Page 25 of Unholy Cross

“Fucking hell,” Jeremiah muttered.“I should’ve known you’d do something like this.”

Cross shrugged and thrust her into Jeremiahs’s hands.“I’m sure she’ll be docile enough to answer all your questions.She seems like a very mild-mannered young lady.”

The pitter-patter of running feet echoed down the hall, and he turned, knowing instinctively that it was Lorelei.As soon as he saw her, he rushed forward to sweep her up into his arms and bury his face in the crook of her neck.For a long moment, he lost himself in her scent.In the radiance of her being healthy and alive.Then he pulled back to look her over, inspecting with a fine-tooth comb.

“Are you better?”he asked.“No pain?No fever?No infection?”

She shook her head, cupping his face with her hands as she mouthed,I’m okay.

An unnatural silence stretched behind them and Cross glanced around.Six pairs of eyes stared at them, with Evren’s mouth hanging open in shock.

“What?”he demanded, frowning at his brothers.

“It’s just that you’re, um, smiling,” Evren explained.“I’ve never seen that before.It’s unnatural.”

Cross rolled his eyes and bent to sweep Lorelei up bridal-style.As he headed down the hallway to the bedroom, he heard the tape over Willa’s mouth being removed.Cross grinned, waiting for it.

“Get your gross hands off me!”Willa screeched.“What?You’re so hard-up for a date you have to steal a woman?Is your dick size also your IQ?Asshole!”

“Stop trying to kick me, woman!”Jeremiah shouted.

Pure satisfaction, Cross thought, pleased.For the brief time they were actual stepbrothers, they went out of their way to make the other miserable.Checkmate to him for this round.When they entered the bedroom, the doctor gave them a smile.

“Doc,” Cross greeted, as he sat Lorelei down on the bed.“Is she going to be okay?”

“I couldn’t find anything wrong, and the fever just disappeared.I wish I knew the cause of whatever she had.”She glanced at Lorelei.“If this happens again—”

“It won’t,” he assured her.“I’m going to protect her.What about the chip?”

She held up a plastic bag, with some blood smeared inside and a thin square piece of metal, about one inch in width and length.

“I can hardly believe this, but this was embedded in her shoulder.Who does this to a person?”She shook her head.“I didn’t find anything else.”

Cross took the bag and studied the chip.Horrendous rage filled him as he studied the proof that Costello Birsha was a monster.Yes, he was very aware of the pot calling the kettle black, but he owned that shit.He might have done a lot of fucked-up things in his life, but being with Lorelei, he was quickly learning that he did, in fact, feel pangs of empathy.Remorse and regret were very powerful emotions.

Evren stepped forward with his hand out.“I can analyze it.”

Cross turned it over to him, giving him a thankful nod.It was the best he could do because saying thank you to any of his stepbrothers was beyond his ability.He’d grown up being beaten.Abused.So, when he saw those bruises on Lorelei, all he wanted to do was wrap his fingers around Birsha’s neck and squeeze the life out of the man.

When Evren left, Cross gently leaned Lorelei forward to inspect the dressing.“No lasting effects, right?”

“Shouldn’t be,” the doctor said.“I gave her an antibiotic shot and am leaving some ibuprofen behind.There’re four stiches that should be taken out in a week.I can come back if you’d like.”

“We’re leaving tomorrow.”He glanced down as Lorelei looked up at him, and he moved some hair off her cheek.“We’ll figure out where to go.”

Lorelei picked up a notebook and pen to show him.

“I had my assistant bring that as well,” the doctor added.She smiled at Lorelei.“It was my pleasure to take care of you.Don’t overdo it, okay?”

Lorelei gave a thumbs-up.

Then she took her portable X-ray and murmured goodbye.Cross shut the door right in Evren’s face and locked it.Lorelei had her notebook up and he read her question.

“We are in the penthouse home of one of my stepbrothers, Jeremiah Delance.He owns this casino, the Monarque.”

She wrote another question, wanting to know what happened.Cross came to sit next to her on the bed.

“I fucked up,” he admitted, sitting on the edge of her bed.“I, ah, I killed that bounty hunter where anyone could see it happen.I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

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