Page 18 of Tainted Blood

“Okay, we’re finished here,” the doc barks out, causing us both to look at him. Her gaze is full of fear, where mine is filled with contempt.

“Yes, we are,” she adds, pulling off her latex gloves, tossing them and the dirty bandages in the medical waste bin. My mind goes to the fact that it’s the first time we used any latex between us. I gaze at her stomach and wonder if I left a little bit of me inside. Shaking my head, I remember that she was on birth control.

“We have more patients to check on. Please excuse us.”

“As I said, she’s not leaving yet.”

He freezes and then says, “She can only be here another ten minutes. We do have other patients that require special care. We are in the ICU, after all.”

“Fine.” The moment he’s out of the door, Connor says, “So back to the governor question, Ms. Vitale.”

“Vitale?” Jack mutters.

“It’s a fairly common last name,” Callie says, but something in her facial expression tells me she’s not being honest.

“I’m sure it is, but when you have a connection to the governor, we have a problem,” Jack snarls.

“Yes, I recall you glaring at me like a fucking asshole. He was my neighbor when I was younger, if you must know. I want nothing to do with your world, so if you’ll excuse me, there are others who need me. I’ll send the nurse in to see if you need anything else.” She gathers the rest of her things that she brought in and then sets them on a tray she brought with her.

“We’ll buzz the nurse, little girl,” Jack adds.

She whips her head around and sneers at him. “Don’t piss me off, big boy. I want nothing to do with any of you. I don’t need to be mixed up in trouble or to be peppered with bullets.” She has a point, and I hate that she does. It isn’t safe in my world, but that doesn’t mean I’m not crazy about her. I knew that from the moment I tasted her lips.

I take her hand before she tries to run. “Callie, I’ll say this once. Run now, because the second I get a chance, I’m going to find you and then there’s no going back.”

“You didn’t bother looking for me before; keep it that way.” She yanks her hand away and storms past my brothers and out of the door.

“Do you realize what she just revealed?” Connor says to me.

“She’s Carlo Vitale’s daughter.”

“So, the head of a crime family that we have no beef with. Big deal. Look at who your women are related to and then tell me something.” They both need to be reminded that they all have ties to women with questionable backgrounds.

“Fuck, you have a point, but it’s messed up that all of our women are tied to some family,” Jack says.

“Hell, Connor picked Claudia out, knowing damn well she was related to the governor.”

“Technically she’s not,” Connor says, defending his choice, but I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.

“What the hell do you mean?” My brows cinch together.

“We didn’t get to tell you, but he’s definitely John’s father.”

So this is why our piece of shit father hates Saunders. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. We found this.” Jack dips into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulls out a piece of paper and a picture, handing it to me. I check the picture first, recognizing those in it. It’s clear my mom and the governor look a lot younger. I set it on my lap and read the letter.

Every word from my mother registers in my head. She loved the governor, and they had a baby together. She was planning on leaving my father before she died. “He had to have killed her.”

“We don’t doubt it. She didn’t die from having John, just like he didn’t suffer from brain damage either. It was all a made-up story to stop her from running.”

“Does Saunders know?” I ask. We’ll have to squash our differences and unite under a common enemy and a common love.

“Yes. I went to see him. He wants to see John.”

“He does?” I question.

“Yes. He never knew that she had his kid. All he knew was she was running away, and he planned to take her away, but he was afraid our bastard father would kill her rather than let her leave.”

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