Chapter 80
CHAPTER EIGHTY
Harper
My nose is being attacked by the waft of chemical lemons. When I open my eyes, I'm lying in a comfortable bed in a navy bedroom. A machine beeps beside me. Tubes run out of my arms.
And then I see her. To my right, sitting beside me. Her eyes are red. Has she been crying?
But I don't believe Gianna Milano cries.
"Harper," she whispers.
I ignore her and look away, closing my eyes.
"My baby," I say quietly.
She holds my hand, and I brace for the worst.
"The doctor did an ultrasound while you were out. Your baby is fine. They're doing bloodwork, going to check again. But your baby is okay. You are okay. You just need to rest. They've cleaned all your cuts. You'll be sore."
I let out a breath, and the tears come after. I snatch my hand from hers and hold my stomach.
Our baby is okay.
I'm okay.
"Where is Ace?"
"I need you to speak to Hunter and ask him to speak directly to me. No one else in my family."
I open my eyes and look at her. A man stands by the window, watching us with his hands clasped. I recognize him from the gala, Dom.
“I didn’t ask that. I asked where Ace is. Where is he?”
She chews on her lip, glancing over to her brother. “All I have is an idea of where he is. I need you to call Hunter.”
"Did you get my purse out of the wreck?"
Dom grabs something and walks over, handing me my phone.
"I'm on your side, Harper. I need you to trust me. Can you do that? I'm the only one who can play this game and get Ace back."
I look at her. Really look at her this time. The red eyes. The hair pulled back in a ponytail. The gun sitting on the side table next to a cup of coffee she hasn't touched. A woman at war on two fronts, against her enemies and against her own blood.
"Fine."
I dial Hunter's number. It rings twice.
"Harper, what happened? Are you okay?" His voice sounds wrecked.
"I-I've been better."
"Ace is alive, Harper. We’re coming to get you both. Tell me everything you remember and where you are."
The sob escapes before I can stop it.
"I don't know, Hunter. There was a crash. They took him. And Gianna took me."
"I got sent a picture of him," he hisses.
I swallow the bile in my throat. Hunter sounds both furious and devastated.
"She wants to speak to you, Hunter. Please. She's our only chance at getting him back."
"Do not trust that woman, Harper."
"Speak to her. Please, Hunter.”
I hand her the phone. She smiles, and the transformation is instant. The red-eyed woman by my bed vanishes. The queen takes her place.
"Mr. Sterling. It's Gianna." She stands.
Hunter lays into her. I can't make out the words, just the fury. Her face stays neutral. She lets him burn through it. She even checks her nails.
"I believe someone in my family went against my no-kill order on Ace. I have an idea who it is and where Ace may be. However, I'm going to need reinforcements to move against my own family. I need reassurances. I need protection."
I can tell this is hurting her to ask. Every word costs her something. Or perhaps this was her plan the entire time. She told me to call Ace. She told me he was safe here to get me.
“Thomas Graves doesn’t matter to me. Because now I know who the real mastermind is, and I plan to deal with him appropriately.” She tells him.
Was everything a lie so she could take the power in her family? Or did her brother really screw her over, have Max murdered, and go behind her back to take it from her?
"I will get your brother back. But you are going to let me into your family, Hunter. That's my deal. Otherwise, I leave Ace with them. It's up to you. I can make this easy. I can lead you right there. No one knows my brother like I do. Do you want to meet your niece or nephew, Hunter?"
A pause.
"Yes, Harper is pregnant. The baby is fine."
Another pause. Longer.
"If we agree to create an alliance, it will be with the new Milano family. Me, Dominic, and a few of my trusted men. The snakes will be cleared out. And the alliance is to be made official with a wedding."
My mouth drops open.
She frowns at whatever Hunter says. "No. Thomas Graves is not good enough. I hate repeating myself. I know you’ve been hiding Max’s killer; that was a test you failed. But now the stakes have gotten higher. You'll give me Graves and a marriage to Colten."
I swallow. Hunter is going to be furious. Colten, even more so.
"Yes, Hunter. This is how we do it. This is the only way my father will approve and give me the authority I need over this family. Colten marries me. I live on Sterling Ranch. We become the most powerful organization in the country, together. In return, you’ll get your brother back, and LA will become half yours. "
My heart races. The monitor starts beeping faster.
"If you go against me or try to take me down, I have Harper. Don't make me do something I really don't want to do. You should have let me in at the first opportunity. Think about that."
Nausea rushes over me. There it is. The friend who held my hand. The woman who saved my baby. Turning me into a bargaining chip mid-sentence, without blinking, without even looking at me.
That's Gianna Milano. Both things at once. The hand that strokes your hair and the hand that holds the knife. And you never know which one is reaching for you until it's already touching you.
"Then get on your jet. I'll text you our meeting point. Come as armed as you can. We're going to need it. I’ll return Harper as soon as Colten gives me a ring."
She mutters something in Italian.
"Have you had proof of life?" she asks.
My stomach sinks.
“Forward it over to me,” she says.
She ends the call and braces her hands on the windowsill, dipping her head. Her shoulders rise and fall.
Of all the versions I've met of Gianna Milano, this is the one the world doesn't get to see. The woman alone at a window, carrying the weight of a family that wants her dead and an empire that doesn't believe she deserves it.
For one second, she looks small.
Then she turns around, and her war face is back on, and the second is over like it never existed.
"Hunter accepted. We're going to get your man back."
"Yeah. Using me as fucking leverage."
She hands my phone back.
"I'm doing what I need to do. I told you to trust me. So do it. You know how you killed Hudson to survive? I’m doing the same thing."
I roll my eyes. "Yeah. And we might become sisters-in-law too."
She laughs. A real one. "No might about it. Colten is mine."
I don't have the energy.
"Just get my Ace back. Please."
Her face softens as she places her tattooed hand over mine.
"I can't promise what I don't know. But I will try. Dom is staying with you; he's the only man I trust. He will protect you. You rest, okay?"
"Rest? How?"
She places her hand on my stomach, over the blanket.
"You let your instincts take over, Harper. Your body needs rest for the baby. Let us take the stress."
My mind fills with images of Hudson's body, and my blood drains. She knows. She just said I murdered Hudson, and I didn’t even clock it.
"G… What do you mean you know I killed Hudson?" I whisper.
She grins. "Yes, Harper. We found Hudson's body in the trunk. Or, well, hanging out of it. I put two and two together. We put him in the driver's seat and let the car burn. No one will suspect a thing."
She says it the way other people say I picked you up a coffee.
I rest my head back against the pillow and close my eyes, my mind spiraling, and there isn’t a thing I can do about it.
I have to be strong for Ace. For our baby. I have to trust this woman despite all my instincts telling me not to.
"It was an accident," I tell her.
"I don't care. Not my business. Now sleep."
She stops by the door. Nods to Dom. Then looks at me, and for half a second, the red eyes are back.
"Harper, I'm sorry about this. A precaution."
And then she's gone, and Dom is handcuffing me to the railing of this makeshift hospital bed.
"Do you seriously think I have the ability to run?" I snap.
His face remains neutral.
"People do crazy things when they're desperate, Harper, and honestly? If anything else happens today, Gianna is going to explode, and I gotta pick up the pieces." He tells me in his thick Italian accent.
My stomach sinks, thinking about Ace.
Wherever he is. Whatever they're doing to him. All I can do is lie here and wait while my entire future plays out without me.
I can’t do this without him. I can’t live without him. I’ve tried.