Fractured Freedom(85)

Iago probably could have fed us more information. He probably could have been an asset in one way or the other. The authorities didn’t need unnecessary clean-up either.

Yet, I found his demise necessary. I contemplated ripping him apart limb by limb in front of her. I was blind in my love for her, too furious to see any other way.

Love for her would breed that emotion in me always. It was the only thing that could rip me from my calm. It made it clear that Lilah would have been better off without me. She needed a stable person in her life, someone to comfort her and be a steady rock when life got hard.

But I could protect her.

She was my lamb. And I was her wolf.

And no one, not a single soul, would protect her better than me. And if I was going to bring her pain or torture, feast on that prey like a predator, I would do it in the best way possible because I knew her. I breathed with her, molded to her, and was within her. We were one entity, and no one was going to tear us apart.

When she passed out on that cabin floor, I had been ready to meet her in heaven or hell had we not got her vitals stable. We called in medics and doctors to check her, and her brain injury was monitored as we flew her home.

I was by her side every moment I could be. I fielded questions and answered calls. I don’t think any of the family thought to ask anything because it was technically part of a drug bust. Izzy explained our undercover work to her parents. She admitted it because she’d finally accomplished the job. Case closed. Her brothers weren’t home yet, but I saw how her parents looked at me. Her mother’s brow furrowed, and she rubbed her forehead like she wasn’t sure whether to thank me or smack me.

“Mrs. Hardy—” I started.

“Oh, don’t smooth the waters now, Dante. I’ll probably want to thank you later. I just need a minute to take it all in.” She waved off any explanation I could offer and hugged me in the hospital’s waiting room.

Izzy and Delilah’s father never said much, but he patted my arm as he walked by. “I would have killed you if you hadn’t brought them both home. I’ll let you deal with my boys now, though.”

That was all he needed to say. I saw their family structure shifting, building a fort around Delilah and making sure I couldn’t infiltrate unless they wanted me to.

Delilah’s brothers were on their way, and I’d avoided them long enough. Dom had been blowing up my phone since Izzy’s confession. Mrs. Hardy’s words traveled fast. I turned the phone on silent as texts started coming through.

This wasn’t going to be an uphill battle for me, it was going to be a war.

I was prepared for that with her brothers, though.

But I hadn’t expected Izzy to throw an additional wrench in the mix.

That night, after her parents had left, after she’d told me her brothers wouldn’t be here until tomorrow, her kiss came fast. Any other day, I would have caught it. Yet, my mind was more exhausted than it had ever been. Love will drag down anyone, and it spares no one’s anxieties. I could live through war, live through being tortured, beaten, shot at—anything.

I couldn’t live without Lilah, though.

Izzy was my partner, my friend, and someone I trusted more than most. I should have seen her feelings growing past friendship long ago, but I hadn’t been focused on that. I chose to be laser-focused on our mission, not our relationship.

I started to push her away gently, ready to let her down easy. Somehow I’d need to make her see that she was wonderful, but for me, there was only Lilah.

Delilah Hardy.

The girl who’d always had my heart.

The one whose heart beat faster now as she stared at her sister in my arms.

That look she gave me was lucid, more awake than I’d seen her in days, and full of devastation.

The words she whispered cut through my soul so fast I didn’t even think to call the nurses as I lost her again.

Her eyes closed as I rushed to her side to hold her hand, to put it against my face, to feel her touch on mine. The spark was there, but it was dimmer. It was missing her signature spirit.

I growled out for Izzy to call the nurses and the doctors, and then we stared at one another.

Her chin trembled as her eyes ping-ponged between us. “She doesn’t think she’s strong enough to be with you.”

“She is,” I ground out, even though I wasn’t so sure I was strong enough to let her. I wanted her to have everything. The beautiful home, the beautiful life filled with crossing off a million lists, and the beautiful kids she deserved.

“I know. I didn’t want to know, though. She's it for you, then?” she whispered. “You can’t see yourself with me instead? Not after all we’ve been through?”

“Izzy.” I looked down at the love of my life, then back up at her sister. They were so much of the same and yet so different. “She’s the slice of good to my bad. She’s the heaven to my hell. She’s always been it. She always will be.”

Izzy looked toward the ceiling as her unshed tears threatened to pour over. “You look at her like I wish you’d look at me.”

“You and I are too much the same, Izzy. You gotta see that, right?” I sighed. “And I’ve helped you more than most men, but it hasn’t ever been there for us. The chemistry …”

She shrugged. “I don’t need chemistry. I needed someone to believe in me, and you did more than anyone in my life. Addicts normally don’t get that.”