Page 23 of Savage Reign

It waspast midnight when I decided it was safe to move.

Silas and Maverick still weren't back. Silas—well, I didn’t know what he was up to. He had been off since Mila left, and though we found her, there was still something about him that didn’t sit right. I might have been more concerned over that if my emotions weren’t all over the place.

Maverick was gone because he had to head back to the city and wouldn’t return until the following day. Something about dealing with the fallout of the Cadorna Famiglia’s new heir. Something I didn’t give a shit about, even if I had caused it. I still didn’t think we needed the Cadorna clan to help with our shipments. They provided a safe route to California, but it wasn’t like we didn’t have the means to get there ourselves.

We couldn’t use our uncle in Las Vegas because the paranoid fucker still wasn’t fully convinced we weren’t after his empire. It didn’t matter. Once the old man kicks the bucket and leaves his entire kingdom to his one and only heir, our cousin, Finley, we won’t have to deal with him anymore. Until then, we were simply playing the waiting game with Las Vegas.

My one and only concern was whoever owned Stocken Isle. Rumor had it that the owner lived in Chicago. My brothers and I had combed through every possible person in Chicago who could own Stocken Isle, but we seemed to have run into a dead end.

At this point, I wanted to believe it was nothing more than a rumor with no truth to it.

I shook my head as I pulled the hood over my head. Dressed in all black, I hoped to blend in with the night. It wouldn’t do well if someone saw me and decided to call the cops. Wouldn'thave stopped me from going to get what was mine, but it was a headache I didn’t want to deal with.

The streetlamps on the property were either broken or dimmed. They barely provided enough lighting for anything, which made things easier, but this only drew attention to the fact that Mila had been staying in such a crappy place to begin with. And had we not found her, she would have continued to stay here without protection. Exactly what was she planning on doing after running away?

It was obvious that she hadn’t thought it through. And perhaps we had gone about it the wrong way, keeping the truth from her about her birth control pills. I always thought honesty was the way to go. It wouldn’t have changed the way we went about things, but at least we would have been honest about it. And it wouldn’t have given her a reason—anexcuse—to leave.

And we wouldn’t be here.

I wouldn’t be here, picking the lock to her motel room.

I would have been back at home, in bed, preferably with her next to me, wrapped up in my arms.

I paused in my movements from the thoughts. I couldn’t even remember the last time Iwantedto spend the night with another woman. But hell, if I didn’t want that with Mila.

I pushed the pick further inside the lock and smiled to myself when I heard the subtle click, telling me I had disengaged the lock.

Quietly, I pushed the door open a crack, and when I heard nothing but silence coming from the room, I pushed it open far enough for me to slip inside. I closed the door quietly behind me, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

I could just make out her tiny form, sleeping in the middle of the bed.

She barely stirred.

I shuffled closer, my heart beating so fucking loudly in my chest I was afraid she might hear it and wake up.

My hands reached out for her.

The first touch on her face was like coming home. I let out a deep exhale, feeling the weight that had been pressing down on my chest dissipating and the darkness that had surrounded me like a second skin slowly pulling back, hidden just enough for me to function.

I felt more human with her around.

My fingers moved down the side of her face, taking in the softness of her skin there.

She breathed out evenly as I got to her lips, and I let my finger trace lightly over the outline, taking in their plumpness.

“Fuck, but I missed you,” I whispered quietly. She didn’t hear me. Of course she didn’t, but that little confession was like the final wrecking ball to the walls I had built around my heart since my teenage years.

The impact was so strong, so sudden, I almost fell down to my knees.

I took in a deep breath and tried to steady myself.

I frowned when my fingers moved up and got to her forehead. She was hot. And sweaty. And now that I thought about it, her cheeks had been hot. Was that why she looked so… off? Was it why she nearly missed her bus stop?

Was she sick?

I pulled the blanket a little further down her body, not that it would tell me anything. Not in this dark room, but fuck. My fist clenched as a wave of helplessness washed through me. It was a feeling I didn’t have very often. Not in my adulthood, but this?

I didn’t fucking know what to do.

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