Page 60 of Soul Of A Villain

“That’s not going to happen. There is no scenario where I let you stray far from my side.”

She pulled away from him, frustration evident in the narrowing of her eyes. “You might as well clip your leash to this collar around my neck. Am I your wife? Or your prized pet?”

Oliver’s lip twitched with a smile. “Both. And I’m not fucking around when I say you aren’t leaving my side until this business with the sheriff and Diamond Lake Ranch is over. They may not be connected at all, but my gut tells me they are. The Andrey brothers want you back to resell you. To conduct another hunt. And there’s someone or something driving that; otherwise, they would have already moved past the auction and onto to the next. You came here with me, and you will leave here with me. Now,” he tilted her chin with the end of his forefinger, “put a smile on your pretty face and go see your sister. You have an hour before we must get back to the airfield.”

Londyn’s mouth opened, an argument against his statement clearly formed, but a second later, her lips thinned into a line of irritation. She nodded, remaining silent as Oliver exited the car and rounded it to open her door and help her out. Catching her elbow before she could move past him, he peered into her face.

“You think I’m simply being cruel, but I am doing this for your safety, dove. Can you understand that?”

“Yes,” she replied, her body rigid against his. Oliver wished they were back on the jet, back in that magical moment when she had softened for him, her eyes wide and her body bending in willing submission. With an inaudible sigh, he released her arm and let her brush past him. Following her as she entered the facility, Oliver bent his head in subtle acknowledgment to one of the men hired to secure Paris’s safety. He leaned against the wall where a locked door led back to the residents of the facility. Only admittance by someone at the front desk would allow a person to move past the facility’s built-in security.

Oliver spoke softly to the receptionist, signing the log on Londyn’s behalf with her first initial and his last name. A wild excitement zinged along his veins seeing just that tiny example of their connection in black ink.Londyn Juliette Skye Winter.It had a certain poetic sound to it.

A buzzer alerted them to the door unlocking, and Oliver ushered Londyn through it, giving Cooper, the stoic ex-military guard on his payroll, a nod as they passed.

The second man working for Oliver sat in a chair outside of Paris’s room. Londyn continued into the room while Oliver shook the man’s hand when he stood.

“Good to see you, Lawson.”

“Winter,” Lawson acknowledged. “How goes it?”

“As well as can be expected. Has her doctor been in yet?” Oliver asked as Londyn pushed the door until it was almost shut. He heard her begin crying as she rushed to her sister’s bedside, the soft murmur of her voice soothing as she spoke to Paris.

“Due to arrive in about ten minutes. I understand congratulations are in order.”

Word was certainly traveling quickly. Oliver realized his next phone call should be to his own brother. He needed Kingston to know what had taken place and why.

“Thank you. Just to give you a heads-up, I’m having her flown to a facility in New York. Ideally, it will happen tomorrow or the day after if necessary. Are you and Cooper available to travel with her? Or should I make other arrangements for security?”

“We’re yours until you say otherwise,” Lawson assured him. “Still no word from Bradford and Tyler regarding the sheriff’s whereabouts?”

Oliver shook his head. “None. But I expect an update shortly. They should be in Colorado by now.”

Lawson nodded, then jerked his chin toward the half-shut door. “Let me know if you or Mrs. Winter need anything.”

After he entered the room, Oliver quietly pushed the door shut behind him. He watched from a distance as Londyn bent over the girl in the bed, stroking her hair and tucking the covers around her shoulders. She spoke quietly to her sister, and seeing them together, Oliver realized how similar they were in appearance. Both girls possessed dark hair, although Paris’s was cut much shorter and barely brushed the tops of her shoulders. She lay motionless, her face blank and eyes dull, without even a spark of life in their pretty hazel depths.

Oliver’s jaw clenched. He’d seen death too many times not to notice it in this girl’s features. Her skin was pale, her body thin. Fuck, the girl was slowly wasting away, and there was probably nothing that could be done for her.

Londyn glanced up as he approached the bed, tears tracking down her cheeks in the soft glow of a bedside lamp. The room was prettily decorated, its appearance more like a bedroom than a hospital room, although all the necessary equipment for someone in Paris’s condition was in place.

“They put a feeding tube in her,” Londyn cried, her brow creased in confusion. “A feeding tube. Why would they do that? She was eating on her own the last time I saw her. Slowly, but still, she was doing it. I don’t understand why she looks worse than before. I don’t understand…”

Oliver reached for her hand, pulling her into his hard body. “I’m sorry, dove. I should have warned you. She stopped eating at the other facility, and the doctors here decided to keep the tube in place. They tell me she’s stable for the moment, but the tube is not something that can be removed. I approved their recommendation to keep her on it.”

Londyn clung to him, sobbing against his shirt. “You didn’t tell me. How could you not tell me?”

Oliver’s heart throbbed like it was being cut from his chest as her pain leached into him. “I didn’t want to worry you.” He almost lifted a hand to rub the pain away before stopping himself.

Her breath came in a shuddering gasp. “I had a right to know, Oliver.”

“That’s true.” He embraced her tighter. “I’m sorry. Sorry, I didn’t tell you.”

They were words he never thought he’d utter aloud, much less to another person. Londyn’s slender body stiffened as he murmured them against the crown of her head.

“Is she… is she dying?”

Oliver couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth, not when it felt like her despair was ripping his insides to bloody, painful shreds. “The doctors here are experts in this field and doing everything possible, dove. When she is transferred to New York, I will make sure the same occurs there as well. She will have the finest care, with every specialist I can find in charge of her.” Squeezing her harder, Oliver hoped she would not ask any more questions. He didn’t want to lie to her, not when he’d sworn he never would. “Go sit with her, Londyn. Hold her hand. Tell her everything and anything you want to. She’ll know you are here with her; I’m sure of it.”

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