Chapter 26 – Drake
DRAKE
Olivia followed me into the house, the doors opening for us. Lovelace greeted me, and just hearing her voice sent a wave of terror through my body. Bracing my weight against the wall, I held on to it for support.
Lovelace was the reason for Tate’s death. If I hadn’t created a monster, no one would have wanted to steal her. And he would still be alive.
“Hey, Drake.” Olivia clutched my arm, invading my senses with her sweet perfume. “Do you need help getting upstairs?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m fine.”
“You’re not even close to fine.” She dabbed at her eyes and blinked away a few tears. “Come upstairs with me. I’ll run you a bath.”
I didn’t take baths, but sitting in a vat of warm water sounded good at that moment. My muscles ached. So did my joints, which popped if I moved too quickly. Every bone in my body felt broken.
And my face?
I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know I had a busted lip. A fractured orbital bone and a slew of wounds.
Olivia slipped her fingers between mine, and the sudden spark of electricity jolted me out of my dark thoughts. I looked at her through swollen eyes. She stared back, with more tears sliding down her cheeks.
I made a promise to Tate.
I told her the truth.
And since I was upholding my end of the deal, I had to tell her everything. “I recently found your biological father. Until then, I didn’t know who he was, only that you and Tate didn’t share any DNA.”
Her entire body shook at the news. I pulled her head to my chest, even though it hurt like hell, and held her until the last sob escaped her throat.
Olivia peeked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed and glassy. “Tate was my brother. He took care of me. Whenever I needed him, he was there.”
“DNA changes nothing. Tate is still your brother. Your family. Don’t let the facts change anything.”
She bobbed her head. “So, who’s my dad?”
“His name is Cian Doyle. He lives in Beacon Bay with his sons and a daughter. You’ve met your half-sister already.”
“I did. When?”
“Ella Doyle. Sonny and Aiden’s girlfriend. The blonde.”
“Seriously? She’s my sister?”
I nodded. “Ella is two years older than you. And you have three older brothers named Killian, Rowan, and Sullivan. I found your biological father when the police arrested Killian for attempted manslaughter. I just had to wait until his DNA was on file to get a match.”
Her eyes widened. “Manslaughter?”
“Attempted. His lawyer got him off. He’s out of prison now.”
“Wow,” she mouthed. “So my real family… are not good people. Are they?”
I shook my head. “Cian Doyle runs one of the largest crime families in the country. Your family is from Dublin. Ella just came back from there after your father sent her away to keep her away from Sonny and Aiden. And to avoid a mafia war.”
“How did my mother meet Cian?”
“I don’t know. But if you want to meet your family, they might have answers for you.
Cian isn’t the nicest guy. Just keep that in mind, Liv.
I don’t know how he’ll respond to having another daughter.
From what Aiden and Sonny have told me, Cian used to lock Ella in her room and wouldn’t let her have friends. ”
“I see,” she muttered. “Well, we should go upstairs. You need a bath and some rest.”
We rode the elevator to the top floor. I had a computer lab, a gaming room, a living room, and at the end of the hall, my bedroom. I rarely slept upstairs. It took too much effort to drag my ass up here from the Battle Cave. Most nights, I slept on the couch or in the spare bedroom down there.
Olivia pushed open the double doors and glanced around the room as if stepping into a foreign territory.
No one ever came up here. She’d only been in my bedroom a handful of times over the years.
Like the rest of the house, it looked sterile, clinical.
White walls, navy blue bed sheets and accent pillows. Pretty standard bachelor pad stuff.
Of course, I had half a dozen monitors, laptops, and a massive flat-screen television hung over a fireplace. I could never have too many gadgets.
Olivia took my hand and dragged me into the ensuite bathroom. She kneeled at the Jacuzzi tub and turned on the water, running her hands under the faucet.
Once she found the correct temperature, she stood up and gripped the hem of my T-shirt. “Raise your arms.”
I did as she asked and let her strip off my clothing. Keeping her eyes on me, she unbuttoned my pants and slid down the zipper. There wasn’t anything sexual about this. She put her hand on my marred chest and gasped at the sight of the bandages.
“Drake,” she whispered. “How did you survive this?”
“A miracle, I guess? I figured if the beatings didn’t kill me, the high carbon dioxide levels would.”
I was a man of math and science, not faith. But someone had been watching over me in that cave. Science dictated I should have eventually passed out from the gases and suffocated. It was a miracle. There was no other explanation for why I was still alive.
“I prayed for you.” She ran the pads of her fingers over my abs. “Every single day.”
“Someone heard your prayers, I guess.”
“Just not all of them.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Otherwise, Tate would be here, too.”
“Liv—”
“Don’t say you’re sorry. No more apologies, Drake.”
“But I owe you one.”
“You didn’t kill him.”
“No, but my tech did. If I hadn’t made Tate the head of my security—”
“Stop it, Drake. Do you have any idea how much my brother loved you? He believed in you so much that the entire time he was in the Marine Corps, he couldn’t wait to get out because that meant working side-by-side with you.”
“But I failed him. I saved my friends from danger. I helped rescue their wives. Yet, with my brother, I couldn’t do anything to prevent it from happening. They forced me to sit there and watch as they tortured Tate.”
Olivia hooked an arm around me, careful not to touch my bruises. However, that was hard to do considering my broken ribs. Whenever I breathed, it felt like my bones were shaking loose and ready to collapse my lungs.
I tried not to flinch as Olivia hugged me. She didn’t need to see how much it hurt just to hold her, when being here with her was the only thing getting me through Tate’s death.
“I’m glad you made it,” Olivia said, a smile on her beautiful face. “I need you, Drake.”
“We need each other.”
She pushed my pants down to my ankles, and I kicked off my shoes along with my jeans. Olivia bent over the tub to turn off the water. I moved behind her, gripping her hips.
“One day, I’m going to marry you, Liv. You’re going to have my babies. And we’re going to live the way Tate wanted us to.”
She spun around to face me, eyes wide. “What did my brother say to you? You have an eidetic memory. Tell me. I know you remember every word he said.”
I fought the terrible flashbacks of the cave and did my best to focus on the present.
“Tate said, If you get out of here and I don’t, I need you to promise me three things.
One, you will take care of Liv and make sure nothing bad ever happens to her.
Two, I want you to tell her the truth. She should know that I’m the reason you’re not together.
And three, you better fucking marry her, Drake.
My sister has been in love with you since the day we moved into your house.
She deserves to be happy. I feel like a dick for keeping you guys apart for so long when it’s been so obvious how you feel about each other. ”
Her hand flew up to her mouth, stifling a gasp.
I reached out and yanked her toward me, resting my hands on her hips. “I love you, Liv. I mean, I am in love with you. And have been for years. From the moment you entered my life, you filled my world with so much peace, love, and happiness. Before you, I never had that. I just existed.”
More tears streamed down her face, and I was hoping they were tears of joy because I was feeling really vulnerable.
Olivia pressed her lips to my cheek, right on the only spot that wasn’t bruised. “I love you too, Drake. Of course, I do. I think you’ve always known that. Without you, I’d probably be dead. You’re my white knight. My savior. You will always be my hero.”
“I really wish I could kiss you right now.” I held her tighter, but standing for this long weakened my legs too much. “My lips are stinging like crazy. And I don’t want to get blood on you.”
She inched my boxer briefs past my hips and stared at my dick as the material hit the floor. “We can take things slow until you get better. Be careful with the broken ribs. One could puncture your lungs. No sex until you’re healed.”
I rested my chin on her head, needing to be closer to her without re-injuring myself. “Yes, boss.”