“You open your fucking mouth again, I swear I’ll break your fucking jaw,” I growl, standing over him.
He lifts his chin with blood on his lip, looking up at me like I’m nothing. “She’s been unstable for years,” he says, voice still steady. “She drinks too much. Cries over fucking nothing and spirals every time someone tells her no.”
You don’t know the first fucking thing about her.
My fists tighten as I shove him back, hard enough to rattle the wall behind him. I’ve got both hands fisted in his custom-tailored suit, face to face with the man I once looked up to.
A man I thought I knew.
He scoffs, unfazed, tilting his head. “She was given everything,” he says, his voice full of disdain. “And she pissed it all away. She’ll never be worthy of my attention. She was never enough for me. My last name shouldn’t even be attached to someone as worthless as her.”
I slam him harder, and the thud of his back hitting the wall echoes through the room. My grip tightens around the collar of his jacket, shaking from how hard I’m holding myself back. “Because of you, she’s never felt like she was enough,” I say, the rage barely restrained. “You’re the reason she doubts herself. You filled her head with lies and convinced her she wasn’t worthy of love, peace, or anything good. You broke her down and called it parenting. You’renot a father—you’re just the man who taught her how to hate herself. She doesn’t fucking need you!”
“And what does she need, Carter?” he asks, his voice low and mocking. “Some pathetic cattle rancher with dirt under his nails and nothing in his bank account?” He lets out a slow, deliberate scoff, “You’re just as worthless as she is,” he says, like he’s enjoying every second. “The only reason I kept you around was pity.”
The growl tears out of me before I can stop it. I release him, throwing him to the floor so hard he hits the marble with a sharp grunt, as his arms scramble for leverage.
Maverick steps in before I get the chance to swing again. His fists swing with zero hesitation. His punch lands square against Vartan’s face, the sound sickening—bone crunching on impact. Blood sprays as his nose gives way, Vartan folds back with a strangled yell, as his hands fly to his face.
“Don’t you fucking talk about my brother like that,” Maverick snarls, towering over him. “Say one more word, and I swear I’ll leave you with more than a broken nose. Do yourself a favor, you arrogant piece of shit—get the fuck out of here before you end up in a hospital bed next to her.”
Vartan stays on the floor, with one hand clutched over his shattered nose, as blood drips between his fingers. And then, unbelievably, he laughs; it comes from fucking insanity.
The sound curls in my gut like acid. I step forward, fully ready to drag his sorry ass out of this building, and toss him into the street where he belongs.
Before I can take another step, medics rush into the room, their voices urgent, feet thudding against the marble as they move straight for Catalina.
Stay with me baby.
carter
. . .
Navy-blue uniforms flood the room in a blur of movement, voices thunder through the bridal suite. Their commands are sharp and practiced, but all I can see is her.
I drop back to her side, falling to my knees as the medics push past me. One of them kneels beside her immediately, his fingers pressing to her neck, checking for a pulse. Another peels back her eyelid, waving a flashlight across her barely-there response.
“How long has she been unconscious?” the first medic asks, his tone brisk, clipped with urgency. “Do you know what she took?”
I scramble to grab the small orange bottle lying on the floor beside her, the cap still off. My hands shake as I pick it up and shove it into his hand.
“ I-I don’t know,” I manage, forcing it out.
Another medic slides in fast, uncapping a white bottle to administer into her nose. “Administering Narcan now,” he says. “Sir, I’m going to need you to back up.”
I glare at him, unmoving.
My hand stays wrapped tightly around hers, searching for something, fucking anything, that tells me she’s still here.
I glare at the medic when he tries to nudge me aside, I think the fuck not. He’ll have to drag my fucking brick of a body to move me away from her. My chest feels like it’s caving in, every heartbeat comes in short, painful bursts as I press her hand to my mouth. I kiss her fingers gently, whispering against her knuckles like she might hear me through the noise.
Please, baby. Stay with me. Don’t let go.
I hear another medic talking fast, as he tends to Vartan’s fucked face. I don’t bother turning around. I won’t give him a fucking second more of my attention.
He doesn’t exist to me anymore. He’s nothing.
Only she matters, onlyher.
