Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Jade
“Maybe you should wait in the car,” Malachi suggests as we stand at the entrance of Papà’s estate. “I asked Milo to come with us for a reason.”
“No,” I shake my head. “Someone with my own blood betrayed me and I’m not going to hide in a bulletproof car like a coward. I’m going to find out who it was and I’m going to send them to hell myself.”
“As much as I love this spark in you,” Malachi smirks, taking my hand in his, “I want you to think clearly and remember that the main goal is staying safe.”
“Don’t worry,” I say, letting a sigh escape me. “I got this.”
After one of the new maids lets us inside, I walk straight down the main hall toward Papà’s office. I push the heavy doors open and walk in without knocking.
Papà is standing behind his desk, a phone pressed to his ear. The second he sees me, he drops the phone onto the desk, his face turning pale.
“Jade,” he says, his voice a mix of relief and anger.
He looks at my clothes, then glares at Malachi.
“Where the hell have you been? My men have been tearing the city apart looking for you. We were waiting at the church and nobody knew what happened to all of you. I have been calling everyone I could think of to get news. Why weren’t you or any of your brothers answering? We have been worried sick.”
I walk forward until I am standing right in front of his desk. “Your men, huh? Are those the same men who also betrayed me?”
“What are you talking about?” Papà frowns. “The wedding—”
“The wedding happened,” Malachi interrupts as I raise my left hand, showing him the band and the diamond sitting next to it. “But it happened in private, thanks to your leak.”
“A leak?” Papà stops, his eyes dropping to the ring, then returning up to my face. “I’m confused.”
“Nolan’s men set a trap for her,” Malachi tells him, studying his face. “They ran my escort off the road and if you didn’t notice, one of your men is missing. They took him and sent one of the Nolan’s men in his place.”
“He attacked her?” Papà grips the edge of his desk, his knuckles turning white.
“Yes, Papà,” I say. “If Malachi hadn’t come back for me, I would now be Nolan Devlin’s prisoner.”
Malachi remains quiet by my side, allowing me to continue this conversation with my father, but I can feel the tension in his shoulders and the readiness in his position. He could jump at him at any moment.
“Don’t act shocked,” I say. “We caught the driver who rammed the escort and he spilled all the tea. We know someone from the inside leaked the information.”
Papà’s face goes entirely blank.
“The fucking leak came from inside this house. From my own blood. Someone in here wants me dead and I’ll be damned if I don’t find out who it is.”
The silence in the office becomes deafening, Papà remining speechless and Malachi and I waiting to get a reaction from him.
He lets go of the desk and runs a hand over his face, turning around to look out the large window behind his desk at the spotless lawn.
“No one leaked anything,” Papà says in a quiet voice and my stomach drops into a bottomless pit.
“Papà?” I speak, my voice weak. “What did you do?”
“I wanted to keep the relationship with Nolan civil, so I invited him and shared the wedding arrangements with him,” Papà sighs. “I swear to you, Jade, I did not know he was going to abduct you.”
I stare at him. The man who raised me put my life at risk. I don’t even recognize him. Malachi’s body tenses, but he remains put and silent, which I’m sure isn’t easy for him, but he’s keeping his promise of letting me deal with Papà.
“It was politics, Jade,” Papà snaps, his temper finally flaring. “You don’t understand how these things work! I made a calculated risk to protect the family!”
“I am your family!” I yell back, my voice echoing off the high ceiling. “And you almost got me killed!”
“Enough,” Papà says, pointing a finger at me. He straightens his suit jacket, shifting back into absolute authority mode. “The situation is a mess, but you are alive. We will deal with Nolan later. Right now, you are staying here, where you’re safe.”
I don’t move but Malachi does. He steps past me, closing the distance to the desk.
Papà freezes, staring at Malachi. “What is this?”
“A reminder,” Malachi says. His voice isn’t loud, but it cuts through the room like a blade.
“She is my wife and she doesn’t take orders from you anymore.
She doesn’t sleep under your roof. She doesn’t sit in your rooms. You don’t tell her where to go, and you never, ever offer her up as a pawn again. ”
“Once again you are disrespecting me in my own house—”
“I am letting you breathe in your own house,” Malachi corrects him. “That is the only respect you get today.”
Malachi turns his back on my Papà, turning to face me, his eyes full of determination. “We’re leaving.”
I look at Papà one last time. He is standing frozen behind his desk, staring at the us, the realization that he doesn’t have any control anymore finally hitting him. I don’t even say goodbye, there’s no point. He’s the man who sold me out and then tried to lock me up in his golden cage again.
My head is spinning as we walk outside, heading to Malachi’s car. But just as I’m about to step inside, a sharp and deafening sound echoes around us and a massive chunk of stone explodes off the pillar directly to my left, showering my face with dust.
“Down!” Malachi shouts, as he grabs my jacket, pulling me hard backward. We slam against the side of the Mercedes, and he shoves me down onto the ground, pressing my back against the tire. He covers my entire body with his own, shielding me completely from the open lawn.
There’s another crack not long after and the rear passenger window shatters.
“Second floor balcony! East wing!” One of Malachi’s men yells, I think it’s Jake but I’m too distracted with everything that’s going on to focus on him.
Gunfire erupts as Malachi’s men start returning fire toward the upper windows of the estate. I don’t look to see where Papà’s men are but judging by how many bullets continue to fire in our direction, I’d say a handful of them are still standing.
I press my hands over my ears, squeezing my eyes shut. Malachi’s weight is heavy on top of me, and once again I find myself feeling grateful that he’s chosen me. That he’s protecting me, even at the cost of his own life.
Suddenly, Malachi grunts, his body jerking hard against mine.
“Fuck!”
“You’re shot!” My eyes widen with realization, the overwhelming horror taking over me.
I can’t lose him.
“I’ll be fine,” he says, his breath shallow.
He grabs my arm, hauling me off the ground and throwing me into the backseat over the broken glass. He dives in right behind me.
“Drive!” Malachi yells at someone behind the wheel.
I didn’t even realize someone got behind the wheel of his Mercedes.
The driver slams the gas pedal and we swerve wildly around the circular driveway and blast through the open iron gates, hitting the main road at seventy miles an hour.
I pull myself up onto the seat, my breathing ragged as I look at Malachi.
“We need to take you the hospital, Mal,” I press my hand over his and he lifts his head, his eyes meeting mine.
“No, I’ll be okay.” He leans back against the leather headrest, his jaw clenched tight. His left hand is pressing hard against his right shoulder, and he’s holding mine with the other hand. Blood is soaking rapidly through his dark suit jacket, dripping onto the seat.
“You’re hit,” I say, panic finally breaking through the adrenaline.
“It’s fine,” he insists.
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
He reaches under his seat with his good arm and pulls out a compact black pistol, racks the slide against his knee with a sharp click, and holds it out to me. “Take it.”
I stare at the weapon, not moving, completely taken by surprise.
“Take it, Jade,” he repeats, his eyes locking onto mine. “Someone inside that house just tried to put a bullet in your head while your own father watched.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“You will keep this on you permanently,” he continues. “You don’t even walk into our living room without it.”
I take the gun. The metal is cold and heavy in my palm. Then my eyes drop to the blood running down Malachi’s sleeve. “We need a doctor.”
“Our priority is getting off the streets,” Malachi replies, his breathing shallow.
“Boss, I have to agree with your wife,” the driver––whom I now recognize as Josh––speaks from behind the wheel. “That wound looks pretty bad.”
“Do you want to keep your job?” Malachi snaps back, but he suddenly coughs, making my heart drop.
“Mal…”
“No,” he insists, leaning forward. “They have to report gunshot wounds at the hospital and having to deal with a bunch of cops and their questions is the last thing we need now.”
“Not with Riley,” I say, holding his gaze. “If she is on shift right now, we go through the underground loading dock and there won’t be any paperwork.”
Malachi glares at me, but he is losing color fast. The blood loss is catching up to him. “Fine.”
Fifteen minutes later, after I check if Riley is working and we get very lucky, we pull into the dark, concrete tunnel of the hospital’s loading dock. Riley is already waiting by the service elevator, wearing blue scrubs and holding a heavy medical bag.
“What happened to him?” Riley asks as soon as Josh takes Malachi out of the car.
“My Dad.” That’s all she needs to hear to understand exactly what happened. She nods and helps us bring Malachi inside to an empty supply room near the basement that she prepared for us.
I watch as Malachi sits heavily on a metal table, stripping his ruined jacket and shirt off.
The bullet tore a deep groove right through the muscle of his shoulder.
Riley works fast and in complete silence and I stand in the corner, holding the heavy gun Malachi gave me, watching the needle pull the black thread through his skin.
I’m trying hard to process everything that has just happened. The realization that my father would rather have me dead than free breaks my heart, but having Malachi by my side somehow makes all of it more bearable.
He almost died today trying to protect me and it’s not the first time he’s done that.
All my family ever did was try to get some advantage through me.
I never felt safety or love in that house.
It was always me against the world. But with Malachi I’m learning that it doesn’t always have to be like that.
When Riley finishes, she tapes a heavy white bandage over the stitches and leaves to dispose of the bloody gauze.
I finally speak.
“We have to cut all ties,” I tell him, my voice absolute. “I am done being a Moretti.”
“Are you sure?” Malachi’s voice is weak but he looks a lot better than he did when we brought him in.
“Yes,” I nod, taking a step closer to him.
“We will organize one final meeting, to redefine a new, very limiting contract for my father. To obtain anything from us, he will have to pledge that he will completely sever any contacts with Nolan and any Devlin. I want total separation of assets, territory, and… blood.”
Malachi watches me, reading the absolute certainty in my eyes. “Okay, we’ll do that.”
“I don’t ever want to see him again, Mal,” I say.
Malachi walks across the room. He stops right in front of me, ignoring the fresh stitches in his shoulder, and cups the side of my face with his good hand.
“Once we do that, there’s no going back. You know that?” He asks, his voice a weak whisper.
“I do.”