Page 121 of Healing the Heart

Bleary-eyed with the whiskey numbing his lips and tongue, he slurred his answer. “My sweet girl...still strapped in her car seat. He spared her the knife, but...” Noah chugged from the bottle again. “It was July. They said the interior of the car got to 130 degrees that day.”

Too bad the fucking alcohol didn’t numb his brain enough to erase seeing his baby girl on a table in the morgue next to her mother.

IT TOOK FOUR OF THEMto load Noah’s stuporous body into the back of Cap’s Explorer. Only Axyl was there to help drag his ass out and carry 230 pounds of dead weight into the downstairs suite where he was staying.

Once they dumped him in bed, Cap headed for the door. When Axyl didn’t follow, instead staring down at the sleeping man, he asked, “Are you coming?”

“We’ve got to help him get her back.”

“An hour ago, you wanted to kick his ass.”

Axyl twisted to face him. “Did you hear that shit? It’s fucked up. And to almost lose a second woman essentially the same way, no wonder he went off like he did.”

“I think all the men, including Jonas, feel the same way. Lexie might be a problem.”

“She’s sweet, but don’t mess with her sisters,” Axyl acknowledged. “If the subs could hear what we did, they’d have a change of heart, too. But, how do we do that without breaking a confidence?”

Axyl may not have been the most experienced, but his unwavering ethics set him apart from the other applicants. It was why Cap hired him. In addition to his skill and imposing size, which made him and Lil T look small standing beside him.

In moments like these, when family was at stake, his own principles were called into question. He considered all the men who worked for him part of his extended family, regardless of where they were located.

“We just need to sow a few seeds of compassion without actually coming out and telling Doc’s story. Which, as you say, is his to tell.”

Clearly intrigued, Axyl tilted his head to the side, his eyes widening with interest. “I’m eager to hear how you intend to pull that off?”

“I’ll sprinkle a little angel dust on a compassionate mama I know.”

“Megan?”

“The woman is incapable of keeping a secret. Not when it’s important to someone she cares about or when there’s a sale at Neiman’s. For once, we’ll use it to our advantage.” Cap chuckled, his soft laughter echoing behind him as he ascended the stairs to put his plan into action.

Chapter 31

Ain’t Too Proud to Beg

WITH HIS EYES CLOSEDand his throbbing head in his hands, Noah sat in the semidarkness, in the living room of Cap’s fully finished basement suite. He had the blinds shut because the light only intensified the pounding, which was like the drum section of a marching band doing drills inside his skull.

Suddenly, worse pain seared through him, when the overhead lights came on and Cap strode in without knocking.

“Drink this,” he ordered.

Cracking open only one lid, he eyed the glass of thick orangish stuff. “What is it?”

“A cure for your hangover.”

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