I shift in the bed beside her, the strongest woman I know safe within my arms. She nuzzles her cheek against my shoulder, a content sigh falling from those chapped lips. I don’t know how she’s hid it for so long, how she’s managed to keep a foothold or keep the wolves at bay. I shudder at the thought of what mykochaniehas had to do to ensure her safety, to keep herself alive. She thought of herself as an island. Not anymore, she isn’t.

Pulling the starchy and thin blanket up to her shoulder, I brush her hair back, my hands feeling too rough for her broken body. While her bruising looks better, there will be months of recovery, of healing both the physical wounds and mental ones as well. For once, she seems to be sleeping decently, her body dead weight against mine despite the lack of comfort provided by this hospital bed. I can’t wait to get her home where she can sleep in a familiar place, with Lennon nestled at her feet, and surrounded by her own blankets.

Once Amelia had crashed earlier from the overwhelm and exhaustion, Duncan had filled me in on the pieces I was missing.

“Amelia took over a little more than five years ago after her dad died. She tends to overwork herself,” Duncan says quietly so he doesn’t wake her. “I wasn’t surprised when she’d said that the attack happened on the way to the office. Her family home is her office, Rhodes. Ames knows that place by heart. It is a fortress, locked down tight. She wouldn’t have been taken by surprise.”

I don’t move my eyes from his face as Duncan flickers his gaze to Amelia, still laying in that damn bed.

“Where were you? Isn’t she supposed to have someone with her, following her footsteps?” I am furious at the man standing before me. For someone sworn to protect my woman, he failed miserably. I know he wouldn’t let his wife be alone, so why Amelia was is beyond comprehension.

Duncan’s eyes look at the ceiling, defeat radiating from his frame. “I don’t make the calls when it comes to Amelia and how she runs her men.” Placing his hands in the pockets of his wrinkled navy suit pants, Duncan continues. “By the time Amelia had made it to the hospital, her body had given out. She was taken immediately to surgery. By the time I was allowed to see her, the doctors had placed her under sedation, keeping her intubated so she could rest.”

I harden my face and the Conte Family Underboss shrinks under my gaze.

“Never again. Never again will she be alone.”

An hour passes and Amelia is starting to grow restless. I wait, knowing her heavy eyes will reach mine in a second. Sure enough, I feel her staring at me, and I look down at the most powerful woman in the city. Her lips are raw, the swelling on her face is still there, as are the bruises, and she looks flat-out exhausted. My hand goes to her jaw, a gentle caress before cupping it.

“Hey. Go back to sleep,kochanie.”

Her gaze falters, a shadow of something flickering within those storm-cloud eyes, and she lets out the softest of sighs.

“I just want to go home, Rhodes,” she whispers as if she says it too loud, the world around us will shatter. “I just want to go home.”

“Two more days, baby. This time Friday, we’ll be with Lennon, you’ll have your favorite sweats on, and I’ll have you wrapped in that blanket you love so much.” I stare down, watching the sheen cover those eyes I love, emotion sticking in her throat. I know she hates it here, that she would rather be anywhere else. It has been an endless cycle of medical professionals, of being poked and prodded, of physical therapy. Amelia has multiple contusions, several injuries to her ribs, and other injuries that make my blood boil. The therapist said that Amelia would have six weeks of physical therapy due to her injuries and that despite the extent of her injuries, there is hope Amelia’s occupational therapy would be shorter.

Her face drops as if what she is about to say is full of shame. Amelia doesn’t have her walls up at the moment, and I can see how much that scares her. “I can’t be seen as weak. I have to go home.”

I sit up, slightly rotating so that I can look at her fully. Both hands now cradling her face, forcing it up toward mine so I can ensure she hears every word I’m about to say.

“You are not weak, Amelia.” She starts to interrupt, and I place a single finger on those lips. “You are not weak. You were ambushed, baby. What should have been a safe drive was not, and that is not your fault. Do you know how strong you are? How much you’ve had to overcome these past several days?”

She tries to pull away, and that just makes me tighten my grip on her chin.

“You are Amelia Conte. You are The Fox, Queen of the Underworld. You are mykochanie, Parker’s best friend and the only person Lennon actually likes.”

The slightest of smiles tries to break across her face.

“He likes you too, you know, Ro.”

Ro. There was a brief moment when I thought I’d never hear it again falling from the goddess in front of me. She’s the only one to have ever called me that, and she’ll be the only one for the rest of my life.

“You are the best thing to have ever happened to me. I know that you don’t feel strong right now, and that is okay. I will carry you for as long as it takes for you to repair your armor. You are not alone anymore, I’ve got you.”

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