Page 1 of Stone

Chapter One

Dagger

My Leesy hadn’t changed at all.

Watching her lying in bed with her chest gently rising and falling in sleep and her hair fanning out across the crisp white of the pillow reminded me of her at eighteen, except her face wasn’t bruised before, and her body wasn’t broken.

Back then, I wouldn’t have allowed anything to touch her because she was mine, and I protected her with everything I had. Laying my life down for Elise would’ve been my honor. If I were honest with myself, it still would be, because, in my heart, she was mine.

She always had been.

You see, Stone men loved hard, fast, and forever.

I’d loved another, but that love consisted of respect and mutual understanding. Elise was the only woman I ever gave my heart and soul to. The other woman in my life showed me beauty and gave me everything, and it probably saved me at the time, but underneath it all, Elise had always been there. It was why my marriage fell apart and why my other love found what I couldn’t give her with another man.

I didn’t blame her one bit. In fact, I wanted it for her. Adele was a good woman, a great ol’ lady, and a wonderful mother. She supported me for longer than she probably should’ve. She deserved happiness, even if I couldn’t be the one to give it to her.

The woman lying in the bed before me, all bruised and battered, had always been my ‘one.’ It wasn’t something Iwanted; if anything, it had been a curse, but it was just the way it was for me. Elise Bell was as much a part of me as my blood and bones.

A sound from the door pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up to watch Sophie quietly enter the room.

She shot me a smile, ever the capable, confident doctor. “How’s she doing?”

My stare involuntarily slid back to Elise. “No change.”

“It’s good she’s sleeping,” Soph assured me. It will help her heal. When she wakes up, she’ll be in pain from her injuries. The longer we can keep her under, the easier it will be for her.”

“It’s been days,” I pointed out.

“It has,” she agreed. “But it’s been the meds keeping her asleep, not her injuries. They’re beginning to leave her system now, so I suspect she’ll start coming around tomorrow.”

My heart jerked at that fucking thought.

While Elise was asleep, at least I could pretend nothing had changed. It was easier to carry on with the knowledge that everything could stay as it was, and that, over the years, she hadn’t committed the biggest betrayal of all by keeping the most important thing in existence from me.

My girl.

The problem was that my heart already knew what my head didn’t wanna admit. I could see the truth in the almond-shaped slant of Sophie’s eyes, which now I noticed were just like her mother’s. Still, the color was all mine—a light, golden brown that, in a particular light, could pass as amber.

A Stone family trait.

Sophie looked like my mom, too. Her lips were the same shape as my ma’s and Freya’s. Her skin had the same golden olive tone.

For once, I didn’t relish the truth. In all honesty, I was terrified it would destroy my faith in everything I’d believedabout Elise, because, in my eyes, there was no bigger betrayal than somebody fucking with my family, especially my kids.

If Leesy had kept my own flesh and blood a secret, I knew something inside me would break. I wouldn’t be able to believe in anything again. So, just for a while, I didn’t wanna know. For now, I wanted to live in ignorant bliss because the damned awful truth didn’t bear thinking about.

“What’s her prognosis?” I asked Sophie, who was listening to Elise’s heart with her stethoscope.

“She’ll recover physically, but the beating she took will probably affect her in other ways.” Sophie glanced back at me. “You’ve got the video of her husband doing this?”

I jerked one nod.

“Good.” Soph stood to her full height and turned toward me. “The police will need all they can get to build their case, that’s if Colt isn’t already on it.”

My jaw clenched; the mere mention of that name putting me on edge.

The sting of Colt’s betrayal had eased since he’d left, but it hadn’t gone completely. It was probably worse ‘cause Freya followed him. I got why she’d jetted; I hadn’t given her much reason to stay, but I took solace in the knowledge Freya hadn’t given up her medical training and that she had Hendrix and his club at her back.

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