Chapter Twenty-Two-Luc
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO-LUC
“ M ia, you didn’t have to come here,” her mother says, and I note the name she’s using.
It’s not Maria.
I frown.
Clearly, we have more secrets to clear up, but we’ll get to it. Maria said she’s in love with me. And because of that, I need to know everything.
Every. Single. Fucking. Thing.
There is no way I am letting her go now. So, yeah, we will get to it.
I am going to discover everything about her.
I have to.
There is no other choice.
Not for me. Not for her.
I watch the two women embrace, and my gaze flits to the older man sitting beside the bed.
He has to be the mother’s age, though it is hard to tell with her illness.
I can see the resemblance. Maria’s mother must be a gorgeous woman when she’s well.
But now, she is thin and pale. Her head is covered in a colorful silk scarf, and she has on her own robe.
The man nods at me. A sign of respect. And I give him the same acknowledgement.
“We’ve been here two days, and the doctor still hasn’t seen her himself,” he rumbles.
I immediately start texting out orders to my guys. That kind of thing will not be tolerated.
Anyone important to Maria is now important to me.
Whoever sent her running, well, I’ll deal with him, too. As soon as she gives me a name.
“It’s gonna be okay, Mami,” Maria tells her mother.
“Will you have to leave now? I want you safe, Mia, but I miss you so,” she cries.
“I’m not leaving you, Mami. I promise.”
The older woman simply cries, holding her daughter’s hand, and it tugs on my heartstrings.
Damn fucking straight, she’s not leaving.
Maria is telling her mother not to worry, and she isn’t lying. I’ve already set things into motion. I want her, Celia Lopez , I note the name, to be seen by the top oncologist at the hospital.
Viper Enterprises has donated plenty of money to this place, as have I, personally.
My name has clout, and I am not afraid to use it. I hear some of my guys arrive. The team leader’s name is Otto. He sticks his head in the door and nods at me, telling me they’re in place.
Maria’s mother is getting round-the-clock security while she is here, and a personal fucking escort back to her house when she is released.
The doctor arrives a few minutes later.
He looks harried and a little afraid when he sees me, and I know why. I just had one of my guys motivate him to bump Celia Lopez up on his list of patients to see.
“Ah, um, hello, Mrs. Lopez, I’m Dr. Xavier. Let’s see what your chart says, shall we?”
Celia nods at the doctor, and Maria blinks up at me. She mouths the words thank you . And I dip my chin.
She doesn’t have to thank me. Not for this. This is just common fucking courtesy.
I get it. Hospitals are full of overworked staff. Hours are nuts. And there are not enough nurses and doctors to go around.
But their patients are real people. They deserve care and consideration.
I decide I want better for Maria’s mother. I want the top oncologist in the whole fucking state to look at this woman’s records.
As for the Medical Center, I make a note to donate a full ten years’ worth of salaries for ten more oncology nurses to be added to the staff. Maybe that will help.
“Would you mind excusing us so I can do an exam?” the doctor says, and he looks two seconds from shitting himself.
I nod and send a small wink to Maria before exiting. The neighbor follows me.
“Joe Palermo,” he says, holding out his hand as we move to the foot of the bed, backing away a few more feet while the woman gush and sob and embrace.
“Luc Batiste. You her neighbor?” I ask.
“Yeah. I lived next to the Lopez family, thirty-five years. I saw Mia, er , Maria, be born. She came too quickly for Celia to make it to the hospital. Delivered her right on the lawn. The husband was out,” he says, and I pick up on his sneer.
Something clicks, and suddenly, I know this guy. Not him, per se. But I know what he is.
I can smell it on him.
Joe Palmero is a cop. Or he was.
“You know who I am?” I ask quietly.
The older man looks me in the eye, and he nods.
“How did you find Maria?” I say.
“Looked through Celia’s wallet. She collapsed in the garden, and I brought her here. Been trying to call Maria for two days. Was she with you?”
I raise an eyebrow. It’s nice he’s protective of her.
But I’m not confirming or denying shit to him. It is none of his damn business.
“Look, I get it. I was on the job a long time. Emiliano Lopez wasn’t a good man. He loved his wife and daughter, though. I will give him that. But he worked for a fucking monster. I just wanna know, you gonna protect her?”
I consider his words carefully.
Of course, I am going to protect her.
Maria is mine. That isn’t a question.
But I need to know more, and I’m not sure how far to push her just yet.
A woman like her doesn’t fall in my lap every day. She certainly doesn’t tell me she’s in love with me.
I’m already fucking obsessed with her.
But now, well, now it’s no contest. I will burn this whole fucking city to the ground if some soon to be dead prick doesn’t get the message that Baby Girl, and yeah that is what I am going to call her until she tells me which is her real fucking name or until I decide what to call her , is mine.
When I say burn it tot he ground, I fucking mean it.
Metaphorically or literally.
I’ll destroy it all. It makes no difference to me.
Nico is the king of the Vipers, and my blood brother. He is the most unhinged fucker I know. I’m not the king.
But I am the Council. And he’s not the only one of us who can get shit done.
I might look like I don’t do violence, but I’m no stranger to it.
No, I don’t talk a lot. I don’t like to waste words. But that doesn’t mean a fucking thing.
I’ve got my own methods and means.
So, when I say I will fucking burn this city to the ground, I mean I will rain destruction down on any motherfucker who terrorizes my woman.
I protect what’s mine.
And that woman is irrefutably mine.
“She’ll be safe. Her mother, too,” I tell good ol’ neighbor Joe.
He exhales audibly. But I’m not done with him yet.
“Now, tell me the name of that monster .”