Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 155(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Didn't count on me using the Ashby money—my money, not his—to hire the best medical team in three states.
Didn't count on me bringing Legion home to recover at the mansion.
I turn away from the window, looking around the circular room. As a child, I used to hide up here when my mother wanted more photos, more poses, more perfect smiles. I'd curl up with books about places I'd never see, people I'd never be.
I never thought I'd be bringing Legion Kane into this house. Not as a guest, not as my... what? Boyfriend seems too small a word for what we are. Too normal. There's nothing normal about us.
Movement catches my eye—a dark spot against the blue sky, growing larger.
The helicopter.
My heart thumps as I press my hands against the glass.
It's really happening. He's coming here.
"Mercy!" I call down the spiral staircase. "It's time! He's here!"
I hear her footsteps pounding through the house, the excited yapping of that ridiculous puppy Cash bought her. Within seconds, she's racing across the lawn, a tiny figure in jeans and a t-shirt, Puddles bounding after her.
But I stay where I am, watching as the helicopter descends toward the helipad near the eastern fence line. From this distance, it looks like a toy, the blades stirring up dust that spirals into the air.
The ambulance is already waiting, just as I arranged. The medical team will bring him to the east wing, to the suite I've had prepared with everything he'll need. A hospital bed, monitoring equipment, IV stands. Private nurses on rotation. Windows that look out over the land that's supposedly mine.
Cash thinks he's won. He thinks bringing Legion here, to Ashby land, somehow proves that the Ashbys always come out on top. That I've chosen my inheritance over Legion.
What he doesn't understand is that he's just given me exactly what I wanted.
Legion and Mercy, both under my roof, where I can protect them.
Where no one can take them from me again.
My brother made a critical mistake. He forced my hand, thinking I'd fold. Instead, he's just revealed exactly how far I'm willing to go.
The helicopter touches down, and even from this distance, I can see the medical team rushing forward with a stretcher. Mercy stands at the edge of the helipad, held back by one of the security guards, bouncing on her toes.
I should be down there. I should be the first face Legion sees when they bring him off that helicopter. But something keeps me rooted to this spot, watching from above as they load him into the ambulance.
Maybe it's knowing that the moment I walk into that room downstairs, everything changes. Legion won't just be mine anymore—he'll be in Ashby territory. He'll be surrounded by everything he hates, everything he's fought against his whole life.
Or maybe I'm just afraid. Afraid that he'll look at me differently. Like I've betrayed him somehow, by bringing him here.
The ambulance starts moving slowly up the drive toward the house. Mercy runs alongside it for a few yards before the security guard catches up with her, saying something I can't hear. She nods reluctantly and walks beside him instead, still keeping pace with the vehicle.
I step back from the window, suddenly aware of how I look. I'm wearing one of my old sundresses, my hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. No makeup. Nothing like the woman who stood in the clubhouse wearing Legion's clothes and a fresh tattoo declaring herself his property.
I glance down at my wrist, where the words are still healing, the skin around them pink and slightly raised. PROPERTY OF DEMON.
I haven’t covered it up with bracelets because my wrists are ringed with scabbing red marks from where Marcus tied me up and I want Cash to see those marks every time he looks at me.
I want him to burn with shame for what he did. How he helped.
Below, the ambulance pulls up to the east entrance. The medical team jumps out, opening the back doors. The stretcher is wheeled toward the house, surrounded by people in scrubs.
Mercy stands at the door, waiting, holding the puppy in her arms as if for support.
Cash thinks he's won, but he's about to learn that his isn't over.
It's barely begun.
CHAPTER 6
The helicopter banks left and my stomach rolls with it. Outside the window, Montana spreads beneath us—patchwork fields, winding rivers, and endless sky.
The nurse beside me checks my IV line. "How are you feeling, Mr. Kane?"
"Like I'm being kidnapped by rich people," I say, not looking at her.
She laughs like I'm joking. I'm not.
The sepsis is gone, but I'm still weak. Three additional days of recovery at Mayo after I woke up, and they still insisted on this whole transport setup. Private medical plane. Helicopter waiting to take me to the Ashby Ranch. I feel like a piece of expensive cargo.