Page 117 of As Thick As Thieves

“Stone, we talked about this,” Cruz murmured, concern flashing in his eyes. “She needs to rest, so don’t throw traumatic shit at her.”

“I’m not, I just need to hear her say he didn’t fucking touch her,” he bit out, gritting his teeth as he hurt himself again from his tense muscles. I leaned forward, holding his hand more tightly to draw his attention.

“I promise, he didn’t.”

Relief filled his face, but he didn’t relax. “When I ran in and saw you nearly fucking naked, I thought—”

“Stone,” Cruz warned more firmly, but I scowled at him.

“I’m not that fragile. If I don’t want to talk about something, I’ll let you know.”

“Bossy,” he muttered, but his eyes flashed with amusement as I turned back to Stone.

“He was stuck in some weird false sense of reality. He claimed he loved my sister and they were together. He wanted me to be her,” I said quietly, my heart hurting as I added, “Apparently, she was pregnant with his baby when she died. He thinks Dad killed her, but I think maybe my sister was terrified of Owen and saw death as the only way out of her relationship with him. Maybe he made the whole thing up, and Emily didn’t even know him, we’ll never know.”

Knox grimaced, his voice gentle. “His story checks out. The cops raked the house for information, and there’s photos of Owen and Emily together. They’d met multiple times over the span of a year or two.”

Stone frowned, glancing at Knox. “How was such a psycho so smart, though?”

“Crazy doesn’t always mean stupid, you know?” Knox grumbled, turning his attention to me. “Did he say anything about someone helping him?”

My heartbeat picked up, and as much as I wanted to tell them, I couldn’t. Jai deserved to get his ass beat for what he’d done, but I wasn’t ready to throw the Grim Reaper card at him just yet. There’d been enough death on my hands this week.

“Enough,” Cruz said firmly, noticing my panic and giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We can talk about all of that later. Let’s just focus on getting everyone back on their feet, okay?”

Stone looked ready to argue, but he thankfully kept his mouth shut about it and changed the subject. “When are they letting you out? Apparently, I could be in here for weeks. How the fuck am I supposed to run the Thieves from a hospital bed?”

“You don’t,” Cruz snorted, giving him a stern look. “You rest, eat your vegetables like a good boy, and let us handle it. You know we’re all capable, and we can still run things by you when needed. Both you and Penn are on bedrest until further notice. No exceptions.”

Stone’s nostrils flared, and I could tell he was about to explode, so I got to my feet and leaned over to kiss his cheek, silencing his attack. “It’s okay, Stoney Baloney, I’ll come and hang out with you so you still have someone to yell at.”

“Sit down,” Cruz growled, but I ignored him and kept talking to Stone.

“I know you were out to prove yourself, but you didn’t have to be a drama queen and take bullets for me.”

“Yes, I did, because you were willing to do the same for me.” Then Stone grinned, teasing in his tone. “Kind of hoping I get unlimited sex on tap for the rest of my life now, too.”

“Definitely,” I laughed, giving him another kiss before sitting back in my wheelchair so Cruz didn’t have an aneurysm.

We spent an hour sitting here just talking, then Stone seemed to realize none of the guys were at the compound and sent Knox and Drake back, agreeing that Cruz could stay as my personal wheelchair pusher. Drake texted Cruz religiously for the rest of the day, and when Cruz ducked out to use the bathroom, I turned to Stone with a dirty look.

“I can’t believe you’d confess your love to me like that. You’re supposed to wait until we get home when everything’s okay again, and then—”

“Shut the fuck up, and give me a kiss,” he grunted, giving me the stink-eye. “In my defense, I thought I was a goner and couldn’t die without you knowing.”

“Taking bullets for me was a pretty big give away,” I said dryly, shuffling onto the bed, being mindful not to hurt him as I leaned over to kiss him. He let out a curse as he tried to move over for me, and I scolded him. “I’m tiny, why the fuck do you think I need more space? Don’t move.”

He ignored me, gritting his teeth as he reached out to place a hand on my waist. “Did Owen tell you why he targeted those particular people? I thought maybe he’d killed your father to help you in some weird twisted way, but if he knew what Leah and Estelle meant to you—”

“He told me,” I said softly, hesitating before continuing. “He said Estelle could’ve run with me to keep me safe, but instead, she watched him hurt me for years. I don’t have any proof, but he claimed she’s my real mom.”

His eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Yeah. It makes some sense as to why Mom hates me but loved Emily. I was proof of Dad’s affair. It wasn’t even with someone of a high social status, which was probably the more embarrassing part for my family. The rich don’t mingle with the help, you know how those circles can be. If Dad was sleeping with Estelle and knocked her up—”

“Then the only way she could keep you was by pretending you weren’t hers,” he finished, pity filling his eyes as I nodded. “I’m sorry, baby. Don’t let this taint the memories you have of her. I know how much you loved her.”

“I’m mad at her for not telling me, but I also get it. Dad would’ve kicked her out, maybe even had her killed to keep her silent. She mothered me as much as she could without making it known,” I mumbled, laying down to gently rest my head on the pillow beside his. “I wish she’d told me, though, when we were staying with her.”

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