Page 67 of Danger Close
Like a weak, frail woman that allowed this to happen through her own negligence and blind faith.
“Absolutely not!” Cobra said. “You’re going to the wedding.”
“No!”
“That is the only thing she wants!” Cobra’s voice echoed from the walls. The chatter outside the frail curtain partitions ceased. You could hear a pin drop.
I flinched away, pulling my hand out of his grasp to cover my breast. I held in my beating my heart, and protected myself from the brunt of his anger. I folded like an accordion, my entire being deflating from a simple raise of his voice.
Tears sprang in my eyes.
“Princess,” his voice gentled, as he stepped away from me, his hands behind his back like the first time he’d seen me in the guest room. “You at her wedding is the only thing Trinity wanted from me. So you’re going to be there. You’re going to look beautiful. And she’s going to have the perfect day.”
Tears sprang in earnest, falling until they sparkled on the leather jacket I still clutched in my hand.
I swallowed to make a request, and hoped—prayed—that he’d grant it. “If you make me stay then, please, at least let me have that. Don’t let my daughter know that I… that I couldn’t stop this. That I…”
“Princess…”
“Please!” I lifted my gaze, letting the tears fall, hoping beyond hope that somewhere inside him he still cared enough to give into me. Just this once. “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. Especially not Trinity.”
I had learned that no man’s love made them bend or give. They loved possessions. But maybe… just maybe… Joe could give me this. Just once. Just…
“Okay.” His face went cool. All expression gone. “How are we going to hide this, then?”
He gestured to my bruised and swollen face.
“I can hide most of it with makeup.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing at his throat. In a low, but almost gentle growl, he whispered, “I hate that you know how to do that.”
Chapter 28
Let Me In
Cobra
“I need a private room at the Middlebrook Regional Hospital,” I said to my brother on the other line.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Jericho asked, slightly amused.
“No!” I clenched my fist. “Teri was attacked.”
Silence. One heartbeat… two… then ten.
“I’ll have it handled.” I knew he was getting ready to hang up on me.
He was going to get to work on my request right away so I blurted out, “If Sonia Norkus calls, please patch her through to me.”
“Sonia Norkus?” Jericho’s surprise was audible.
“Yes. She says she has information on who’s responsible for this. Charlotte has a description of who attacked them today. I think they were working for someone else though.”
I wouldn’t survive another attack on Teri. It was taking all I had not to burn the entire city down just for allowing people whobreathedwrong towards my wife to live. I needed to focus my vengeance on the right people.
My wife. I’d remorselessly told them that I was her husband, and I regretted none of it. She also hadn’t held it against me.
When the doctor came and addressed me as her husband, she hadn’t corrected them. It would have feltmoredishonest to correct them. At least for me.
