Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

“You’re bleeding,” Isla shouted. Rocco had pulled her out of the water first before helping Caesar. Isla was pointing at Caesar’s leg. He hadn’t even been aware that he’d been stabbed, ironically in almost the same location as the time he’d taken a spear through his thigh.

“It’s nothing, Little Fish. A flesh wound.”

She shook her head. “It’s oozing. Let me help you get your suit off.” She grabbed his arm and tugged, attempting to force him to obey.

Her efforts to move him to do her bidding would have been comical if it weren’t for the fact that Caesar was more interested in making sure everyone in his family was safe.

There were two police boats in the water, with multiple officers working to haul the injured divers out of the water. One officer had transferred onto Caesar’s boat at some point, and he hurried around everyone to get to Caesar. “Medics are on the way.”

“I’m fine,” Caesar assured him. “I’ve endured worse.”

“Caesar,” Isla shouted in a tone he’d never heard before. “Do you forget I’m a nurse?” She glared at him as she shrugged out of her wetsuit. “Get that suit off now before I have your men hold you down and cut it off,” she ordered.

He smirked but quickly sobered when he saw her expression. She’d never looked at him like that before. She was serious and concerned, not just as his Little but as a nurse.

He cupped her face. “Okay, okay, give me a second.” He glanced around.

The boat was crowded with the women trying to stay out of the way while the men helped Kestrel, Phoenix, and Hawking onto the boat. It looked like Hawking had been stabbed in the arm. He wasn’t paying any attention to it, much like Caesar. The man’s adrenaline had to be pumping just as high. He probably hadn’t noticed the wound yet.

Celeste did, though, and she ran toward her Daddy to grab his arm. “Get this suit off. Hurry.”

Hawking kissed her before doing her bidding and shrugging out of the top part of the suit.

“Caesar!” Isla yelled.

He jerked his attention back to his Little. She was furious. Not wanting to upset her further, he went to work, removing his wet suit while she turned her attention to Hawking. His arm was exposed now, and she grabbed it and leaned in close. “It’s not deep,” Isla told Celeste. “Are you squeamish?”

Celeste chuckled. “Not at all. I’m a scientist. I’ve been present for open-heart surgeries.”

Jack tossed Isla a T-shirt. Isla wrapped it around the wound and looked at Celeste again. “Hold this here. Don’t let him talk you out of it.”

Isla turned her attention back to Caesar, who was trying not to wince as he lowered the wetsuit past the wound. It stung, but it wasn’t too bad. The worst part was the salt water dripping into it.

“Sit,” she demanded, pointing to the bench behind him.

He dropped onto his other hip and extended his leg, never taking his gaze off his woman as she worked. She was fucking spectacular. Efficient, demanding, so in control.

Sometimes, medical professionals could keep their heads as long as the victim wasn’t one of their own relatives, but his Little Fish seemed to be able to ignore the fact that she was working on her own Daddy while she tended to him.

He watched in fascination as she poured a bottle of clean water over the wound before examining it closer. “It’s not deep. You’ll probably need stitches, but I don’t think any muscle, tendons, or ligaments were involved.”

The police officer held up a first-aid kit that was already open.

Isla reached in to grab a roll of gauze. She quickly opened it, carefully unrolled a long length, cut it off, and pressed it to the wound before wrapping an ace bandage around it several times to secure it in place.

Caesar ignored the long gash because he’d rather be watching his woman work. She was amazing, and he loved her so much it hurt.

“Is he stable enough to answer questions?” the officer asked.

“Yes. He’ll be fine. They both will,” Isla responded. “Stubborn but not dying.”

She started to step out of the way, but Caesar stopped her by reaching out to grab her wrist so he could haul her toward him. As soon as she was close enough, he wrapped a hand around the back of her head and pulled her ear down to his mouth. “I love you.”

She gasped as he leaned back, but she finally smiled at him. “I love you, too, Daddy,” she whispered.

“Will you make sure everyone else is okay while I speak to the officer?”

“Yes. I’m going to see if they need me on the other boat.”

Caesar stiffened and wrapped his hand fully around her bicep. “No. Too risky.”

She narrowed her gaze at him. “I’m a medical professional first and foremost. I tend to wounded people no matter who they are or what they’ve done.”

“Those men intended to kill you, Isla,” he reminded her.

“And lucky for them, they did not succeed, so I’m alive to make sure they don’t die.”

The police officer stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, ma’am. The officers on the other boats have medical training. And a medic is pulling up now. You’re better off staying here.”

Isla looked around at the same time as Caesar. Sure enough, another boat was pulling up. She sighed and took a deep breath before dropping down onto the bench next to Caesar.

Relief flooded him. The thought of her working on those other divers made his chest tight. He couldn’t have stopped her but was grateful he hadn’t needed to try.

“So, what happens now?” Isla asked Caesar several hours later when all of them were back in the basement of Danger Bluff.

Caesar had an arm around her where she sat next to him on the couch. He wanted to haul her onto his lap, but she’d refused over and over because of his leg.

His leg was fine. Ten stitches that had been hardly necessary considering how shallow the wound was. Magnus had already arranged for a doctor to come to Danger Bluff before the rest of them had returned to the main building.

He stroked her arm. “The Ministry of Culture and Heritage has been informed of the location. They’ll take over from here and send divers in to recover anything that might be buried in the area we mapped for them. It’s unlawful for citizens to disturb possible locations of buried treasure.”

“What’s going to happen to those two divers?” Zara asked. Since she’d been under the water with them and seen the entire event, she was far more bitter about the fate of those men.

Caesar couldn’t blame her. “One of them is in stable condition in the hospital. The other is still in surgery but is expected to pull through. They will be prosecuted. What we do know is that they are the same men who rented the boat that passed by us several times the other day.”

Isla shivered. “How do we know there aren’t dozens of other people also looking for the treasure?”

Caesar hugged her closer and kissed her temple. “We don’t,” he murmured.

Everyone sat in silence, letting that sink in. Caesar wasn’t sure how to proceed, but he hoped to speak to Kingsley first thing tomorrow to figure out how to put an end to this madness. How many people knew about the map? It could be hundreds.

Caesar drew in a breath. “The good news is The Ministry of Culture and Heritage is sending someone to pick up the map itself. At least it will be in the hands of the right people who can preserve it. In addition, they will be sending a dive team to search the waters in that area. Whatever else is down there will be collected, which will make looting far less interesting to anyone out there still hoping to make a buck off of Isla’s grandfather’s treasure map.”

Isla relaxed slightly against him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe how much trouble I’ve caused,” she murmured.

Caesar gave her a squeeze. “Stop that. We’ve been over this. It’s not your fault. All you did was follow through on a quest your grandfather had intended to take. There was no way either he or you could have known how it would pan out.”

“I guess.”

“He’s right,” Sadie agreed.

“Yeah.” Lyra nodded. So did everyone else.

Rocco stood. “I think we all need a good night’s rest.” He reached for Sadie’s hand.

Caesar was eager to get Isla alone anyway. He wanted to assess her mental status without everyone hovering. He wasn’t entirely sure she was holding it together inside even though, on the outside, she appeared to be relatively calm.

After witnessing how relaxed she could be in the midst of a crisis, he would never be certain how she was feeling in any given situation in the future. He’d watched and admired her for hours as she’d taken care of not just his wound but Hawking’s, too.

It had turned out they weren’t the only ones with minor injuries. Kestrel had taken a hard kick to the gut, which had concerned Isla because she’d worried about internal injuries. She’d watched him closer than anyone else.

A few of the Littles had gotten banged up in their mad dash to get back into the boat as soon as the two divers had been spotted jumping into the water.

Isla had played nurse to everyone, which had given Caesar insight into what kind of a nurse she was—the best kind with the perfect disposition. If she could hold herself together when faced with multiple injuries among her own friends—who were now her family—then he suspected she was a solid rock when working with strangers.

When he stood and lifted her into his arms, she protested, “Daddy, put me down. You have ten stitches in your leg. You’re straining them.”

He nuzzled her neck and chuckled. “I’m not straining anything, Little Fish. You’re like a pile of cotton.”

“I am not.” She frowned at him.

He ignored her and held her in his arms all the way to their apartment, grinning when he paused to look at the shark on their door. It warmed his heart to know that his door—the last of the six—finally had a picture on it. It symbolized the fact that he, too, had found his Little, completing their family.

After carrying her through to the bathroom, he stood her on her feet. “Clothes off, Isla.”

He proceeded to remove his own.

She pulled her shirt over her head. “I don’t need a bath, Daddy. We just took a shower together a few hours ago.”

A shower had been Caesar’s first stop after the doctor had stitched him up. The man had put a giant waterproof cover over the wound and had left Caesar with several more so he could keep the gash covered when he showered.

There would be no scuba diving for him for at least ten days until the stitches were out and he got the all-clear. All excursions for the next two days had been canceled and rebooked, at which time Caesar and Jack would trade places. Caesar would stay on the boat, and Jack would take the divers down. They would pay a few other employees to snorkel with the guests.

The best part of all of this was that Caesar was about to spend forty-eight solid hours with his Little girl. Except for a few meetings with Kingsley and the team, he was on a two-day medical leave.

“Nope. You don’t need a bath.” He pointed toward the hamper. “What you need is to be naked.”

She finished stripping. “Maybe I should wear one of your shirts to bed.”

He also dropped the rest of his clothes in the hamper before grabbing their toothbrushes and putting paste on them. He handed her hers and stuck his in his mouth.

As he stood next to the woman he was head over heels in love with, he considered how totally normal and domestic this scene was—the two of them, naked and brushing their teeth before bed.

After rinsing and drying off on the hand towel, Caesar guided Isla toward the bed.

“Naked is a bad idea,” she murmured as he pulled the covers back.

“Naked is the only idea, Little Fish. Get in.”

“We’re not having sex, Caesar,” she insisted in her adult voice. “You’re hurt.”

He turned off the lights and climbed in next to her, pulling her into his arms and tucking her head against his shoulder.

“Daddy…”

He kissed the top of her head. “Isla. I need to touch every inch of you that I can. Stop arguing. I was scared out of my mind today. If anything had happened to you…”

Her breath hitched, but she didn’t speak.

He kissed her temple. “You’re my life, Little Fish. I never want to feel that kind of fear again as long as I live. So, yes, I need your naked body against mine, and you should also know I’m only going to wait about eight hours before I make love to you. The only reason I’m going to wait that long is because we both need sleep.”

“But—”

“No buts. It’s a shallow flesh wound. It’s not affecting my cock at all. If you’re super worried I might strain myself, I’ll lie on my back like a good patient while you ride me. How’s that for compromise?”

She giggled. Thank God. Lifting her head to see his face in the dim light of the nightlight, she smiled. “I get to be on top?”

He chuckled, shaking both of them. “Every day if it makes you smile like that.”

She smiled broader. “Now I’m all hot and bothered.”

“You’re welcome to ride me right now if you want.” He lifted a brow. He knew she was exhausted.

She sighed and dropped her cheek back against his shoulder. Her fingers roamed over his chest. “Morning is better. Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what, Little Fish?”

“For loving me. For taking care of me. For saving my life.”

“No thanks necessary. You’re mine to protect forever and ever. It’s my job, and I will take it very seriously.” He stroked up and down her arm. “Tell me how you’re handling everything, Isla. It was an emotional day. You worked hard. It was stressful. I want to take your pulse.”

“I’m good.”

“Isla… That’s not a sufficient answer.”

She sighed. “It was stressful. You’re right. I was scared. When I saw that cut on your leg, I nearly fainted, but then my professional side kicked into gear, and I set aside my personal feelings and got to work.”

“I was so very proud of you. But it’s okay to let go now if you need to. You’re safe.” He hoped she understood that he meant emotionally safe. While in his arms, he always wanted her to feel like she could cry if she needed to. “I’ve got you.”

“I know you do, Daddy, and I think that’s why I’m not falling apart. I don’t have to. You’re holding me together, and that’s enough.”

His heart was overflowing. How had he gotten so lucky?