Page 85 of Corrupted

“Please, don’t,” Ivy urges me. She’s been around for years now. She knows the process.

“I’m locking the place down, little doe. You won’t be able to run out, and nobody will get in. It’s for your protection.” I gesture at the hurt boy, and I feel a pinch, a stabbing sensation. The Wraiths and the Winters ended up becoming one big family because we understand one thing.

Family.

The boy needs a family, not a friend. A whole fucking family.

“You’re lucky he’s not in diapers,” I tell her, and the corner of her mouth lifts, if only for a bit. “Stay here, little doe. Watch over him. He’s in good hands. I’ll be back by tomorrow, and we’ll plan how to convince the kid to move in with us, alright?”

Eagerly, she nods. “But… Where?”

Her eyes widen with fear of the unknown.

“Little doe, I’ll build you a home. I’ll build Rome in one fucking day for you, understood?” She sucks in a harsh breath, heartbreak swimming in her eyes. “Did you hear me?”

Ivy dips her head. “Are we going too fast?”

“Not fast enough, little doe.”

There’s no room for hesitation. I grab one of the nurses, and I give her instructions. In less than five minutes, I’ve managed to convince a group of nurses to bring my Ivy a bed by Ignas’s room so that she can keep an eye on him while she rests.

Ignas is the nurses’ main concern, and I manage to calm Ivy down, making her settle on the bed and under the thick covers. She’s flipped on her side, watching Ignas from afar.

I kiss her fingers, something you’d never catch me do on any other day. I do something that would be considered praying. I think of her, our future. The boy in the room nearby deserves a better future.

We can’t save everyone, but if we can help out Ignas… Why the fuck not?

“What do you mean you’ll build me a home?” Ivy asks before I leave. Her fingers are wrapped around my wrist. Physically, I can remove myself from the situation. She’s not strong enough to force me to stay and confront what I feel for her.

What my promise means for our future together.

“Dream of something you’ll never have, needy doe. That’s what I mean. Dream of it, and I’ll make it happen for us. And for that little shit. He’s a big guy, but I’ll teach him how to be my son. You’ll see.” I kiss the fingers that hold on to me, the top of her hand. Her wrist. “I turn broken boys into men, little doe. I’ll make that happen for your friend.”

I take a deep breath, the antiseptic stench in the room reminding me of the old days.

“I’ve been running for decades, Ivy. It’s time I rest. I want to watch my grandkids grow, you know what I mean? I need to see my sister to make sure she’s good after all she’s been through. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I need to open my eyes and feel my family for real. I’ve been on the run, and I need to settle down. I want to settle down with you. I can’t imagine it any other way. Do you want to go on that journey with me, Ivy?”

“How can I say no to you? You’ve been my dream since the day that I met you, Mr. Winters,” she confesses, blushing a cherry red for me.

“I need to do this last thing, little doe. I fear that you know who’s behind this incident. You’re not mine until he’s out of the way,” I tell her, and she flinches, curling into a ball.

“While you were away on that roof… Fylox told me something disturbing. My adopted father turned fiancé bought me when I was a baby, Jordan. I haven’t unlocked that part of my trauma if there’s any, that is. I know what he did to me when I grew up. Grooming me. Seducing me with money. Comfort. I played along because I didn’t see a way out. He made me turn on the woman that raised me. I haven’t seen her since she was submitted to that rehab. I’m a horrible person… Hugh took a young girl that looked up to him, viewed him as a safety net, and he wrapped said safety net around her neck like a rope he’d strangle her with if she ever said no.”

Her lips tremble, her eyes distant. “I hate myself for not seeing it any earlier. What if he’s harmed others in the meantime? Younger than me? More vulnerable?”

Panic races through her veins, and she lifts herself from that bed. I gently push her back down, cocooning her in the warm white sheets of her bed. “He hurt you. He manipulated you. Don’t ever think otherwise, little doe. He’s going to get what’s coming for him. I promise you that.”

“I want to tell you to back off, but….” She gulps. “I can’t. If there’s one person that can make him pay, it’s you, isn’t it?”

“That, my needy little doe, is the greatest compliment you can give your man.”

* * *

“Why doyou smell like thousand-dollar cologne?” I sneer at Fylox, who climbs into my car. I’m parked outside of the Queen I hospital while it’s being evacuated and placed on lockdown.

My men still listen when I call.

It doesn’t surprise me. It makes me… happy.

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