Chapter 35
Yawning, Daniela sat up as she took the cell Cormac handed her. He’d gotten back hours ago from their recon mission at Logan’s place. She’d waited up for him, then they’d both crashed.
She saw Krystal’s name on his screen as she rasped out, “Hey.”
“I’m sorry to call so late, but Julian is awake. I don’t know for how long but I got the text from my nurse friend.”
“Thank you for calling.” She was already swinging her legs out of bed, aware of Cormac doing the same and getting dressed. “We’re heading there now.” She paused. “Wait, will they let me in?”
“Yes, they have instructions to allow you in. The FBI has taken over security and has two people outside his room but just be careful,” she added before hanging up.
“I’m surprised the Feds have people outside the room,” she said around another yawn as she pulled on a pair of jeans. It was…three in the morning, she saw on the nightstand clock.
He frowned. “Why?”
“I don’t know. The Hill family…we’re all criminals. I’m surprised they’re worried about keeping him alive.”
“They want to know who tried to kill him. If it’s Logan or even your father, they would love to take either of them down. Though if I had to guess, Julian will say he can’t remember who shot him. Then he’ll take care of the problem himself.”
She’d thought of that too.
After dressing and brushing her teeth, they headed out in minutes. Nick was already up and working on his laptop in the kitchen when they made it downstairs so they didn’t have to bother anyone about turning off the security system to leave.
“I’m so nervous about seeing Julian,” she murmured. “Also, what’s the plan for getting to his room? Logan is going to be pissed after I didn’t show up last night. I already know my father is. They’re going to be looking for me.”
“Krystal texted me which parking garage and entrance to use. We’ll be fine. Just wrap up in your scarf and put your toque on.”
Sunrise was still a couple hours away so she dressed warmly. Once they reached the parking lot, she wrapped up, covering most of her face, then tucked her hair under her toque. Cormac did the same with a toque and scarf.
Even though her heartbeat was an erratic tattoo in her chest the entire ride up the elevator, then through the multiple winding hallways that all looked the same, she could finally breathe once they reached her brother’s floor.
He’d been moved out of ICU which told her a lot. When she and Cormac reached his door—escorted by a nurse—there was one FBI agent there sipping on a cup of what looked like crappy coffee.
“I’ve got to pat you down,” he said to her. “And only she can go in. If you’re added to the list, you can later.”
Cormac nodded, as if he’d expected it.
Daniela should have too, but she felt as if she was on autopilot right now.
She left her scarf, toque and purse with Cormac before stepping into the room.
She knew some hospitals had made changes in recent years that let people visit whenever they could, eliminating strict visiting hours altogether.
All thoughts of that faded as she saw her brother in his hospital bed with IVs attached to him. At least he didn’t have a breathing tube, but he looked almost smaller to her. And his color—
“Daniela?”
She turned at the sound of her name.
Edith stepped out of the bathroom, looking beyond exhausted. The normally elegant, put together woman was wearing a matching sweats outfit and had her hair pulled back in a loose braid. She was still stunning, but the last few days had clearly been hard on her.
“Hey, thank you so much for staying with him—” She found herself enveloped in a surprisingly strong hug.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I thought…” Edith leaned back slightly. “You’re okay?”
“I am. I took your advice, thank you.” She wasn’t sure how much else she should say.
“Come on, sit,” Edith said as if reading her mind. Then she walked over and put her hand on Julian’s forehead.
To Daniela’s surprise, she kissed his forehead once in a clearly intimate gesture.
“Oh my god, of course you guys are together,” she blurted.
Her brother didn’t date that she knew of, but she’d always assumed he had women on the side.
They weren’t close, so of course she wouldn’t know the women he was involved with, but it all made sense now.
“I’ve literally never felt so dumb in my entire life.
” Daniela sat on the little bench by the window.
Edith gave her a dry smile. “We’re not publicly a couple because your father is a monster but…yes, we’re together. Exclusively. He wanted to protect me.”
“You guys are so professional in public,” she said, then cursed herself. This wasn’t what they should be talking about but come on, this was big news to her. “Wait, you don’t like my father either?”
“I wish Alexander would choke on a bag of dicks and die.”
Daniela’s mouth fell open and she was unable to close it for a long couple seconds. “Okay, then. How’s my brother? You can give me the condensed version if you want.”
“He’s stable. And sleeping now. He’s officially out of his coma. He was awake a couple hours ago for a few minutes. I’ll let the doctors explain everything to you but the ambulance got him here fast. It’s the only reason he’s still alive.” Her voice trembled slightly.
“I think you’re the reason he’s alive. I heard that you called 911?”
She nodded, her expression going hard. “I wasn’t supposed to be at the house but I’d forgotten something…
It doesn’t matter. I was looking for Julian and heard him and Logan arguing.
” She lowered her voice, leaned forward.
“I haven’t told the FBI any of this. I want to talk to Julian first, see what he wants me to do. ”
Daniela understood. “Logan doesn’t know you saw him?”
She shook her head. “He thinks I heard the shots and called the police. I was still on with 911 when he ran into the house. I think it’s the only reason he didn’t kill me.
Then he started shouting to the staff that you were behind it.
It was absolutely insane. But I don’t know what to do without Julian.
” Anguish filled her expression as she looked back at him.
She wiped away a few stray tears, then seemed to steel herself again.
“Once I knew the police were on the way, I called you.” She closed her eyes for a brief moment.
“It would have destroyed Julian if something happened to you.”
Daniela wasn’t so sure about that, but nodded anyway. After years of locking down her emotions, she was afraid to let her real ones out, to acknowledge that she actually cared that her brother did care about her.
“Do you mind if I stay for a while?” She needed to talk to him…to find out what he wanted to do about Logan. Because it sounded like Logan had been the one to pull the trigger.
“No, please stay. Also…Julian has been seriously considering making some changes. I told him to tell you about them but…” She shook her head slightly, then took Daniela’s hands in hers. “When he wakes up, you guys can figure things out.”
She wanted to push Edith for what changes Julian wanted to make, but held back. She would wait to talk to her brother. And she needed to duck out and let Cormac know that she was going to be staying for a while.
She wondered if that FBI agent would want to interview her now that she’d basically come out of hiding, but then shelved the thought. She could only deal with one problem at a time.
***
“Daniela?”
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, but not exactly, she opened her eyes to find Julian saying her name. She must have dozed off, but realized only an hour had passed.
She sat up abruptly, wondering where Edith was even as she rolled off the uncomfortable bench. “You’re awake.” She stumbled to her feet. “Hold on, I’ll get you some water.”
He didn’t argue as she poured him a cup from the pitcher that seemed to be never-ending—thanks to Edith consistently filling it up.
“Do you want me to call your doctor?”
“No.” His voice was raspy, but seeing him awake, hearing him talk, he looked a hundred times better than he had sleeping.
This was the brother she knew.
“I think Edith might be grabbing some food. Also, I know about you guys,” she whispered, even though it was just the two of them.
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “I don’t deserve her. But I’m not letting her go.”
She heard the conviction, the protectiveness in his voice. “I’m glad you have someone.”
He was silent as he watched her. “Your boyfriend. He’s not really who he says he is, is he?” His voice seemed stronger with each word, even though he barely moved.
He’d been shot only once, and luckily nothing major had been hit. If she believed in that sort of thing, she’d say it had been a miracle.
She didn’t respond because she wasn’t going to out Cormac like that. No way. “He’s kept me safe while you’ve been in here,” was all she said.
He nodded slowly, then took a deep breath. “I’m going to turn state’s evidence against Father. I’ve been planning it for a while.”
She stared at him in shock, knew it showed on her face because there was no way she could hide it.
He looked sad as he nodded. “I should have told you but I thought I could do everything myself. Originally I thought I could clean up the books and go legit. And I tried, really hard, but Father was never going to let that happen.” Bitterness laced his voice.
“He’s the one who pushed Logan into the organization.
I never would have brought him on. Since Logan was there, I started putting things in his name, setting things up for him to take the fall if it ever came down to it.
” His expression was dark. “He’ll do a lot of time if I have any say about it. ”
“I had no idea.”
“I wanted to protect you from everything. Which in hindsight was stupid.”
“Did you…try to give me an out years ago? When you took over? I had a flashback recently of when you came to see me to tell me that you were taking over for Alexander.” She couldn’t even call him Father at this point.
He’d betrayed her to Logan. She’d expected it, but he was a monster and she refused to even think of him as anything other than her sperm donor.
Julian nodded, took a sip of his water. “Yeah, but you didn’t seem to want to.
Looking back—again—I should have pushed more.
But it was a mess taking over for him…” He sighed.
“Edith and I have been trying to figure things out and over the last six months it’s been clear that the only way to free ourselves is to turn him over the Feds. ”
“You’ll have to go in WITSEC.” That much she knew, considering she’d been contemplating the same thing.
He raised an eyebrow at her.
She shrugged. “I’ve been collecting evidence since before you took over. It never seemed like enough. Or maybe I’m just a coward, but…” She sighed. “I’ll testify against him too.”
“No, I don’t want that on you.”
“You don’t get to make those decisions for me. If you testify against him, I will too. Because I think he had our mom killed. Or did it himself,” she blurted.
That got his attention. He tried to sit up and the machines beeped a little louder before settling down. “What are you talking about?” His knuckles were white as he gripped the side rail.
Before she could respond, a nurse and doctor strode in and started checking his vitals and talking in what seemed like code.
“I’m not leaving,” she whispered as she stood. “I’m just going to get Connor and we’ll tell you everything.”
“Your brother needs to rest,” his doctor said without looking at her.
“No. I need to talk to my sister. Then I’ll rest.” He used his “king of the universe” voice, the one that normally made the people around him shut up and do what he ordered.
But the doctor, a relatively small woman with brown skin and gorgeous curls pulled back into a high ponytail, didn’t seem impressed.
“I’ll be back, I promise.” She needed to talk to Cormac and make sure they were on the same page about everything.
But if Julian wanted to take their father down too, was willing to turn state’s evidence, this changed everything.