Page 114 of When Hearts Awaken

I’m tired. Exhausted. Pissed off.

It’s not healthy to bottle everything up.That’s what Taylor always tells me.

Liam gets in my face and in this second, I’m hit with how my younger brother, the little kid who used to follow me around the gardens when we were growing up, who’d come to me when the girl he asked out in high school rejected him, is now a complete stranger.

It tears me up inside.

“No, I don’t think you’d want our sister to be in a coma. Even you aren’t that cold. But how much money did you spend to cover that up?” He shoves me back a few steps. “Tell me this, how many people in your circle even know you have a sister in a coma?”

I ball up my hands at my sides. He knows nothing. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be the crown fucking prince of an old money dynasty. And would telling everyone about the accident, having the press get up in our business and parked outside the hospital building help Firefly?

It wouldn’t. She wouldn’t have wanted that.

He barks out a laugh at my silence. “Because that’d be bad press for your precious company, right?”

“Fuck you!” I shove him back. “I served, so you guys didn’t have to!”

“Bullshit! You liked the power and prestige of being the fucking CEO of the Bank of Columbia.”

More shocked whispers and murmurs surround us. Chairs squeak. Footsteps pound toward us. I look around, finding Julie and the other nurses wide-eyed and aghast, security striding down the halls toward us.

“Are you happy now? Causing a commotion? You wanted emotions, right? Now you got them.” I grab his T-shirt, torn between the urge to hit him for abandoning me all these years and the desperate need to beg for his forgiveness because I miss our days in the Hamptons.

“Go ahead, you asshole. Hit me! I don’t fucking care!” Liam spits on my face.

My vision clouds in red as I haul him closer and raise my fist, letting the rage from this morning and the guilt I’ve carried for most of this past decade burn through me.

“Stop it! You guys, break it up!” A scent of vanilla fills the air.

Her.

Taylor.

She pulls me apart as Ethan steps up from nowhere and drags Liam back a few steps.

Liam fights and claws at his best friend’s grip, and I wipe the spit off my face.

“I don’t care what beef you have with your brother.” Taylor stomps up to him and jabs her finger into his chest. Liam stares at her, his mouth dropping open.

She looks around, clearly taking in our audience, and steps back. “I don’t know what happened with your sister but I’m a woman and I’m also someone’s sister and I can tell you, the last thing I’d want if I were laying on the bed in a coma is to see the people I love going at it like enemies outside my door!”

Her words are a blow across my face and shame fills me. Liam’s nostrils flare and a muscle tics in his jaw, but he remains silent.

Taylor points to me, then glares at Liam. “This man has so much heart inside him. He loves you guys so fucking much. You don’t know how lucky you are. He’s the best man I know.” She swallows, her voice trembling. “Trust me. I know. So, I won’t have you hurt him like this. If you want to go at him, you’ll have to go through me.”

A rush of emotions slams through me—the sticky shame from moments ago, the sweltering warmth of appreciation, the burst of pride, and so much fucking love singeing my chest I almost forget how to breathe.

My minx is fierce. The black swan ruffling her feathers under the spotlight, owning the attention of everyone in the room.

And she claimed me as her prince.

“Understand?” she asks Liam.

My brother swallows as he shrugs himself out of Ethan’s clasp. His voice is thick and rusty as he rasps, “For your sake, I hope you’re right.”

He spins around and walks back into Firefly’s room. Ethan holds my gaze for a second and mouths,“I got this. Come back another day. Go cool down.”

Taylor steps in front of me and cradles my face. Her brows are pinched, lips pursed. She swipes the wetness on my face with her thumb, her big eyes wide with concern.

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