“Not here.” I glance around at the curious faces of the people in the waiting room. “Somewhere private. But yes, keep a man on him.”

Whitney looks toward the elevator, and I know what she’s thinking. She needs to check on Jackie and Cricket and get an update on Karma’s surgery.

I squeeze her hand. “Go on up. I’ll be here.”

“Are you sure?”

“We divide and conquer.”

She wraps her arms around me and hugs me hard. “I’m so sorry about your brother. I—”

“I know. We’ll handle it just like we handle everything else. As a team.” I kiss her forehead. “Now go. Your aunt and cousin need you.”

“You’re my rock. Thank you for holding me together through all of this.”

“That’s what I’m here for. I love you.”

As soon as I release my hold on her and Whitney walks away, I feel the loss of her. She’s my rock as much as I am hers. She may not realize it, but she holds me together as effectively as I do her.

This is what it’s supposed to be like, I think as she walks away. It’s not simply the crazy chemistry of our forbidden affair ten years ago. It’s something better. Something deeper. Something real enough to sustain a lifetime of hardships and allow us both to come out the other side whole, because we truly are stronger together than we are apart.

And nothing will stop me from marrying her. Not even my brother, who planned to kill me.

Bile rises in my throat, but I tap into my remaining reserves of strength and walk through the ER doors to find my brother and my grandfather and figure out what the fuck we’re going to do now.

I still can’t believe he did all of this . . . just for money

If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t believe it. And even now, I still don’t know how to comprehend it.

I find Commodore in a private treatment room being fussed over by doctors, with Magnus Gable sitting in the corner. I always wondered if their constant fighting was really part of a friendship they didn’t want to admit to having, even to themselves. From the way Magnus watches him, concern lining his weathered face, I think it’s a safe conclusion to draw.

“Sir, do you have a preference on surgeons? We’ll need to make sure there’s no—”

“Is surgery going to make me walk again?” Commodore asks, cutting the doctor off.

Even pale from blood loss caused by the gunshot to his leg and being hit in the head, my grandfather still appears as strong as ever. This is the second time he’s been shot in a week, and to look at the stubborn set of his chin, you wouldn’t realize it.

They don’t make men like my grandfather anymore. Men who can take hit after hit and laugh in the face of whoever thinks it’s possible to destroy them. Not even losing the ability to walk after having his legs crushed in a logging accident fazed him. He may be ruthless, but he loves his family fiercely and is the most ferociously loyal person I’ve ever met. The only time I’ve seen him come close to breaking was when my grandmother died. I remember what he said that day as clearly as if it were yesterday.