Page 58 of Violent Reign (Violent Kingdom)

My cell phone rings in its spot on the kitchen counter and Rome stands up and goes to get it. The bottle never comes out of Jasper’s mouth. He’s damn good at this, and it’s only been eight weeks.

He hands me the phone.You are so good at this, I mouth at him, and answer.

“Avery?” Jennifer’s shaky voice has me sitting up straight, holding Lola tight to my chest. “It’s me.”

“Hey, Jenn. What’s up?”

She laughs a little. “I’m at the hospital. I came by to visit, and—and Avery, your dad’s awake. He woke up from the coma. He wants to know why AveryMontagueis listed as his next of kin.”

Chapter Forty-One

AVERY

It’s noteasy to get into the ICU. There are double doors that have to be opened via hard pass, followed by a second set of double doors that won’t open until the first is closed. Lola’s car seat tugs heavily at my fingers. My pulse beats through my skin. Can she feel it through all that plastic? My heart is going hard enough for it to be a possibility.

The nurse leads us down the hall to the room my father has called home—or not really, since he hasn’t been conscious—for months and months. Longer than I was held in that basement. Longer than my entire pregnancy. He’s been here, struggling to survive. His room is the last one on the right. But before we get there, I have to stop and take a breath.

Rome’s there right away, rubbing a hand over my back. “Are you okay?”

AmI okay? I don’t know. How does someone go back to being okay after all that happened? It could be that Montagues and Capulets are star-crossed, cursed to suffer no matter how hard we try. Then again, we weren’t really trying before. Rome and I have to start that now. And of course that’s not to say that our empire will be dismantled overnight, or ever. I still don’t know about that.

What I do know is that the last time I saw my father, he was looking at me.

He might even have been looking for me across that crowded room as his heart gave out. What would that have been like, to see your daughter one last time and then have nothing but a sensation of falling, falling, falling?

I know a little bit more about how he felt. No matter how stubborn I was. No matter how much we fought about things like Joshua Grayson and my place in the company. No matter what. There is nothing that Lola and Jasper could do to make me love them less fiercely.

The last time I saw my father, he thought he was dying, and I thought he was dying, too. He’s come back from the brink of death. In a way, he’s been reborn. And while he was gone, so much has changed.

So much.

Fuck.

In order to explain the twins, I’ll have to explain the rest. Maybe not now, but someday. Someday, he’ll have to know the whole story.

Not today.

“He’s going to be happy, Avery. To see the babies.”

“He never got to know I was pregnant,” I whisper. “Especially not with a couple of Rome Montague’s babies. What if it’s too much a shock?”

“These babies?” Rome tips my face up to his and kisses me. “They’re the best shock in the world. I promise you.”

We take ten more steps, and I see him. My dad. Still surrounded by tubes and wires. Still looking haggard. Looking thin. Looking like he’s been through the fight of his life, which he has. But when he sees me his face brightens. He sees the babies and a tear slips from the corner of his eye. He lifts a hand from the blanket and beckons me in.

There’s only one religion, it turns out. I know it when I step into that room. I know it when I sayHi, Dad.

That religion is family. Mine.

Epilogue

AVERY

Ocean Ridge psychiatric hospitalsits high on a hill in San Francisco. Unless you had reason to visit, you wouldn’t even know it existed. Manicured gardens, high walls covered in moss and ivy. It looks more like a quaint, English manor than a secure facility meant to house the most dangerous and insane criminals in California.

I’ve left the family at home today. Rome wanted to come with me, but I insisted he stay with our children. I can’t risk anybody else I love getting tangled up in this twisted web. It felt selfish, depriving him of a chance to get closure with the man who is his long-lost brother, presumed dead, under our noses since I was twelve years old. But Rome must have seen how important this is to me, because he didn’t push the issue. He’s been revisiting his own demons in the wake of Nathan’s arrest. His mother has been moved to a facility close to our new house, and after years of being on heavy, sedating medications that Enzo forced the doctors to keep her on, she is starting to come out of the fog, little by little. So much is changing, it makes my head spin, but nothing more than what I’m doing here today.

Rome’s only condition was that I bring a security detail with me. Elliot recommended these two, a guy and a girl, about my age. The guy, Jase, drives upfront, his tattooed arms peeking out from underneath a black t-shirt and the woman, Juliette, rides in back with me. They both carry several weapons, and between the two of them, I feel pretty fucking secure. I requested people who can execute my plan without worrying about the legalities of it all. I need closure, and I need to know my family is safe. Nothing else matters.

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