Page 91 of Dare To Free Us

“Got it doc.”

“I’ll send some more pain meds with you…”

“No,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “I’m not taking them anymore.”

“Matteo,” Eduardo sighed, his aged face frowning. “The pain will still be intense for a while.”

“I’m not taking that shit anymore. I don’t like how they make me feel. I have to be one hundred percent focused.”

“If you change your mind, let me know.”

“Thanks.”

After that he picked up the tray of dirty utensils and sutures and left the room.

I stood from the chair in the corner where I’d been sitting and put on the first suit I’d worn since being there. The master bedroom while grand, had been a nightmare to stay in. I hated the empty sheets beside me, the lack of Arianna’s breathing while she slept. Even missing the smell of the mahogany candle she burned all the time made sleeping impossible. I laid awake for hours wondering where she was and if she was experiencing the same thing.

I hadn’t called Luca yet. The fact I was drawing out Arianna’s pain of loss burned deeper than the slices in my chest, but there was still a lot to do, and I wasn’t in the clear yet. If I called and told her I was alive, only to die a day later from cleanup going sideways she would relive the same loss over again. I couldn’t do that to her, raise up her hopes only to cut it off at the knees.

Slipping on my shirt I sighed at the feel of expensive cotton brushing my skin. The past days I’d been shirtless and in sweats the whole time. Not that I didn’t enjoy the occasion of relaxing and wearing something laid back, but every day it reminded me how far away I was from getting to Arianna.

After buttoning my shirt, tucking it into my slacks and fitting my belt, I looked in the mirror. My face was still a bit drawn from being in constant pain but once I straightened my shoulders and hardened my expression, I recognized the man starting back at me, hiding behind the healing bruises.

A man I didn’t want to be anymore.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called, turning to see who would enter.

“Matteo,” O’Connell greeted, giving me a once over. I didn’t hesitate to give him the location of our medical safe-house, because unbeknown to him I would be selling it once I walked out the door after our meeting.

“O’Connell.”

He stood in the doorway. “You look good.”

“I look like shit.”

His lips tipped up. “I was trying to be polite.”

I scoffed. “You said you had important things to discuss.”

“Yes. Can we sit?” He gestured to the two chairs by the window.

I wanted to refuse him because it was all I’d been doing for days but nodded my agreement nonetheless.

O’Connell closed the door then moved across the room with a commanding grace that I always appreciated. It spoke of simple self-awareness and the ability to carry his title. He was my father's age and had every right to be smug about his place in society, but never projected that kind of arrogance. While my father had slithered around with a completely arrogant smile everywhere he went, seemingly too big to be affected by much of anything.

We both settled into our chairs. The air between us wasn’t as strained as our last meeting, where he gave me an ultimatum. That was over, I’d been right and he knew it. The slightly resigned look on his face said it all.

“I will get straight to the point,” he said, making eye contact. His accent became slightly heavier as his expression turned serious.

“I would appreciate that. I’m a bit busy.”

“I can imagine. Again, I want to assure you I had nothing to do with what Nico did. I assume he simply thought that Storm and I would just go along, all business and such.”

“You saying you wouldn’t have?” I raised a skeptical brow.

“I wouldnothave. I may be all about what is good for business, but I’m also about honor. There was none in what he did. If he wanted to overthrow you he should have grown a pair of balls and did it himself. Instead he hid it like a coward and sold you out.”

---