Page 46 of Cruel Hearts

I step away from Zarah’s door. Perhaps I can spare the poor woman a bit of Ash’s temper. Just as I do, Zarah emits a keening sound so chilling I almost piss myself. An orderly and two nurses rush into her room—almost as if they were expecting it—and I hold the door open to watch what they do. A nurse jabs a needle into Zarah’s arm, and she passes out, her screaming abruptly stopping. She slumps in her wheelchair, and the orderly, who has arms bigger than my legs, hefts her out of the chair and carries her to the bed.

The worst feeling in the world settles over me. Worse than hearing my parents were killed. Even worse than Ash telling me Stella ran away with Cardello.

One of the nurses comes out of the bedroom area of Zarah’s suite. “You shouldn’t be here. I’m going to call security.”

Pushing back a string of expletives, I say, “I’m her brother.” I don’t appreciate being told I can’t see my own sister.

“She’s a lost cause,” the second nurse says without an ounce of compassion. “Her mind is broken. Do yourself a favor. Forget about her and move on.”

The nurses exit her room leaving the orderly behind to supervise Zarah under the heavy sedation.

It’s what I pay for.

I’m left alone in the hallway, and I dig my phone out of my pocket. Fuck this. “I need the power of attorney I gave Ashton Black over Zarah revoked.”

My attorney stutter excuses, how difficult that will be, blah blah blah. It’s not difficult to understand he doesn’t want to go head to head with Ash.

“I don’t give a shit. I signed that paper under duress. Dig it up, I bet a million dollars my signature isn’t legible. Fuck, it might not even be mine. I want my sister out of this shithole, and no one is going to stop me, not even Ash. Find a spine, you useless jellyfish, or I’ll find someone who will.” I disconnect and calmly slip my phone back into my pocket instead of throwing it against the wall the way I want.

From Iona’s office, Ash’s shouting blasts down the hallway to the lobby. He’s angry about the ring which is understandable, but I know it’s insured and he doesn’t need to be as livid as he is. The ring can be replaced.

After all these years, he still hates Stella with a passion I can’t match, even after what she did to me.

I knock once and push Iona’s door open, rescuing her from Ash’s rage.

There’s no reason to be pissed about this. I’m more curious about what Stella wanted than anything else. I look at Ash to try to reason with him and calm him down, and I’m taken aback.

Ash’s eyes glitter with anger.

But also, with fear.

I smooth Iona’s ruffled feathers and settle Ash down. Besides the stolen ring, nothing happened. Ash doesn’t give a shit about the ring, and he proves it by not mentioning it again.

Outside, standing under the concrete canopy in the front of the building, Ash runs a hand through his hair in agitation. He doesn’t appreciate Iona calling me,includingme. Maybe she knew I would be easier to deal with, and I don’t blame her for anything that happened. Despite how young she was, Stella showed intelligence and ingenuity when she was my assistant. I’m not surprised she found a way to break into Zarah’s room.

Ash doesn’t care about the why, only that Stella’s back in King’s Crossing at all, but I do.

All I can do is ask.

If I can find her.

“Let’s grab dinner,” he says, pulling a white handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping spittle off his lips. “Bring Nathalie. I’ll find someone. I need to get a drink, relax, and shake this off. Fucking stupid woman. I should have her fired.”

Leftover rage radiates off Ash, and I go along to appease him.

Zarah’s keening echoes through my mind, and I can’t help but think I’m betraying her by pretending everything is normal. I don’t want drinks and dinner and I don’t want to see Nathalie, but the second I agree, Ash changes, and it’s like the entire afternoon never happened.

I follow him to Black Enterprises, and we kill time in his office sipping whiskey until the dinner hour.

He answers a couple of phone calls and I scroll through email on my phone. I called Nathalie on the drive here and said she needed an hour to change. She sounded happy to hear from me, and she used the “fuck me” tone she always does when she knows I’m upset after a piss-poor day. I’ve had plenty of those without Stella, and sometimes a quick and dirty roll is just what I need to buff the edges.

I can still see Ash whispering into Zarah’s ear, still hear her screaming after he walked away. Something isn’t right, and moving Zarah to the penthouse is a start. I’ll hire a nurse, and between the nurse and Lucille, Zarah will be taken care of. She’s present under all those drugs. Stella found her. Stella found Zarah’s spirit in less than five minutes. I want to see Zarah’s spark again. I need it back.

Ash looks up from his phone. “My dad wants me to sit in on a satellite call, and I need about fifteen minutes. You’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. Do what you gotta do.”

“Thanks.”

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