20. Silas
20
SILAS
Fuck.
We knew it was coming. We would have to tell her eventually, but I didn’t know how she would react to being the most wanted woman in all of America, especially now by some of the most dangerous men.
How would she react when she realized her father had kept her close all these years, not over a sense of fatherly duty or even fatherly love, but greed? That it had never been about her why Daniel fucking Hayes had been so possessive, but because he wanted her inheritance for himself. How Sebastian came into agreement with Hayes was still a mystery, considering he somehow convinced Hayes to betroth Mila to him.
There was still so much we didn’t know, and Mila happened to be at the center of it.
“Angel,” I began.
She shook her head and stood up. “No, I want to know. What inheritance? Because no one had said anything about it to me.”
My brothers didn't say anything. Like me, they didn’t want to hurt her.
“How much do you remember about your grandpa? Your mom’s dad?” Maverick asked.
She frowned. “Very little. He… he was nice to me, I think,” she said, sounding unsure, as if the thought that another family member could be nice to her was so unfathomable. My fist clenched. “We lived with? him when I was born until Dad took control of the narcotics trade, and then we moved into the clubhouse. He died shortly after. His house… it… it was a nice house. I was sure all that money went to my mom because Grandpa made my parents sign a prenup. Why does it matter now?”
“Baby,” I said, taking a step toward her.
She backed up a step. “I don’t want to be distracted by you.”
I nodded and looked down at the coffee table. “Your grandpa left you something.”
“He did?” she asked, voice soft. “What did he leave me?”
“A shipping port.”
She frowned. “A shipping port?”
“Have you ever heard of Stocken Isle?” Killian asked.
The way her face twisted told me she hadn’t. She shook her head.
Killian continued, “It’s a private and small shipping port located in California, and it has become crucial in overseas dealing, mostly because of its location.”
“You mean drug dealings,” Mila said quietly.
Of course she would catch on quickly. My girl was smart as fuck.
“Among other things,” Maverick said.
Her face blanched, and she looked at him. “Humans?”
Maverick shook his head, and her shoulders visibly relaxed. “It could have been possible some decades before. But right now, Stocken Isle is managed by a lawyer your grandpa appointed as the executor of his fortune.”
Mila’s face pinched. “But you said my grandpa left it to me?”
Maverick tapped his hand once on the side of his leg. “Yes, but your inheritance doesn’t come to you until your twenty-fifth birthday.”
Her breath caught. “That’s less than two months away.”
“It’s either your twenty-fifth birthday, or if you marry before that, then that inheritance will go to your husband.”
She didn’t say anything to Maverick’s words. I shifted, wanting to get close to her, but I didn’t think she would want that now.
“My husband?”
Maverick nodded. “That’s why Sebastian has been doing whatever it took to get to you. He needed to marry you before your twenty-fifth birthday. He’s getting desperate.”
She looked at us, her eyes moving from Maverick to me, then to Killian, and back to Maverick. “What about you? Are you desperate too?”
I blinked, trying to make sense of her words. Did she… What the fuck?
“What the fuck?” Killian said, echoing my thoughts. “You think that’s why we’ve looked for you? Why we want you so badly we could scarcely breathe without you in our sight? You really think that?”
She took a step back, then another, taking her further away from me. I didn’t fucking like the distance. I made a move to reach for her, but she shook her head, halting me. “Isn’t that the case? Were you just using me?” Her voice cracked at the end, and I clenched my fists. A fucking knife to the chest would have been less painful.
“Angel, do you really believe that?”
“I… I don’t know what to believe anymore.” She looked at me, devastation and heartbreak in those sea-colored eyes of hers. “I mean, from the beginning, we never made sense. You said you went looking for me in New Orleans to kill me. But you couldn’t. You got obsessed? How does that even work?”
I took one small step toward her. She didn’t back away. “Mila, we didn’t even know about your inheritance until two nights ago. And if that was what we were after, you would have been married to one of us by now, with or without your consent.”
Her breath caught, and I didn’t know if the reaction was from marriage being mentioned or the fact that we could have made her marry us. We wouldn’t fucking do it. And I supposed marriage was off the fucking table now, at least until she was sure of our feelings for her.
“How did you find out?” she asked.
“Sebastian went to our uncle. He’s looking for all the resources he can to get you back.”
She looked like she didn’t know what to believe. She looked away from me. “And what about now? Now that you know, does that change anything?”
Her lips trembled. I took another step toward her. She turned away from me completely. “I don’t know what to think. Give me time.”
And give her time to think about all the ways she was too good for us? Why she shouldn’t be with us? Fuck that. It was fucking true. She was too good for us, but if she thought that would stop me from owning every single inch of her, she’d be wrong.
She made a move to walk to the room.
I spoke without thinking. “I love you.”
She paused but didn’t turn around.
“I love you so fucking much. I still don’t believe in love at first sight, but that first moment I laid my eyes on you? It took mere seconds for me to realize I had fallen. Perhaps it wasn’t love. Not then. I didn’t know you back then. But it was fucking close. And now that I know you? Fuck me, baby, but I love you.”
Her breath caught, and finally, fucking finally , she turned around to look at me. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
“I was obsessed at first sight. Even when I knew nothing about you except that you were the daughter of the man who had destroyed our empire. I just… I fucking love you.”
Tears ran down her face. “You really love me?”
“Silly girl. Do you really not know? Fuck that fortune. Fuck this empire. Fuck everything that isn’t you. I love you, and I will tell you this every single fucking day of my life.”
I moved over to her. She stayed where she was and when she was close enough, I pulled her into my arms, holding onto her tightly. She burst into tears, burying her face in my chest.
“Fuck, baby. Please don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.”
She nodded against me but didn’t stop. I glanced over at my brothers. They looked as helpless as I felt. I pulled her away when her cries quieted, taking in her swollen, red, and wet eyes. I wiped away her tears.
“I love you too,” she said.
It took everything in me to stay standing. She loved me. Fuck me.
“Silas?” she asked when I didn’t say anything. I let out a shaky breath, and she smiled a little. “Are you okay?”
“Fucking hell, baby. Give me a moment.”
She let out a watery laugh, leaning up and kissing along my jawline. Fuck me.
Twisting in my arms, she turned to my brothers. “Maverick?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and she twisted nervously on her feet. Then he opened his arms. I let her go, and she ran right into him. My heart pinched at the sight. Maverick was a big fucker. Mila looked infinitely fragile and small in his arms then.
“Little monster,” he breathed out, grabbing a fistful of her hair and twisting it to the side. He leaned down and kissed her neck. “Do you really doubt it? Do you really not know? How could you not when I told you just how much power you have over me? How could you not know just how much I fucking love you?”
Tears silently ran down her cheeks as she stared up at him in awe. “I love you too.”
He closed his eyes as if he didn’t know what to do with her words. As if there was a part of him that believed she couldn’t love him. I focused on my brother. He had always been the strong one. He took care of us and protected us long before the attack on our house. He had protected Killian and me since the day we were born as best as he could, even when he had been a kid himself. Did he not think he was deserving of love?
I blinked and met Killian's eyes from across the room. They darkened with emotion.
I looked away from him just as Maverick leaned down and kissed her, devouring her lips with his. When they pulled away, both were breathing heavily, and I couldn’t fucking wait until we got all this behind us and could finally focus on her.
Fuck.
She turned to Killian.
“Did you doubt me when I told you I love you?” Killian asked.
My eyebrows jumped in surprise. I hadn’t realized Killian had already told her. He worked fast. And I realized my mistake for not telling her sooner.
She shook her head.
Killian took a step forward. “I think you did, otherwise, you wouldn’t have tried to run and hide just now. Or doubt us for being with you, with or without the fucking inheritance.”
She looked down at the floor. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He closed the gap between them, only stopping when he stood no more than a foot away. “I know you are. And I can forgive that. Right after.”
Her eyes sprang up to look at him. “Right after?”
Killian smiled darkly, and I felt my lips twitch. Fuck, but I knew what that look in his eyes meant. “Right after I punish you. Then all will be right again, and you’ll think twice before ever doubting our love for you again.”