“Do you know where he is now?”
He arches a brow. “Devlin? Or your father?”
“Both.”
Shaking his head, he sighs and kisses my hand again like he can’t get enough of me. “If I had to guess, I would say that Devlin is dead and who the hell knows where Dominic is.”
“What happened?”
He meets my gaze. “What do you remember?”
“I remember the scalpel carving through my skin,” I whisper, turning to look at my bandaged left arm. “And I remember Devlin humming Don’t Worry, Be Happy as he stitched me back together.”
“Jesus, baby,” he hisses, closing his eyes as his jaw clenches. “Is that all?”
I shake my head. “I was fading in and out of consciousness and I think someone broke the door down but after that it’s just flashes of stuff that don’t make sense.”
“It was your father. He rescued you from Devlin and then the hospital staff found you dumped on the ground out in front of the emergency room door.”
“He just left me here?”
He nods. “I assume he had to get Devlin somewhere secure and then you know the rest.”
“I can’t believe he showed up at the clubhouse,” I whisper, wishing I could have been there to witness that.
“There’s one more thing you should know, babe.”
I turn back to him, nodding. “Dominic is fairly certain that Devlin was responsible for your mother’s death.”
“Oh,” I spit out, staring up at the ceiling. I’d like to say that I’m surprised but after everything else I learned, I’m not. His anger and pain was eating away at him for a long time and in the end, it took control over everything else.
“Do you know why he went after you?” Lincoln asks and my head falls to the side.
“Dominic didn’t tell you?”
He shakes his head. “I get the feeling he didn’t know.”
“He still doesn’t,” a voice says from the doorway and I stiffen as a handsome man with salt and pepper hair and an impeccable suit walks into the room.
“Dominic, I assume?”
He smiles and I can actually see how easy it would be to fall for his charming act. “You can call me Dad.”
“I won’t,” I answer, pressing my lips into a thin line.
“Dominic, what are you doing here?” Lincoln asks. My father barely even spares Lincoln a second glance as he strides into the room and sits on the edge of my bed by my feet.
“I told you this wasn’t over.”
“Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?” Lincoln growls and Dominic dismisses him with an eye roll. Rage twists through my belly and I narrow my eyes into a glare.
“What do you want?”
Chuckling, he pats my foot and I immediately want to pull it back. “I’m here to check on my daughter, of course.”
“Yeah, right. Why don’t you tell me what you really want?”
He adjusts his sleeves. “Tell me why Devlin took you.”
“You’re the one who rescued me. Why don’t you ask him?”
“I am. A thank you is not necessary, by the way...”
“Good. Because I wasn’t going to provide one. Do you have Devlin now?”
“I do,” he replies with a nod as he studies me with amused eyes.
“Then ask him.”
He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s being annoyingly tight-lipped about his reasons for acting so crazy. It doesn’t make sense. He’s always been such a good soldier.”
“Claire,” I reply, watching his response. His eyes widen and I watch as the truth slowly dawns on him.
“Oh… All this over a girl? What a grave mistake on his part.”
Anger surges forward in me seeing his total lack of compassion or remorse. “Really? That’s all you have to say? He only did to me what you did to her.”
“He knew what he was doing by going after you and now he’ll pay the price.”
“How did you know where I was?”
He shrugs. “Devlin never intended to survive this so he didn’t bother to cover his tracks. It took me no time at all to find him.”
“You’re going to kill him?” I ask, unsure how I feel about it. A part of me really felt for Devlin but after what he did to me, I’d feel so much safer knowing he was no longer walking this earth.
“Unless you want to, my dear.”
I shake my head. “I’m not you.”
“Yes,” he muses, his gaze flicking all over my face. “I can see that now, although I do hear that you have a bit of my temper. You know, you could always come home with me.”
Lincoln stands up as his grip on my hand tightens. “I don’t fucking think so.”
“I am home,” I answer, meeting my father’s gaze. “And from now on, I don’t want to see or hear from you again.”
He nods, standing from the bed as he straightens his suit. “I understand, Tate. I will never claim to be a good man because I’m not but for you, my darling daughter, I would go to fucking war and don’t you ever forget it.”
“The difference is, I would never ask you. Get out of my life and don’t come back.”
He sighs. “Children never appreciate their parents until it’s too late. If you ever need me, all you have to do is call.”
He tosses a card down on the bed and walks out without another word as Lincoln scoops it up.
“Want me to rip it up?”
Sighing, I hold my hand out for the card and he gives it to me. There’s a huge part of me that wants to rip it into a million pieces but something stops me.
“Are you okay, babe?”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know how to answer that question.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
I meet his gaze and hold my hand out for his. “No. I don’t want to give Devlin’s pain or anger any more life – especially when I have such a fantastic future to look forward to with you.”
“Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.”
“I’m glad that you’ve finally learned to just give me what I want,” I shoot back with a smirk and he laughs.
“Fuck, I love you, baby. The next seventy years with you are going to be interesting as hell.”
I shrug, lying back in the bed as I squeeze his hand. “Would you want it any other way?”
“Darlin’, as long as I get you, I’ll take it however I can get it.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later…
A cool sea breeze drifts in through the open sliding glass door and I smile, turning back to the full length mirror and running my hands down the gauzy fabric of the dress. It’s a simple design but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I know it’ll make Lincoln lose his mind with the deep V and the open back. My hair is curled and pinned back as Ali secures little white flowers with bobby pins. Her belly bumps me and I laugh.
“Watch where you’re swingin’ that thing.”
She growls. “Don’t start with me, woman. It’s hot as hell, my toes look like sausages, and this baby won’t stop kicking my bladder.”