Page 182 of Mended Hearts

They’re okay.

Alice.

My brain kept throwing broken fragments of Greyson’s words against the wall, letting them splatter like paint as I tried to make sense of them. A creeping nausea rolled through me as we followed Greyson—going at least twice the speed limit.

They’d broken in.

Someone—some group—had gotten through security and intoHart House.

Dead. Two of Greyson’s men were dead.

My sister had killed one of the intruders.

Mysister.

The girl who got straight A’s and taught me how to braid my hair. Who’d been there for all of us. Always. Of all my siblings, Alice had always been the gentlest. Her rebellion was quiet—staying up all night reading, microdosing edibles to shut up her anxiety. She didn’t cause problems. Was vehemently opposed to violence. She studied. She stayed small.

Until last summer.

Until Greyson. Until whatever-the-fuck she got dragged into.

And now…nowshe’d killed a man. In her house. To protect Ollie’s beautiful kids.

My heart pounded, throat tightening, every inch of me stretched taut like a bowstring ready to snap. With every pulse, my back ached, and I realized I was clenching every muscle in my body, trying—failing—to make the vehicle move faster.

Jax had, allegedly, gotten Tillie and Beau out of harm’s way before it escalated. But it never should’ve gotten that close.

They’d breached the study window. Which made… my soon-to-be brother-in-law the target.

They were okay.They had to be okay.

I must’ve said it aloud, because Ollie’s eyes flicked to mine as he took a corner dangerously fast.

“Yeah, baby. Jax got them out.”

I nodded, but my brain wouldn’t accept that answer. Not until I saw them.

Tillie.MyTillie. My glitter-covered rocker in a leotard, the girl who’d school any grown man onLord of The Ringstrivia. The little girl who mended the pieces of my broken heart back together. Who showed me my purpose had never been a scholarship or a perfect transcript. It was them. These kids. This life.

Beau. Our sweet little tank. The boy who planted sloppy kisses right on my mouth and thought unicorns probably liked pizza.

Fuck, I loved them so damn much.

I pressed a hand to my belly just as the baby kicked, the movement grounding me.Okay. He’s still in there. Still safe. My body kept tightening with those relentless Braxton Hicks, but I could breathe. Sort of.

We were all going to be okay. Captain Reynolds had done his job. He’d gotten them out before they could see anything too horrifying. But even so—this? This was going to leave a mark.

Tears streamed silently down my face as Ollie took the exit, following Greyson through a yellow light.

We just had to get there. Just had to hold them. See them.

My anxiety burrowed deeper into my body, my back aching like I’d wrapped a band around it and pulled it taut, tugging at my spine and around my ribs.

By the time we turned onto the driveway, a sob clawed its way up my throat.

TheHart Housegate was mangled.

Flashing red and blue lights pulsed in every direction.

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