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Theo leaned back in her chair and sighedloudly and theatrically. "Great. The guy who tried to sell me like a human handbag is off sipping mojitos in a hammock while I’ve been stuck here with ice chips.”

"For now," I said. "But I’ll find him."

Spiros finally rushed back with the nurse, carrying what appeared to be a larger bag of items than we could need. It wasn’t as though we needed supplies from some backwater hospital. I would have a private doctor visit her twice a day. I’d campaigned to have her airlifted home after the surgery, but I’d been vetoed. My confidence in the care here was almost nonexistent. At least in New York, I would have more control. Here, I felt like I lacked the same contacts. The Anthakos brothers, however, had shut me down, and I didn’t have a leg to stand on. Now, my teeth ground together at every second of the delay. There were even more papers to sign, and I barely managed not to snap the poor woman’s head off.

“Let’s blow this joint.” Gripping the handles of the chair, I ignored the scowl of the attendant who had moved in. “I’ve got it. Step off.”

“It’s protocol, sir,” the man attempted toargue, appearing put out. “Hospital regulations.”

But I was more than done, and the Anthakos clan was already moving with me as I started to propel Theo through the hallways, even though the attendant doggedly kept up with me. The dude was lucky I didn’t sock him right in the jaw.

“Fuck right off,” I ground out, glaring at him.

“Angelo.” The quiet reprimand came from Theo. “It’s his job.”

“No,piccola. It’s my job. I’ll do it. Fuck him.”

Every time I looked at her, uncomfortable feelings still lingered, especially now that she was weak and injured. I wasn’t used to it. Usually, she was all claws and teeth, fighting me at every turn. I began to feel a little better about closing the door on my complicated feelings for her and the situation we found ourselves in. However, that door had developed a small melted hole, softening around the edges. I wouldn’t even touch on the anger that perpetually followed me, but I couldn’t blame her for it. It was an old friend from childhood and living with Don Santelli.

“Fine, whatever.” Her retort was barely loud enough for me to hear, but I pushed her a bit faster before she insisted that I let her go in favor of one of her brothers.

I helped her out of the chair when we reached the curb and the waiting car. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything special, but I had to prioritize comfort over flash. One thing I loved was cars, but sacrifices had to be made in certain situations.

Theo scowled at me but allowed me to help her, leaning into me so that I felt the tension in her body. The way her hand curled around my arm —both delicate and defiant — made my heart race. She didn’t want pity; she desired control, even if she wasn’t steady on her feet, and I understood that. After being in the hospital for so long, she seemed smaller, her arm still frozen against her side. The doctors had given her a favorable prognosis for recovery, but it would take time. I’m sure they discussed with her in the last few days that she’d have limited mobility. She’d hate that. I hated it for her.

"We’ve got the jet on standby," I said as we loaded up the car. "You ready to go home?"

She made a face. "New York isn’t exactly home anymore, but I suppose it’ll do until I get kidnapped again. I do want to see Frankie,” she quipped.

I wouldn’t let her comments hurt my feelings, but she was wrong if she thought New York wasn’t home. Her days of running away were long gone. It was time to face the music. My feelings about being forced into something were still all over the place, but they were steadier regarding the woman Theodosia had turned out to be.

Kostas muttered something about her being finished in Europe, and Ilias shot him a glance. I couldn’t fault them. If our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t let my sister out of my sight either.

Theo turned away from the window as we made our way through the streets toward the airstrip. Her hands were still on her lap, her thigh almost touching mine, and suddenly, I wanted to feel her heat. Slowly, I spread out more so that my leg touched hers. Her eyes shot to me, narrowing, but I ignored her and stared across the limo as if I hadn’t done it on purpose, instead turning my focus to Ilias.

"We can discuss strategy when we land,” I told her brother, keeping my voice low.

He nodded. “We’d like to get on track right away. We can’t let him get away with a move like this.”

“Renzetti will surface again. His ego won’t allow him to disappear forever. According to Carlo, there are still whispers in the city about the Oliveto territory,” I scoffed. “As if we’d allow his ass in New York. We would burn him out before we let him set foot in our city. We should be prepared, though.”

Vaso snorted. “He’ll definitely make another move, especially after he got humiliated. His little auction fell apart, his men got slaughtered, and now he’s a marked man in more ways than one.”

I grunted assent. "Maxim’s already circulating word through our southern contacts. Conall’s got his Irish eyes in the ports. Anyone who tries to help Renzetti’ll bleed for it."

There were still several factors I was working through regarding the entire abduction. Things still seemed murky to me about the reasons and methods involved. Renzetti hadn’t played a role in our corner of the worlduntil Cosimo was taken out. Granted, we had been the ones to orchestrate that, but still. It wasn’t uncommon for a vacuum to form in the underworld and for someone to step into the void, but it was typically someone who was known. Renzetti was an anomaly, and that bothered me.

Theo cleared her throat. "Can we discuss something less murdery while I’m still in these horrendous clothes? They wouldn’t even let me shower.” She wrinkled her nose.

Leave it to Theo to worry about what she was wearing, although I doubted that was the issue. I expected that much of her attitude was a distraction tactic to keep people from seeing the layers of her real feelings lying underneath. Still, I was willing to play along for now.

I gave her a sidelong glance, watching her carefully. “You’re worried about your clothes?”

"Of course I am,” she said, indignant. “Fashion is everything. You wouldn’t understand.”

Her brothers collectively groaned.

“Well, we’ll get you all set up soon, andyou’ll have all the fashion choices you could desire, so don’t worry.”