71. Wynter
Wynter
M om kept throwing glances my way.
Ever since we arrived at the hospital, it has been a never ending parade of poking and probing. And questions. So many damn questions. My temples throbbed, the smell of smoke and blood lingered in my nose and my lungs.
But the dominating emotion was fear. For Bas.
I wouldn’t survive it.
My gaze locked on his pale face. He should have woken up by now.
It has been hours since all hell broke loose.
The crazy bitch, my great-grandmother, got away.
Sasha, Priest, and Dante showed up in the nick of time.
Killed all her men. Apparently, the woman had reinforcements coming right behind her too.
“Star, are you alright?” Mom’s voice had me turning my gaze to meet her eyes. Even with her brows drawn together and a worried expression on her face, she looked happier than I’ve ever seen her before.
Priest’s father stood a few feet away from us, giving us privacy but his eyes were on Mom the entire time. As if he worried she’d disappear. Priest stood by his father, but it was harder to read him.
He was still coming to terms about all these revelations.
“Yes. I just need Bas to be okay.” I held Mom’s gaze, wondering how she was doing. “How are you?”
Her eyes darted to her son, pain crossing her face.
“I’m better than I’ve been in a long time.
I just wish-” Her voice failed her and I took her hand in mine, squeezing gently.
She let out a heavy sigh. “I just wish I could make him see that I meant well. Yes, I left him with his father but it was to protect him.”
“He’ll come around, Mom.” I truly believed that.
It might take him time, but deep down, under his crazy last rites and unhinged look in those blue eyes that now I knew were the Brennans’ blue eyes, he was a good man.
“Just give him time. It’s a lot to find out in such a short time.
And we don’t know what he’s been through. ”
You don’t just wake up one day and decide to read men their last rites before you kill them. At least, I hoped not. There had to be something traumatic that got him to that point.
“There hasn’t been a day that went by where I didn’t think about him,” she whispered her admission. “I never wanted to leave him, but it was the only way to keep him hidden.”
Our gazes locked, all the secrets that our families kept, dancing around this hospital hallway. They were big secrets. The kind that should have never been kept from us but I realized at this moment, I didn’t fucking care about any of them. They brought me here, to this very moment. To Bas.
The only thing I needed was for Bas to be okay.
My eyes sought out the man that I had fallen for from the moment I landed in his arms. Okay, maybe not that very moment but the second he slipped that shoe onto my foot, his eyes like black diamonds, I was lost to him. As long as he was by my side, I’d live through anything.
“You kept a lot of secrets,” I told her, keeping my gaze on my husband. “You, Uncle, and Priest’s father. Yes, it was wrong. But it brought me Bas.”
“Your distraction,” she murmured softly.
My lips curved into a smile. “Yes, my distraction. It wasn’t right to keep all that from us. To keep Priest from his mother. But help him see that despite it all, you did it for a good reason and it brought him something good. Find what that good is and don’t give up on him.”
It was the only advice I had. The best I could come up with.
“I don’t deserve you, my little star.” Her voice trembled slightly and I turned to see a lone tear rolling down her cheek.
Wrapping my arms around her, I squeezed her tightly. “Oh, Mom. You deserve it all. Now just go and get it. You were good to Jules and I. We were lucky to have you. But now, Priest needs you. Don’t worry about us. If we need you, we know how to reach you.”
Franco DiLustro strode to us and I took a step back, letting him comfort my mother.
“How about we go home?” he suggested. “You need rest.”
She shook her head. “No, let’s wait just a bit longer.”
The two of them walked away, leaving me standing with Priest by my side. Silence stretched, although I couldn’t say it was an uncomfortable one.
The beeping sound of the machine, signaling Bas breathed soothed my worry and I just focused on that. Bas was still asleep and even in his state, he looked like a force to be reckoned with.
“Are you two admiring Basilio sleeping? Reminds me of reversed sleeping beauty shit.” Sasha’s voice came from behind me and I whirled around to find him standing behind me with Alexei and his wife, along with Nico Morrelli and his wife.
“I mean, I know he’s handsome and all that, but I dare say, I’m even more handsome. ”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Your hair is too blonde.”
“Have you checked yourself in the mirror lately?”
My eyes darted between all of them. “Thank you for showing up when you did,” I said seriously. “If you hadn’t-”
I couldn’t even think about that.
My eyes shifted to my brother. Jesus, it still shocked me to think of him as my brother. “If I forget to thank Dante, please let him know. Okay, Priest?”
He nodded, the expression on his face grim. As if on cue, Jules’ screech echoed through the hospital hallway and she stormed off.
“Those two are playing cat and mouse,” Bianca, Nico’s wife mused. “Guess who’s the mouse?”
And Jules was making the chase all the more thrilling.
“We should announce my connection to you,” Priest said, changing the subject. “It will take the heat of the crazy bitch away from you.”
Bianca winced and opened her mouth to say something, but Franco and Mom were back.
“Absolutely not,” Mom hissed. “I didn’t sacrifice all those years to put you in harm's way now.”
“I’ve been in harm’s way all along,” he snapped and my mother paled.
“Priest, you can’t say shit like that to our mother,” I scolded him.
“Your mother,” he growled low. “Your mother, Wynter.”
Mom’s expression broke and her sobs shattered the air.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Franco warned his son. “In private.”
“Good luck finding me,” Priest snapped. “I’m done with asking permission. You do your thing, I’m doing mine.”
Franco and Mom shuffled away. I knew we could resolve all this tension and past ghosts that seemed to have left a mark on all of us. The question was how long would it take.
“So I know this might be a bad time to bring this up,” Bianca started tentatively. “The woman. Your great-grandmother.”
“The crazy bitch,” I added helpfully. “I kind of prefer that.”
Bianca shared a fleeting glance with her husband. “Yeah, about that. Well, she’s my great-aunt. Sasha said she gave you a name. Sofia Catalano.”
My brows shot up.
“Are you for fucking real?” Priest asked exactly what I was thinking.
Nico shoved his one hand into his pocket, looking all casual and lethal. “Dead serious.”
Priest and I shared a look.
“No offense, but the bitch is dead the moment I get my hands on her,” Priest announced. “For what she did to my cousin and for putting Wyn in danger with her psycho attack.” I nodded my agreement. “And don’t expect family reunions if that woman is there.”
I love my brother.
It took about five minutes for Priest to chase everyone away.
Well, everyone but Sasha. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched them both.
I truly felt rich. Now, if only my husband would wake up, I’d be complete.
The doctor assured me he’d be fine but until I could drown in those dark eyes, worry clawed at my chest.
“You know, Sasha, I got Wynter,” Priest broke the silence. “I’m her brother. I’ll take care of her.”
Sasha shrugged his massive shoulder that I’ve used to cry on. Quite a few times.
“I knew her first,” Sasha drawled. He was technically wrong though and by Priest’s shark grin, he knew it.
“Ah, wrong, Russian,” Priest drawled. “I knew her first. In Philly.”
“That’s right,” Sasha said, looking bored as fuck. “When she robbed your ass.”
“It’s just money. And she’s my sister. But that wasn’t her first trip to Philly.”
“Okay, little dude,” Sasha deadpanned. “But you make the kid cry, and I’m gonna beat your ass.”
“Hey, hey, I’m not a kid. I’m a married woman,” I protested.
Neither one of them paid any attention to me.
“Okay, old man. You can try but you won’t succeed,” Priest growled. His arm came around me, pulling me into a hug. “She’s my sister.”
“Umm-”
With my eyes wide, I watched Sasha but his expression revealed nothing. They wouldn’t get into a fight here. Would they?
Then he grinned. “You keep her safe,” Sasha said. “And if you need help, you call me.”
With a wink, Sasha strode away, leaving me with Priest.
“So Christian,” I started, reverting back to his real name since it was just the two of us. “Possessive much?”
“Nah.” He kept his arms around me and I raised my head to meet his eyes. “Only of my family.”
“Does that extend to our mother?” I asked softly.
His face darkened. He didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either.
“Give her a chance,” I murmured softly. I remembered the day she told me about her baby she lost. Of course, back then I understood it differently.
“She’s an amazing woman with a big heart that got broken. ”
He remained silent and I wrapped my arms around him. I felt him stiffen for a moment but then he slowly relaxed.
“If you won’t do it for her, then do it for me.” It was a bold request, considering we weren’t close. At least not yet.
“She abandoned me,” he gritted. “Once she was pronounced dead, she could have come back for me and raised me with you.”
Jesus, how bad did Priest have it?