Page 56 of Caught in the Crossfire
It wasn’t until the Irish took us in and started training me towork in the Mob that I saw hope again. My mentor there told me that if I had these skills, I could use them for just as much good as bad. I could balance the scales. I could redeem myself, erase the stain, if I worked hard enough and helped enough people. My parents would have said the same thing.
So I went after bad people, people who had hurt others. The first time I saved a trafficking victim had lifted some of that burden. It set me on this path, gave me the belief I needed to keep going. But after losing Leona, I realized just how much further I had to go.
“Hey,” Ciel said softly, reaching up to my cheek. I barely knew what I was doing when I flinched at his touch. “Cariño.”
I’d worked so hard to process Willow’s and my childhood. Years of therapy. Countless bodies left in my wake. A constant effort to wipe my slate clean. I thought I had left the memories behind, but with one morning, the pain had clawed its way back into my subconscious. If I was awake, I couldn’t stop thinking of those horrid months. If I was asleep, the memories replayed over and over.
My past was haunting me, and I wouldn’t survive it again.
Not unless I finally redeemed myself.
“Wynn.”
Ciel was still here. Ciel’s hand was on my cheek. He had barely left my side since Leona had been back. My gaze focused on his blue eyes. They pierced through the fog of memories.He was so beautiful. My breathing slowed.
“What can I do?” Ciel’s voice was soft. It drew me from the past like a lure, flickering with light in even the deepest of waters.
“Tell me what we’re planning for revenge. Tell me how I can make it up to her.”
He sat back in his chair. “You don’t need to?—”
“Yes, I do.” The guilt was a tangible weight, pressing in on me from all sides. “Ryuji and Obi have to be planning something. There’s no way the two of them, or Cas, would let this gounanswered. You can’t leave me here while the four of you go fight.”
“We won’t,cariño. When you’re better?—”
“Now,” I interrupted. Fear flashed through my chest. “Don’t leave me behind. Please don’t leave me.”
If I never redeemed myself, I would lose them. They’d slip through my fingers and I’d be alone, strangled by my shame.
“Wynn, stop. We’re not going anywhere. Once you and Leona are stronger, they don’t stand a chance, but now is the time for planning, not execution.”
I swung my feet to the edge of the bed and hissed as fire shot through my abs.
“Wynn Pembroke.” I froze. My head shot up to find Willow gaping at me from the door. “I leave this room for two minutes to check on the other injured person in this penthouse, and this is what I find?”
My eyes darted to Ciel, then back to Willow.
“Get back in that bed. Right now.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but her face contorted in anger.
“Right now, Wynn! You’ll pop your stitches, internally or externally, and you’ll bleed out right next to this lovely man who clearly cares for you.”
Ciel’s blush extended all the way from his cheeks to his ears. It sent my heart racing for a completely different reason.
“Do you want to ruin all of his fine caretaker work?” She stomped to the foot of the bed and crossed her arms. Reluctantly, I sat down. “I’ve about had it with you. If you weren’t my patient, I’d have slapped you already.”
I sighed. Willow had never raised her hand to anything or anyone. She’d always been gentle, with a spine of steel. “You’d slap your own brother?”
“I’d slap you no hesitation, but slapping a patient would go against the oath I took as a doctor.” She sniffed, eyes narrowing on the bandages across my stomach. She stepped around the bedand pressed on my stomach gently. After a few moments, she nodded. “You’ll ruin all of Ciel’s and my hard work to keep you alive.”
I let them both fuss until I was leaning against the headboard. “I just need?—”
“Rest, brother. You need rest.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mafia men are just plain stupid. That includes you now.”
A small smile pulled at the corner of Ciel’s mouth.
His mouth.
