Page 78 of Daddy's Christmas Obsession
"You're going to save them," he corrects, pressing a kiss to my temple. "I just provided the funding."
"Dirty money saving innocent lives," I murmur against his chest. "There's poetry in that."
"There's justice in it," he replies. "The world takes from people like us, so we take something back and use it to heal the world."
It's a rationalization that should feel thin, but after three years of watching trauma victims walk out of hospitals alive because of our research, it feels like the truth. We've found a way to balance the scales—his criminal empire funds my medical miracles.
"How was your meeting with the Castellano family?" I ask, straightening his tie with practiced ease. Over the past three years, I've learned to read the signs of his various business dealings, to know when he's handling routine matters versus when blood might be spilled.
"Productive," he says with the cold satisfaction that means his competitors underestimated him again. "They thought they could move into our territory. They were wrong."
"Violently wrong?"
"Efficiently wrong," he corrects. "Patrick handled it with his usual professionalism."
I nod, accepting this information with the same calm I'd use to discuss surgical schedules. It's remarkable how quickly you adapt to having a husband whose business meetings sometimesend in death. Though after three years of marriage, very little about Victor's world surprises me anymore.
"I have something for you," Victor says, his tone shifting to something more intimate.
"It's not our anniversary for another month."
"It's not for our anniversary." He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a leather portfolio—the kind used for legal documents. "It's for being exactly what I knew you could become."
I open the portfolio and my breath catches. Inside are ownership documents, board appointments, and official papers bearing the letterhead of Denver Children's Hospital.
"Sixty percent controlling stake," Victor explains, his voice rich with satisfaction. "The board was struggling with funding cuts and outdated equipment. As of this morning, you're the majority stakeholder with full authority to modernize their cardiac surgery program."
I stare at the documents, at the opportunity to expand my life-saving work to children who need it most. "Victor, this is—"
"This is what happens when my queen mentions wanting to save children's lives," he interrupts. "You said you wanted to expand into pediatric cardiac surgery. Now you can build the program exactly the way you envision it."
The kiss I give him is fierce, grateful, and filled with the kind of passion that can only come from having a partner who truly understands your vision. When we break apart, his eyes are dark with desire and something deeper.
"I have a confession," I whisper against his lips.
"Oh?"
"I may have been manipulating you. Just a little."
His laugh is rich and genuinely delighted. "I know, sweetheart. I've known since the beginning."
"You knew?" I pull back to look at him properly. "How?"
"Because you're brilliant, and brilliant people don't just accept windfalls without having a plan for them." His hands slide down to grip my waist possessively. "The question is: do you think you've been playing me, or have we been playing each other?"
The implications of that question send fire racing through me. The idea that he's been aware of my manipulation, even encouraging it, is somehow more arousing than if he'd been completely oblivious.
"Which answer gets me in more trouble?" I ask, my voice already breathless.
"Neither," he growls, his mouth moving to my throat. "Both answers get you exactly what you've been asking for."
His teeth graze my pulse point, and I have to grip his shoulders to stay upright. "Victor, we're in my lab. Jennifer could come back—"
"I sent Jennifer home," he murmurs against my skin. "And I had Patrick clear the building. We're completely alone."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to fuck my wife in the medical empire she built with my dirty money," he says with such casual filth that my knees actually go weak. "Because I wanted to take you surrounded by the proof of what we can accomplish together."
