Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Nia

A steady beeping is the first thing I hear.

I slide my eyes open, looking to the side. A heart-rate monitor fills my vision. My hand creeps out, touching hard plastic bed rails on the side of the bed. I'm in the hospital.

I turn my head the other way, the room coming into view.

The large door to the hall is closed. A sink sits to one side, some cabinets. Another door that I assume leads to the bathroom is opposite the sink. It's like every hospital I've ever been in with beige walls, white plastic and pale pink accents.

I try to lift my head, but it aches, and I close my eyes against the pain.

How did I get here?

Memories of the car, of trying to escape float through my thoughts. Fragmented edges of the helicopter and the car skidding across the road are next and I flex my hands, trying to clear my head. Is that how I ended up here ?

I remember Jake next to the car. Remember him holding my hand and murmuring softly. I can't recall the words, but I remember the feeling. He was so tender…

Which seems odd. I ran away. He was going to get rid of me…

A few phrases rise to the surface of my thoughts. Better man, love, the man he was supposed to be…

"Finally awake, princess?" A voice speaks from the shadowed corner of the room but my blood turns to ice in my veins. Because that's not Jake.

It's Toni.

I gasp in fear. which makes my head throb painfully. I reach my hands up, holding my head. Why is Toni here? Cold dread makes my body recoil in pain. "Where am I?"

"Don't you know?" His voice is hard as ever, not an ounce of softness tinging its edges.

I shake my head, not sure what to do. Think, Nia. Think. "I…I was in a car. I tried to drive…"

"Where were you driving to?"

Shit. More of Jake's words filter through my thoughts. His promise to die before he let Toni hurt me reverberates in my head. Where is he? Where is Jake?

I've lied to Toni for years and the words slip from my lips now. Not that I'm lying exactly, but I need to be very careful about what I say.

I wish my head were clearer. I swipe my fingers across my forehead. "Away."

"Away?" I hear his snort. He doesn't believe me.

"I…" I swallow. I could tell Toni the truth. I was kidnapped against my will. Held. But it's a lie too. Because I'd stay with Jake if I thought he truly wanted to keep me.

"That's a nice ring on your finger, princess. Is that the price for betraying me?"

My mouth drops open as I lift my head, dropping my hand. I see Jake's ring still sparkling on my finger, catching even the smallest bit of light. It's some reminder that for a moment, I had real hope. That I saw another life that didn't involve Toni. And in that life, I wasn't alone.

I'm done pretending with this man and I'm done living in fear. He breaks everything that's close to him and I know I'm next. But I can't bring myself to care. "I betrayed you? That's hilarious."

He pushes up from the chair. "Stupid bitch. Probably thinking with what's between your legs just like your whore of a mother. She deserved to die, and you deserve it too."

"Bastard."

"I watched her last breath as I held her under that water and I'll watch yours too," he snarls, stepping up next to the bed.

I lay my head back down, closing my eyes. I can't fight. Only say my piece before the end. It's a calm I never expected to experience. "I saw what you did to her that night, and I told the Kincaids about how you drowned my mother in the bath. You'll rot in prison and then you'll rot in hell."

He yanks the pillow from under my head, my head thumping down on the mattress as pain reverberates through my skull, radiating down my spine.

Then he holds it over my face. "You'll die just like her. I'd tell you all about how she had no loyalty either but we're short on time." He starts to lower the pillow. "I always knew it would come to this."

I close my eyes. I did too.

"Toni," Jake's deep gravelly voice causes my eyes to spring open. I lift my head to see him filling the doorway. "I'm sure you already know, pillows, like the one you're conveniently holding, make excellent silencers."

I gasp in a breath at the sight of a pistol in his hand, even as he steps into the room, raising the gun higher. "Jake," I say, it comes out like a plea.

Despite all our talk about Toni, I never actually pictured this moment, the two men facing off in front of me. I swallow, the numb calmness of the last moments washing away as fear pumps through my veins.

Because I'm scared for Jake .

There isn't an ounce of fear on his face. Jake doesn't look at me, instead his gaze is fixed on Toni, his features drawn into hard lines. My father promptly drops the pillow, pulling his own pistol from his waistband. "If I'm dying, you are too, Kincaid."

"The police are right outside the door," Jake answers evenly. "Fire knowing that you'll never leave this room."

I see Toni wince.

But Jake isn't done. "In one minute, several state troopers are going to arrest you. You're done, Toni. This is the end."

"Arresting me? On what charge? Your stupid brother?"

"No, not yet, You'll go to prison for him. But the arrest, the first charges, will be for Nia."

I cover my mouth to keep from crying out. Because this is everything he promised.

Toni's lip curls. "Do you think you love her? Is that what this is?"

Jake doesn't answer.

"I think I hate you," Toni spits. Jake keeps moving closer, but I see the telltale signs Toni is losing his cool.

His face turns red, his eyes bulging out as he starts around the bed.

"Don't mix up the mind-blowing sex for real love. It isn't. Trust a man who's made that mistake. That's what you'll think it is, and then she'll give her shit away all over town," Toni scoffs.

I gasp at the words. But Jake only gives him a cold smile. "If I were a betting man, I'd say Maria cheated because you were a shit husband."

Toni roars, lunging wildly toward Jake.

But Jake is ready. As Toni leans in, Jake knocks him square in the jaw with a solid punch.

I cry out, my hands twisting into the sheets.

Toni goes down like a wall of brinks hit by a sledgehammer, the noise when he hits the ground deafening. I jump, my head throbbing.

Jake's free hand comes to my arm, gently touching me. "Be still, love. You'll hurt yourself."

"Where were you?" I gasp, gripping his hand in mine. It's not a fair question. I literally crashed his car trying to run away .

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he answers, grimacing. He keeps his eyes on Toni as the door opens again and several officers stream in. "I got called out to the hall by police to file a report on the accident and Toni took advantage of that moment of distraction."

"What's this?" One of the officers demands from the open doorway.

"I'll explain after you've got him in cuffs," Jake narrows his eyes at the office, offering no explanation.

"I already told you," the officer starts, "we're not making an arrest?—"

The room, which had been empty moments ago, fills with more people as Roman and another man, who looks a lot like Jake and Roman, walk into the room.

Behind them, an entire team of men in suits.

Another man in a medical coat that I'm sure is my doctor, enters too. "What is happening here?"

He's quickly pulled from the room by one of the suits as the officers crouch around Toni. "I heard what your lawyer said, but we can't arrest an unconscious man," one grumbles.

"Jake?" Roman asks, his brows up. Without his sunglasses, I can see that Roman has the most classically handsome features of the family. He doesn't look at me, and I grimace at him. I'm not sure I want him here after everything that happened.

The man next to him wears a sardonic grin that makes him look devilish. "Hey, Nia, I'm Luke."

I give him a quick nod, my eyes wary, as I reach for Jake's hand. I need to touch him. I have no idea where we stand, what his motives are, but I'm too hurt, too alone not to cling to the lifeline and hope that is what Jake really is. He did just save my life…

"He had a pillow over Nia's face," Jake answers the officer, not Roman, as he laced his fingers through mine. "I was being generous by punching him."

One of the officers stands. "Is this true?" he asks me, and I nod. Because it is and because Toni deserves everything he's about to get .

Another police officer stands, speaking softly. "Heard the whole thing…multiple charges."

But I hear the first officer mutter back under his breath. "This is a weird one."

Tell me about it, buddy.

I lift Jake's hand and bring it to my cheek. "I'm sorry I took the car." I don't know what else to say. I wish I'd stayed and listened. I wouldn't have been in any more danger than the last several hours have brought.

He leans down, brushing a kiss along my head. From here, I can see the pistol is now tucked into the waistband of his jeans.

I'm not scared, not even a little.

The doctor reenters, looking very annoyed. "We're discharging you to another doctor's care," he says with an irritated frown before he turns and walks back out the door.

Another man comes to the end of my bed to look at the chart, scanning over the information. "We'll set everything up at the compound for her medical needs." This he directs to Jake, his gaze barely touching me.

The suits have all gathered around Toni and are speaking to the police. "Who are they?"

"Lawyers," Jake answers. "Don't worry about them."

"And what about Toni?"

"As soon as he comes to, he'll be taken to prison."

I peek over the side of the bed. He's starting to move.

"And you?"

"I go where you go," he answers, touching my cheek with feather-light fingers. It's the kind of touch that might make a woman melt. I lean into it, closing my eyes. Because that sounds wonderful to me.

I know we have some hard conversations ahead. What were his original plans? Is this ring on my finger all a lie?

Where do we go from here?

But I don't care about the answers just this moment. What I want to do is be tucked into Jake's protection and let the rest of the world melt away .

Toni is carted out on a stretcher, the officers trailing behind. I watch him go, truly hoping to never see him again.

Toni Carcetti is a book I'd very much like to close forever. But what you want and what you get very rarely match.