Ana
My heart is racing so fast, like a high-powered drum pounding in my chest. My trainers slap against the cement tile floors, my steps echoing through the secret hospital’s walls. Several guards send cautious looks my way but I ignore them all, rushing to the room where my stepbrother is meant to be.
Cassio tries to get me to slow down—there’s no need to hurry, he insists. But there is. I need to see this with my own two eyes. I can’t believe the news that Killian is out of his coma until I see him. I can feel my husband following behind me, and though he makes no move to stop me, he doesn’t match my pace either.
His words from nearly twenty minutes ago ring in my head on a loop. Killian is awake.
Killian is awake.
Killian.
Is.
Awake.
When we pulled into the secret facility’s parking lot, I jumped out of the car so fast that I almost forgot to ask where to go. Cassio indulged me by giving me quick directions and escorting me from behind. I didn’t even bother to take in the sunset, or the fresh air around us. I’d been cooped up in the penthouse for the entire month, and still held no interest in the outdoors. It felt entirely unimportant, as my mind was on one thing alone.
Hell, the entire car ride here was a messy blur.
I nearly trip over my own feet as I swing into the proper room. My eyes snap to the medical bed and the biggest wave of relief hits me like lightning. There he is, sitting up with his eyes open—rather than lying down unconscious and bleeding like last time I saw him. Emotion consumes me and my eyes pool with tears. Tears of joy, for a change.
A sob bursts from my lips. “Oh thank God.”
My brother is alive. The coma didn’t kill him.
He fought through his injuries and he resisted the sweet call of death. I practically fling myself across the room, barreling right into the man’s bed. He grunts as we slam together, my arms surrounding his shoulders, fingers digging into the skin of his neck.
“Fuck, Ana,” he hisses in pain. He doesn’t push me away though, he grabs me in return, holding me in a tight embrace. “You didn’t want to take it easy on me, did you?”
“I t-thought you’d n-never wake up,” I confess in a cry. “I h-hoped but—”
“Hey now, love,” he mumbles softly. “Don’t get so worked up, your old man over there is glaring daggers at me. You’re supposed to be keeping your stress in check.”
Stunned, I pull back to look at him. Up close, I notice how sunken in his eyes are, despite the amused sparkle they currently hold. He’s very obviously still weak from recovery, and throwing myself against him was probably not the smartest move on my part.
“How do you know—” I cut myself off, sputtering. How does he know I’m married to Cassio? How does he know about my stress?
“What?” Killian asks, lips quirking. “You didn’t think your husband would explain himself to me? He chatted my ear off more than once while I was knocked out. Apparently the rumors are true, some brains don’t turn off when your body does.”
“I knew you could hear me,” Cassio says, folding his arms as he leans a shoulder against the doorway. “I swear your fist twitched when I said I was your brother-in-law now.”
“You visited him?” I ask, throat clogging with emotion. “And spoke with him?”
Cassio shrugs, but his soft gaze isn’t nonchalant. “The doctors said it could help. Spent a few hours a week here, but didn’t want to be away from you for much longer.”
“Ouch,” Killian drawls, sarcasm dripping from the word. “A decade long friendship, thwarted by an arranged marriage. Some best mate you are, I’m putting in a complaint.”
Decade long friendship?
Best mate?
Cassio and Killian are friends?
“Complaint denied,” Cassio replies with an eye roll. “I’ve been dealing with the children you call soldiers for weeks on end. I’ve been thoroughly punished enough, thank you.”
“Oh?” Killian hikes a brow. “Has my time in a coma after nearly bleeding to death been difficult for you? You poor thing.”
“Yes, it has,” Cassio sniffs, pretending to be sincere. “Thank you for acknowledging how much strife your absence has caused me.”
“Git.” Killian chuckles.
“Layabout,” Cassio taunts.
“Oh, sod off.”
The men share a laugh and my eyes swing between my stepbrother and my husband. I’m in shock, watching the pair of them interact with such familiarity. I didn’t even know that they had met on more than one or two professional occasions, let alone that they were close enough to tease each other like this.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, shaking out of my daze. “Are you coming home soon?” The hope in my question dies when Killian shakes his head.
“My body is pretty fucked from lack of movement, and my chest is pretty vulnerable too. They won’t let me out of here just yet.”
My face falls, smile fading. “Really?”
“It’s for the best,” he says, squeezing my hand. “No one wants to see their Monarch in such a weakened state. Cassio can hold things down for a while longer.”
“Besides,” my husband speaks up. “We haven’t found the parties responsible for putting him here, and I’d prefer it if they don’t get a second shot at him before we do.”
“Aww, look at you being such a caring fucker,” Killian snarks. “Don’t want me dead? Maybe you’d be safer with me out of the way, hmm? What if I decide to come for your arse for scooping up my sister without my permission?”
“Try it,” Cassio dares.
“Absolutely not,” I cut in, glaring at them both. “No joking about harming one another, or I will lose it.”
Killian’s dark eyebrows shoot toward his hairline. “Is that so?”
“It is so,” I declare darkly. “We are family now, and you’ll bloody well act like it. You should be proud of your friend for taking such good care of me in my time of need.”
“I’m proud of you,” Killian counters, patting my knee.
Dumbfounded, I shake my head, thinking I must have heard him wrong. “What?”
“I’m. Proud. Of. You.”
It’s like the wind has been knocked right out of me, hearing those words.
“You did everything right, Ana. You found an ally, and you kept yourself safe. Your actions kept me alive, and you kept The Kings in order. You’re the reason they’re still being paid and can feed their families. You’re the reason I’m awake right now. Cole would be so fucking pleased with you, love. Your mother as well.”
“You know about my mum?” I croak.
“Cassio filled me in on everything while I was out, and Gerard was here to fill in the blanks when I woke,” he explains gently. “I’m so sorry that we couldn’t save her, but I know she’d be delighted that you’re still here, Ana.”
“I’m sorry that you lost your brother, and Bron too,” I murmur, my throat aching as I offer my condolences.
In a blink, we’re hugging again. Softer this time, and more comforting. Killian smells sterile like antiseptic he’s probably been cleaned with, and his hospital gown is a bit scratchy, but the embrace still feels like him.
“You don’t think Cole would be mad? That I’m with Cassio?” I rasp, voice hardly a whisper.
Killian grabs the sides of my arms, and pulls back to look me in the eye. “Cole has only ever wanted you to be happy, and to be by your side. But he’s gone, Ana. He would never want to punish you for his absence by denying you a future with someone else.”
Desperate to believe him, I swallow. “Are you sure?”
“I’m absolutely certain, love.”
“I missed you so much,” I admit, scanning his face to remember for later. His unkempt mess of dark hair, his strong jaw covered in new stubble, his deep brown eyes, and his slightly crooked smile.
He looks just the same, albeit slightly more ill than normal, but he’s still my Killian. The man who’s become a brother to me, the one who’s never looked at me as anything other than family. The man who made my mom and me feel welcome as soon as he met us, and the one who I know will always jump to protect me at any point.
“I missed you too, little sister.”
Cassio and I spend the next hour by Killian’s bedside, going over his plans for the next few weeks. He’s going to need some physical therapy, and experts in the cardiology field will monitor him as he begins to try more strenuous activity. He’s expected to make a full recovery, but they’re being cautious after such a serious injury and lengthy coma.
Eventually, it’s time for us to leave him. Despite being unconscious for a month, he still needs sleep and medicine that makes him drowsy. And unfortunately, both Cassio and Killian agree that limited visits are for the best. They don’t want anyone to follow me here and find him alive, and they aren’t sure how long this investigation of theirs is going to take.
Killian doesn’t have many more leads than Cassio. He was as surprised as everyone else that his family was made the target of some top secret hit. There was no bounty to be found, no assassins network chatter, and no rumors of money being exchanged. Still, both men remained firm in that they would find those responsible and make them suffer.
Back in the car, I sit in the passenger seat, feeling lighter. Seeing Killian awake and talking has lifted one of the many weights of sadness from my shoulders. What began as a horrid day, ended not so dreadfully.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Killian are friends? Best mates, even?” I ask, looking over at my husband while he drives. We’re in one of The Kings’ unmarked SUVs to try and remain anonymous. It’s quite dark inside, not just due to the time, but the overly tinted windows as well.
Cassio sighs. “Best mates might be a bit of an overstatement. But we attended Empire together, and we’ve kept in friendly contact over the years. We get drinks from time to time, and we find each other’s company tolerable. I hadn’t meant to keep it from you, though.”
“So why did you?”
“Honestly, Ana?” He reaches toward me without taking his eyes off the road, his hand softly cradling the side of my thigh. “If you knew we were friends and he died, you wouldn’t just be grieving for yourself, you’d be sad about my loss as well. I didn’t want that for you. I was only trying to spare you the pain of your empathetic heart.”
“How do you do that?” I ask wondrously.
“Do what?”
“Know exactly what to do and say all the time?”
I knew from his reputation that Cassio was exceedingly bright, but he’s more than just a man with a big brain. He has depths to him that I can’t fully comprehend, the kind of emotional intelligence that men and women strive for and never fully achieve.
“Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself, and I’ve hardly done any work to let you in,” I continue before he can answer. “It’s like you read my mind, and give me precisely what I need or want, before I’ve even realized that I need or want it.”
Cassio’s hand flexes around my inner thigh, causing a burst of butterflies to dance around in my stomach.
“It’s easy to take care of you, forza,” he says simply. “Don’t worry about how or why, just know I’m never going to stop.”
