Wilde at Heart (Wilde Security, #3)(77)
And it killed her that it wouldn’t mean anything after the annulment.
Sobbing openly now, she slid the ring off her finger and returned it to the envelope.
It was two days before Reece was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time and although he still felt fuzzyheaded and nauseous, he was happy to at least be upright again.
He knew Shelby had been with him for the last forty-eight hours, because he remembered seeing her at his side the few times he’d resurfaced. She’d appeared hazy, apparition-like as if he were dreaming her, but he was positive he hadn’t been and waited restlessly for her to walk through his door. Except she didn’t. The day wore into afternoon, then into evening, and she didn’t.
But Dylan did. He tapped on the frame and hesitated. “Can I come in?”
Reece’s immediate gut reaction was a massive hell-to-the-f*cking-no he couldn’t come in. But he couldn’t be held accountable for his wife’s sins, and their friendship ran too deep, went back too far, to dismiss him outright.
Reece nodded and sat up straighter in the bed. “All right.”
Dylan shuffled inside, and the guy looked like he’d been dragged through the innermost ring of hell. He was wearing the same clothes he’d been in the last time Reece saw him, all wrinkled and sweat-stained. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair a mess. Several days’ worth of growth darkened his jaw. He scrubbed at that stubble with one hand and wouldn’t quite meet Reece’s eyes. “I’m, uh, sorry.”
“Yeah, I know, buddy.”
“No, you don’t.” He finally lifted his gaze. “Reece, I suspected—no. Fuck. I knew what she was doing. I knew she was laundering money through the company to cover my debts. I—” He stopped, drew a sharp breath. “I’m the one who anonymously tipped off ATF. I knew James would ask for our books, and I knew she’d be caught when he did. I had hoped by tipping them off, they’d focus on you long enough for me to get Alicia out of the country.”
“Oh Jesus.” If Dylan had hauled off and punched him, it would have hurt less. “Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you both just come to me? I’d have helped you, found you a good treatment center. I’d have even footed the bill if you needed me to. All you had to do was ask.”
Dylan shook his head. “I didn’t want to admit I had a problem. And Alicia…she was just protecting me.”
“And you were protecting her. I get it. I do,” Reece said softly. “And I forgive you for it, but don’t ask me to forgive her. She tried to kill me.”
Dylan said nothing for a long time as emotions battled over his features. “I stand by her. For better or worse.”
“I respect that, but you can’t be a part of DMW anymore. You’re fired, Dylan.”
“I figured as much.” He nodded once and went to the door but glanced back. “I am sorry for all of this and I hope someday—someday you can forgive her.”
It’ll be a cold day in hell, buddy, Reece thought and sank back against his pillows as Dylan walked away. He rubbed at his chest because, f*ck, that conversation had hurt. It was like losing a brother.
Or, no, he decided when another knock drew his attention and his brothers—minus Greer—filed into the room. Not like losing a brother, because his brothers would never stand by a woman who tried to kill him.
Jude’s hands were full of smiley face plastic bags from their favorite Chinese restaurant and Reece smiled, some of the ache easing out of his chest. General Tso’s in hospital rooms was starting to become a Wilde family tradition.
“Dudes,” Jude said as he passed out the white cartons. “This hospital thing is getting old fast. Knock it off.”
Vaughn scowled and popped open his carton, grabbed his ever-present bottle of Tabasco sauce out of his pocket, and liberally doused his shrimp chow mein with the stuff. “You can’t blame me for nearly getting blown up.”
“Or me for being poisoned,” Reece added.
“I can, too.” Jude pointed his chopsticks at Vaughn. “You set yourself up as bait. And you?” He jabbed them toward Reece. “You should know better than to take coffee from strangers.”
“She wasn’t a stranger.”
“Still,” Jude muttered and stabbed a piece of chicken. “You’re supposed to be the smart one.”
Reece smiled slightly. His little brother usually had the best disposition out of all of them, was a silver-linings kind of guy, and only got crabby like this when he was scared. “I’m okay, Jude.”
“Yeah, well. You better be.”
After that, nobody said anything for a while. Just the sound of the TV and the occasional call for a doctor over the hospital’s PA system. After a nurse came in to check his blood pressure—apparently low blood pressure was a concern after a Xanax overdose—Reece finally broke the silence to ask the question that had been nagging at him since he regained consciousness. He shut off the TV with the remote by his bed and waited until his brothers all turned to face him.
“How did you guys know Alicia was behind everything?” He knew now that it hadn’t just been Shelby there that day, but also his brothers, Eva, and the cops.
His brothers all shared a look, each passing the conversational ball. Cam, being Cam, was the one to finally take it and run with it. “Shelby and Eva were confronted by the PI Alicia hired to dig up dirt on you—the guy their mother brought to our wedding. Apparently, he was using Katrina to get closer to Shelby, and therefore, to you, but it blew up in his face when he decided it wasn’t working and dumped her. She went off the deep end, dove right back into the drugs, and robbed you thinking she’d win her lover’s affection by bringing him information—your laptop.”