Page 95 of Ruthless Consequences

We took a hot shower, careful not to get my head wet, and I slipped into the clothes Ava had brought along. One thing about her, she was used to living on the run, so she always came prepared. Except everything of hers was too short on me. The doctor had given Lilo a pair of scrubs to sleep in. One of his uncle’s men would be coming back with a suit.

Lilo leaned in and kissed a tear from my eye as we stared at each other from across the bed. It was a tight fit. I was thankful for it.

“You’ve always been it for me,” he said. “The moment I saw you. I knew.”

“You know when you know?”

“Yeah, you know when you know.”

He kissed me, softly at first, and then it evolved into something else. Something rushed but deep. Something that made me feel panicked for him, but oddly enough, it only made me feel how deep the connection was between us.

It was soft but raw. It was frenzied but controlled. It was all those years ago, it was the present, and it was the future.

“I love you,” I almost gasped into his mouth.

“Lock it up. Save it for me.” His voice was deep and gruff. “Tell me when I get home.”

He held me close after, wrapped in his arms and his legs. His hand rested on my stomach. Warm. Strong. Meant to be there. Protecting what was his.

I’d told him I loved him, and he’d told me to save it for when he got home. But as I started to drift, he whispered all the things he wanted to say in my ear. Tears slipped from my eyes, down my nose, and disappeared into the stiff pillow. I never imagined another person could love me as much as he did. I knew no one else ever would. I held on to his hand like it was the only thing that had the strength to pull me up.

Because it was.

I felt him watching me as I drifted back and forth. I knew he kept checking my breathing.

In the morning, the sun blasted through the windows, and my eyes closed against it, burning against the light and unshed tears. The bed was empty, and my husband was gone.

TWENTY-NINE

LILO

PRESENT DAY

Tigran walkedme to his car. It was sleek and fast. Mostly black, even the windows, except for the silver rims.

“You have everything you need?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m set.” I looked beyond him, up at the windows of the hospital. I felt her eyes on me. “If I don’t—”

He held a hand up. “I’m sure you said all the things left to say to your wife last night. You don't need to do that with me. Whatever she needs, I’m there. I doubt Michele will allow it, though.”

“She’ll need more protection than he can give. But I don’t doubt that he’ll go with her. Or demand to stay close. He loves her like a daughter.”

“Of course. The baby is part of my sister. And part of his son.”

“His son?” I made a disbelieving noise, but I remembered what Michele had told me the night before. How he didn’t know me.

Tigran held his hand up again. “You can’t blame him for despising this life. Some men can live it because their conscience is silent. Other men can hear it for what it is. Constant chaos.” He studied my face. “You look so much like me, but you look like him too. I know he hated seeing me in you all these years, but despite it, I know he loves you. My sister wouldn’t have put up with anything less. You were her world. Her brio of life.”

I nodded. Then changed the subject. “Ava?” I saw the way he was looking at her.

“If Lucila wasn’t your wife…” He grinned and shrugged.

“You’d go after her.”

“She’d be mine. She’s stunning.” The grin turned into a smile. Probably at the look on mine. “Her sister is stunning too. They share something similar, but they’re so different. She makes me curious.”

“She’s my sister-in-law.” I said it with respect, but also as a reminder.

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