Page 98 of Cold and Broken (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 1)

“It’s against protocol,” the younger one says.

“Let her see him or I’ll have both your jobs and medical licenses before the end of the night,” Victor snarls. “You won’t be able to practice medicine in a third world brothel by the time I’m done with you.”

I come by my viciousness naturally.

The younger surgeon reaches out to place a hand on Lilith’s back to lead her out but jumps away when I snap. “You think Victor is scary? I’ll turn every nightmare you’ve ever had into reality if you put your hands on my girlfriend again.”

The older surgeon motions for us to follow him. Griff and Victor hang back until Lilith turns and looks at them both. “I need you two as well.” They fall in step behind us. Griff reaching out to hold Lilith’s other hand when she reaches for him.

We get to a set of double doors and the two surgeons stop. “He’s in there.” The older one tells her. “When you are finished saying goodbye we’ll need to find out where you want to send him.”

Lilith nods and walks into the room, leaving the three us to watch her through the window. She walks up to the gurney and lowers the metal arms. She pulls his arm over and climbs onto the bed to lay beside him. Her body begins to quake as sobs sound audibly through the door. I reach to go in but Victor stops me.

“Give her a minute, son.” He squeezes my neck where it meets my shoulder. “She needs this moment with him.” Then he steps away to speak with some hospital personel. I hear him giving them details on where to send the body and who to send the bill to.

When I can’t stand it anymore I push through the door and walk to her side. Angry, hot tears sluice through the make up she’s wearing leaving black tracks down her cheeks. I swipe my thumbs over them, trying in vain to erase her pain.

“Did the police catch whoever did this?” Her whisper sounds deafening in the silent room.

“No.” I run my hand over her pony tail. “Victor already has our guys looking into it. I doubt the police would be able to find anything. It was a professional hit. Had your dad not pushed me down at the moment he did I’d be dead with a bullet lodged between my eyes.”

She doesn’t say anything else, even when Griff and Victor walk in. Each of them reaching out to lay a hand on her hip or ankle. She shifts to sit up and I reach out to steady her. She leans down and kisses his cheek before telling him she loves him.

When she turns to me her eyes are completely devoid of any emotion. It looks like a robot has overtaken her. She looks to me expectantly for direction.

“We’ll go back to my penthouse for the night. Is that okay?” I search her eyes for anything but she just nods her head blankly.

I meet Griff eyes and see the concern I feel echoed back in his eyes.

Griff and I sandwich Lilith between us on the way home. She has that scary vacant look in her eyes and numbly follows whatever direction we give her. She has smears of blood on her skin and her dress from when she crawled onto the gurney beside her father. I’m not even sure if she’s noticed that.

We lead her into VI and up the elevator to the private residences. She follows us into my room and Griff splits off into the bathroom to grab a washcloth so we can clean her up a bit. I grab a pair of boxers and a white t-shirt for her to slip on when we get her out of her dress.

Griff comes out of the bathroom and starts wiping her face, removing the remnants of her make up. Then he wipes the smears of blood on her shoulders and arms. She stands still, looking off into space over my shoulder. Griff bends down and pulls off her shoes. I pull her dress over her head. After I slip my shirt over her head I reach under and unhook her bra. I help her into my boxers and then walk her over to the bed.

She crawls into the middle of the bed and curls onto her side. I look across the bed to Griff and we have a silent conversation about whether he should stay in here with us. She’s clearly in shock. Normally I’d skin anyone, including my best friends if they got under the covers with her but I just feel like she needs us. He looks down at her and starts pulling his suit off. I walk into my closet and pull the scrubs off, sliding into a pair of boxer briefs.

“Levi is on his way. I told him that Michael didn’t make it,” Griff says quietly meeting me by the closet door. He’s stripped down to his underwear, too.

“He has the code to get in the penthouse so we can just get in bed with Lilith.” I run a hand through my hair. “Whatever she needs from us,” I trail off. I don’t know how to tell Griff that if my girlfriend wakes up in the night and needs us to touch her and make her forget that I’m fine. I’ll share, I’ll do whatever she needs to get through this.

“I got you, brother.” Griff pulls me in for a hug. “She’s in shock right now so I doubt she’ll need anything other than having us beside her.”

We split and get in on either side of her. She’s facing my side so I tuck her in close to me and Griff moves to her back. I feel her silent tears falling from her eyes to my shoulder. Her hand reaches for Griff’s and wraps his arm over waist.

“Go to sleep, Lily,” I whisper against her forehead. “Griff and I have you. We’re not going anywhere.”

I wait until I feel her body go lax against mine before I shut my eyes and let myself drift off. At some point in the night I feel a dip at the foot of the bed and see Levi laying across it. I toss an extra pillow that we’re not using at him and hear him mumble a thank you.

* * *

I wake up from a nightmare at dawn to see Griff wrapped protectively around Lilith and Levi’s arm resting across the length of her leg, his hand on the curve of her hip. I pull myself out from under her and climb out of bed. I tap Levi and tell him to take my spot. There’s no way I’m going back to sleep after that nightmare. I grab my phone and walk into the kitchen to start coffee.

I pull up a text chain that Victor added me to last night. He’s been in constant contact with his fixer, Sergei, trying to figure out who did this. I have a pretty solid idea and it all leads back to our feud with the Owens. They must be desperate if they are resorting to hits on my family. Between their rig exploding at the beginning of September and their unsuccessful attempt to buy our land on the oil fields of western Siberia I know their business is walking the line of profitability. Still, a hit is so extreme. Another text pings from Victor so I decide since he’s awake I’ll go upstairs and talk in person.

I walk down the hall to my third bedroom. I pull the false wall over in the walk in closet open and jog up the stairs to Victor’s penthouse. We had this hidden staircase put in for security purposes and I’ve never been more thankful for it than I am right now. It leads to Victor’s home gym. I cut through and find him sitting at his island with a tumbler of vodka.

He changed into silk pajama pants but, like me, is shirtless. I catch our reflections in the mirror hanging on the wall and fuck if I’m not a carbon copy of him. He grabs a glass off the tray and pours it half full of vodka before sliding it in front of me. We both slam the vodka back and set our glasses down in sync.

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