Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy #3)

“Mags, how are you going to tell me I told you so if you don’t freaking wake up so I can tell you this when you’re not unconscious?”

I drop my head, tears rolling down her palm now.

“I forgive you. I love you. Please, come back to me. The world would be a darker place without you in it. My world would be darker, and I know you don’t want that.”

I wait for long, silent moments, but she still doesn’t wake.

What did I really think was going to happen? That it would be like Sleeping Beauty and somehow my forgiveness would wake my best friend like the prince’s kiss? Obviously not.

“I love you, Mags.” I press a kiss into her palm and lower her hand to her side. “Come back to us. I promise you’ll get all of those sister-of-the-queen benefits.”



When we reach the exit, Mom is chattering about the awesome place she and my dad rented for the next few weeks, and how much I’m going to love it. Their rental car idles at the curb. My dad hops out as soon as he sees us, and reaches the sidewalk as another car pulls up behind him.

A black Mercedes-Maybach with blacked-out windows. I don’t need to see inside it, though, to know exactly who’s driving.

“Would you be more comfortable in the backseat or the front, honey?” Mom keeps talking, debating the question with my dad, not waiting for a response from me.

Which is good, because my attention is on the black car.

The driver’s door opens and V steps out. He glances at my parents, but they’re totally oblivious. When his attention returns to me, I nod, and we have a wordless conversation.

Yes, I’m ready to go home. Take me to him.

V returns my nod and comes toward me. As I rise from the wheelchair on unsteady legs, V is by my side in an instant.

My mom whips around, she and my dad finally realizing someone else has arrived. “Honey! What are you doing? Who is that man?”

V leads me toward the back door and opens it for me, but before I can get inside, my dad charges toward us. If he had a gun, I’m pretty sure the barrel would be pressing against V’s head right now.

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but you get your goddamned hands off my daughter.”

“Honey? What’s going on? Do you need me to get security?” Fear resonates in my mom’s voice, just as strong as my dad’s threat hanging in the air.

I can’t blame them. They got a call in the middle of the night and found me hanging on to life by a thread. And yet I still can’t tell them the truth.

“Mom, Dad, this is my ride. My driver. I promise he won’t let anything happen to me. He’ll keep me safer than you ever knew was possible.”

My dad’s gaze narrows on V. “Where the hell was he when you took a bullet, if he’s so good at keeping you safe?”

My instinct is to plead with my dad not to argue with me right now, but instead, I straighten my spine as much as is possible with my healing injuries and face him.

“There are things I can’t tell you right now, Dad, but I will when I can.”

“I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.” My mom’s fingers tangle together in front of her as she frets. “Honey, please, just come with us. Don’t get in that car.”

V clears his throat. “I’ll protect her with my life. I swear it to you.” His deep voice sounds rusty from disuse.

Silently, I freak out. You can freaking talk, V? Are you kidding me?

My eyebrows climb toward my hairline, but I hold back the questions begging to fall from my lips.

“Who are you? Who do you work for? Have I seen you before?” My dad’s jaw tenses, his hands clenched into fists.

V goes silent again, giving me the odd thought that hearing his voice is equivalent to spotting an albino leopard in the wild. Once in a lifetime.

I meet both of my parents’ panicked stares one at a time. “Dad, stand down. Mom, I love you both. I promise I’m fine. I’m going to be safe. I’ll be in touch very soon.”

“Keira—”

My name is gruff on my dad’s lips, and I interrupt him before he can launch into whatever lecture or scolding is coming.

“I’ll see you at the distillery tomorrow morning, Dad. I’d really like to have your expertise while I sort out what the hell our next steps are. Seven Sinners was about to step up to the next level, and I refuse to back down.”

My dad’s head jerks back. “Tomorrow morning? You swear?”

I nod. “Yes. I’ll be there. Maybe you should take Mom out to dinner tonight. She has to be missing real crawfish étouffée something fierce.”

My father studies me and then V. “I’ll expect some answers soon.”

I smile, feeling ridiculously regal, even in my sling. “You’ll get them when I’m ready. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

V helps me into the back of the Maybach, and I’m thankful for the ridiculously comfortable interior. My parents stand motionless beside their car as V climbs into the driver’s seat and pulls the car away from the curb.

“So, when were you going to tell me you could actually talk? Don’t think I’m going to let this go.”

He glances up into the rearview mirror with a grunt. I laugh, the first happy sound to leave my lips in over a week.

I’m going home.





Mount





I may as well change my name to Keira, because all I’ve done for the last ten minutes is pace the living room of our suite. I tried to work, but my concentration was blown knowing she’s on her way home.

Home.

I’ve never called these rooms by that name, but with her here, everything shifted.

The lock on the outer door disengages and she steps through the threshold, her wild red hair pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head, tendrils hanging loose around her face. V nods at me from behind her and closes the door as soon as she’s all the way inside.

My wife.

My lover.

My love.

“He talks!” Keira blurts out.

I blink at her, because it’s not what I was expecting her to say first. “What?”

“V! He talked! To my parents. My dad was ready to call security, but V . . . he talked.”

A smile tugs at my lips, something only she could make happen in this moment. “He’s always been able to talk, hellion. He just chooses not to.”

She pinches the fingers of one hand together beside her temple and spreads them wide as she jerks them away. “Mind. Blown.”

Laughter rumbles up from my chest, booming through the room. Only this woman . . .

I cross the room and carefully wrap my arms around her. “I f*cking missed you.”

“Good, because it wasn’t a picnic without you around either. One clandestine meeting in the depths of the hospital wasn’t nearly enough. Let’s not do that again, okay?”

I lower my chin to her hair. “Deal.”

She pulls her head away from my chest and looks up at me. “Would you kiss me? Please?”

“You’re still healing . . .”

Her green gaze pleads with mine. All the humor that followed her through the door has vanished. “I know. But when I woke up in that hospital bed without you there and no ring and no necklace, I thought for a minute . . . with my busted brain . . . I thought maybe none of this was—” Her voice breaks.

“Hellion, stop.”