Page 134 of Heartfelt Pain
He smiles, his teeth white. “And how would you do that?” he tests.
“By taking away the only thing that’s ever kept him grounded. Madeline.”
William Hallow doesn’t smile again. His chest rises with a deep breath, his hands in his pockets. He glances at his wife. Andrea Petrova is a formidable opponent, but if Hallow decides to go after me again, I won’t fight fair.
I turn my back to him and head to Roma. I’ve solidified my position in the city, taken out two rivals, and got the various syndicates to admit they like me. Just for that, I’ll wait a month or two before raising my fees.
“How mad are you?” I ask Roma. He’s watching the clean-up crew.
“I am calm.” He emphasizes each word, most likely in the hopes they’ll become true.
“What’s going on with them?” I nod to his parents.
I’ve never seen Lev look nervous. Normally, he could stand in the middle of a tornado, sipping his coffee, like all is right in the world.
But all night it’s been little turns of the head to glance at his wife. When she looks over, he looks away. There are little ticks, like tapping his leg or trailing after her.
“Did something happen at the family meeting?” I ask.
I’m honored they came to my rescue (or thought they did) but now that I have a moment to think I’m curious.
Roma snorts. “Did something happen at the family meeting?”
I frown at his sarcasm.
He grabs my hand. “I think Dad is having a come to Jesus moment.”
“Well shit.” I let him pull me to his chest, nestling my head in the crook of his shoulder. “Now I wish I’d been there.”
Epilogue One
ROMA
A Few Weeks Later
My breath fogs in front of my face as I peer out at the stunning landscape full of icebergs.
It’s fucking cold in Alaska.
“It’s beautiful.” Ren bounces on her tiptoes by the railing.
I do too, but because I’m shivering.
We’ve got bulky coats on, but this is ten times worse than all the times I’ve sat out on Elijah’s terrace in the New York winter.
Ren grins in delight. Her red cheeks practically sparkle. She’s more like a kid on a snow day than an adult freezing her ass off on the deck of an Alaskan cruise.
“Can we go back in now?” I promised I wouldn’t whine. I lasted a good three minutes.
We left for Vancouver a week ago. We spent a couple of nights and caught a hockey game. Ren didn’t give a shit about the two teams, but she acted like she’d never been to a sports event in her life.
And fair enough, she’s kept busy the past few years. She letloose, screaming when a fight broke out. I think she managed to alarm even the most diehard Canadian fans.
Then we got on the ship, heading off on her Alaskan cruise. She’d spent weeks planning the whole thing out.
But the moment we got onboard, I showed her all the amazing things we could do in our cabin to stay warm.
I didn’t hear any complaints from her until this morning when she decided to venture out.
