Chapter TenIan
Chapter Ten
Ian
“You,” I snapped, seeing the little prick from the club who claimed Calista belonged to him as he entered my room with several items on a cart.
I wouldn’t trust this fucker with mopping the floor, let alone my well-being. “Um, sucks to be you right now,” he says with a smirk—that kind of dark, sinister grin that holds pure malice behind it.
“Keep that up and you’ll be sucking on your last breath,” I warn the arrogant punk. I might be too weak to take on someone larger, but this pussy will be light work.
“I wouldn’t threaten me with the position you’re in.” He chuckles while lifting up a needle and then a bottle. “Fucking hilarious that you got Callie fired. Did she tell you that she only fucked you because I slipped her a little something in her drink? Her legs should have opened up for me, not you.” He inserts the needle into the bottle and then pulls it out.
Multiple levels of rage fill my gut. “Pencil-dick rapist. You shouldn’t have told me that.”
“It’s time for you to get your meds, Mr. MacNamara.”
“Get that needle away from my brother, or I’ll shove it through your eye,” Jack says, inching closer to him. He sets it on the cart next to him. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“Well, someone needs to replace Callie since he got her fired,” he huffs. The anger in his voice tells me he’s still interested in getting to her.
“You’ll stay the fuck away from her.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, and I sure as fuck won’t give up on Callie just because she got her cherry popped by someone else.”
“Do yourself a favor, and get the fuck out of my brother’s room.”
“That’s fine. Enjoy the pain. I’ll head over to Callie’s soon and let her know I’m there for her.” He chuckles as he pushes the cart out of the room.
Once he’s gone, Jack checks the door, and then says, “We’re getting the fuck out of here. I don’t like that bastard or the doctor either. Everything’s running smoothly—we’ve already transferred information to our doctors, and then we’ll have the hospital records wiped clean.”
“Have you seen Calista?”
“Yes, and she was with her bodyguard.”
“Bodyguard?”
“From the looks of it, she didn’t want him around, but it was at her dad’s request. I caught her crying.”
“Yeah, well, it seems I just got her fired.”
“That’s what she implied when she cursed me out.”
“Damn, I love her.” I don’t even realize that I’ve just let that slip, but the look on my brother’s face tells me I said that out loud.
“I’m not knocking anything. I might not trust everything yet, but we all have been a bit crazy when it comes to our women.”
“Yes, we are, and I’ve been a bit distrustful of all of them.”
“That’s for sure,” he scoffs.
I plan to apologize to Claudia, who I was outright rude to, whereas with Nora, I’d just kept my reservations to myself until I saw how wonderful they both were.
“So what’s the plan? How long until we get the fuck out of here?”
“Connor went to get a wheelchair, but we’re waiting for the paperwork. They told me it would only be an hour.”
“Good. I don’t trust these people, and I’m already planning my revenge on that asshole. Did you hear what he said he did to Calista?”
“What did that pussy do?”
“He drugged her that night so she would be more compliant.”
“He’s on our ever-growing list.”
“Our?”
“Yeah, I get it. I’ve been where you are, and honestly, other than her connections to a man I don’t trust, there isn’t anything bad about the connections. We aren’t enemies with the Vitale Family.”
“We might be now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I caused her to lose her job, and like you said, she was crying and her terrible excuse for a bodyguard saw. If he tells her father, we might have a big problem.”
“Let’s worry about that another time. Besides, you’re planning to let your rabbit only run so far.”
“True. She’ll be caught soon.” I smirk.
****
Two hours later, I’m lying in the back of the SUV. Calista calls Claudia, and they chat on speaker. I listen to their conversation, hanging on every word like a lovesick fool. I’m kind of glad I refused the painkillers until we got to the house because I would have been passed out and missed the call. I love that she’s obviously worried about my safety. When she hangs up, my chest aches to have her by my side, but I’m not in the condition to take care of myself, let alone her. It’s probably for the best that she’s going out of town, although she doesn’t say when she’ll be back. If she takes too long, I’ll have to go get her.
“We need someone to watch over her,” I insist.
“She’s going to see her father, who is like us, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll send someone,” Jack says.
“Yes, it does. Dad could be out there, and if he even gets a whiff of my interest in her…” I can’t even think about the danger she’d be in. Damn it. Maybe Jack should have just taken her before he left.
“We’ll make it happen. Maybe we should have a talk with her father.”
“I will contact him.”
“I thought you searched for her,” Jack remarks, wondering how I hadn’t found her easily.
“The registration for the party was under a shell company,” Connor says. “We were paid outright, and then they added an extra thousand for the drinks at the table.”
They hit a bump, and I groan.
“Shit, sorry. Just try to relax. We can talk about this later. You’re supposed to take it easy, and we just pulled you out of the hospital.”
“It’s for the best, because they can’t be trusted not to flood air into my IV. You heard Calista. They fucking wanted someone to come for my ass,” I grumble.
“Still, you need to rest, so we’ll set up a spare bedroom for you and then you can sleep while we get everything together for your pursuit of Callie,” Claudia says, taking my hand and squeezing it.
“Thanks,” I sigh, doing my best to calm down. “I’d feel better if I had her number.”
“That’s fine. When we get home,” Connor says. I nod and close my eyes, letting my fatigue and the remaining morphine in my body take over.
By the time I wake up, we’re pulling through the reinforced gate at the estate. “We’re almost there. Are you hungry?” Claudia asks.
“A little.”
“I can make you something small. The notes said that you can only have a liquid diet for a few days.” They pull into the driveway and in front of Connor and Claudia’s home.
“That’s fine.” I only need enough to get through the day. If I can’t have Calista by my side at the moment, I honestly just want sleep.
My brother helps me out of the vehicle and into the house, and my bag from the hospital falls on the floor, reminding me that I have no idea what happened to my phone. “Where’s my phone?”
Connor pats my forearm after scooping up my bag. “Calm down. It’s with your belongings, but it was smashed so Jack’s grabbing you a new one.”
“Thanks,” I tell my brother.
“Let me help you to your room.”
“I’ll get cooking,” Claudia says with a cheerful enthusiasm that makes me feel a little better.
“Thanks, Claudia.” We haven’t quite hit it off, but she’s proving to be a wonderful woman and an asset to this family. I tell my brother that as we head upstairs. “She’s a great woman.”
“Thanks. I’d love to believe so. You keep being nice to her, and she might even agree to bake a wedding cake for you and Callie.”
“Fingers crossed,” I tease, but my mind goes straight to tying the knot. The thought of having Calista as my wife would be a dream come true. I remember the ring I have put away in my bedroom safe. It was something my mother gave me when I was eighteen. She said it belonged to her mother, and she wanted me to have it. Of course, I asked why not Jack or Connor, but she said she had other gifts for them.
It was beautiful, and I’ve treasured it for so long.
“Find the one you love. Never marry out of duty.”
I chuckled at the time because I’d never have that sense of loyalty to my father.
I lie down in bed and pass out before my sister-in-law comes up. When she does, she lightly knocks on the door, waking me. I slowly move into a sitting position, giving her a soft smile. “Thank you, Claudia.”
She gently hands me the bed tray. “Do you have it?” I nod, and she releases it. I adjust the tray and then smile again at her.
Claudia straightens up and says, “Please let me know if you need anything else.”
I tip my chin, giving a polite nod, and she moves to the door. “Wait,” I call out.
“Yes?”
“I want to apologize, properly. You have been wonderful to my brother, and I might not have been as accepting as I should have been.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Ian. I understand that this entire situation is complicated. Especially everything that happened with John and my former father.”
“So how are you handling that? Jack and Connor explained that situation to me.”
“It’s a little hard, but it explains so much. He was so in love with your mother, and my mother’s deception had ruined his hopes of stealing her away. Apparently, her death is the reason my parents split up.”
“Are you serious?” I tilt my head and furrow my brows.
“Yes, my father was so devastated, and his hatred for the both of us grew. He’s apologized to me for his unrelenting dismissal, but I can’t say I blame him. I’d never forgive Connor for something like that, and I sure as hell wouldn’t accept his child into my life.”
“So do you know when this picture was taken?” I ask, taking it out of my pocket and handing it to her.
“This?” She gasps, shaking her head and smiling. “I can’t believe it. He had this on our mantle, but your mom wasn’t in it. It’s just him. He loved to stare at this picture, and I wondered how he could be so self-absorbed. It was taken in 1981.” We thought it was old because my mom is really young, the style of clothes and hair… but damn. That would put the timeframe right before I was born. My mom isn’t pregnant here or at least not showing.
“So he imagined my mother at his side the entire time?” I questioned.
“I suppose so. I asked him about it once, and he grumbled that it was the best night of his life.” I stare at the photo a little too long, and she gasps while looking at me.
“How old are you?” she asks me, eyes trained on my face.
I’ve already put two and two together as memories of the past are triggered. Images of the governor coming into my head from the television and watching my mother’s face shift from happiness to sadness to blank in a flash the moment you’d ask her about it. “You think he’s my father, don’t you?”
She bites her lip as if she’s afraid to say what she’s thinking, but as I stare her down, she finally relents. “Well, you have the same stare he does.”
“It would explain why my father hated me so damn much. This was taken before my mother was pregnant with me. Do you know the exact date?”
“I’m sorry, but it was early January.” My eyes slam shut as I process the truth. There is no doubt in my mind that Governor Donovan Saunders is my father.
“Could you leave me?” I say, choking on the words as if they were too thick to get out of my throat.
“Sure. Please let me know if you need anything.” I can see the sympathy in her eyes. I’m sure she wants to ask me what I’m thinking, but right now I’m not sure what to think.
“Okay.” As soon as she’s gone, I set the fucking soup tray on the floor because I’ve lost my appetite. What the hell happened? If they were so in love, why did she stay with my father? Why did he marry another woman years later?
I need answers, and the only one who can give them to me is Saunders, who I’ve never run into. Unlike my brothers, I’ve kept my distance from him because I’m not known for my patience. What if I had killed him out of family loyalty? My mother would have been devastated and my father would have gloated. A sick, pang tears through my gut and I lose whatever I ate. Fuck.
“Ian, Ian,” Connor calls out. I hear them rushing up the stairs. They open the door and say, “Shit. We need to get you cleaned up. The ride must have fucked you up. The doctor just pulled up.”
Jack came in with the doctor and a nurse. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” a middle-aged woman says. “Can one of you boys lend me a hand in getting him in the shower?”
“He can shower?”
“Not until we prep his bandages, but once they’re properly wrapped he can wash up.”
“Good because I don’t need him stinking up my sheet with sweaty balls,” Connor teases.
“You’re always a prick.”
“Speaking of, don’t go getting excited in here,” Jack adds.
“God, you guys are assholes.”
“No, they are brothers.”
“You’d be surprised how common this is,” the nurse laughed. She prepares everything and then messes with the water. “Now come on let’s get you inside and please sit. It will be a lot easier.”
My brothers help me wash and then dress me in a pair of boxers and a tee shirt before I’m led back to bed. Claudia must have changed the sheets while the doctor and the nurse work on the equipment.
“I have to be hooked up to all of this?”
“Only for a couple of days. You’re not as good as you think you are, Mr. MacNamara.”
“You’re truly lucky to be alive,” Jack added.
“I know.” More than they realized. Calista fills my head. I miss the fuck out of her. They set me up and I lie my head down nicely. Everyone leaves me so I can rest. I close my eyes and fight off the pain that’s building, both physical and emotional.
Sleep takes me and it’s full of outrageous dreams, but when I wake up, I know one thing, and that’s you don’t let love get away. “Sorry, Calista Vitale—once I’m better, you will be mine.”