Page 3 of His Aries Heiress (BLP Signs of Love #21)

Marcellus kept his back turned. Deep down, he was terrified.

Grim was his backbone holding him together.

He needed more time with him. Marcellus had noticed his mentor slowing down in the past few months, but he thought it was due to old age.

His mind went back to every single time Grim seemed fatigued or winded, and he kicked himself for not prying.

It was a pride thing. Most men had it. They didn’t want to be questioned.

Marcellus was definitely one of those men, so he respected those lines with others, but now he wished he hadn’t.

His mind wandered to Tato as Nyx spoke quickly on the phone.

Everything happened so quickly while Marcellus felt like he moved in slow motion while he thought about his son.

His son. Octavio, also known as Tato, was Marcellus’s son, but only one other person alive knew that, and he was on the floor gasping for breath.

If someone were to ask seven-year-old Tato right now who his father was, the answer would be simple.

He’d point right to Grim and call him pops.

Marcellus’s heart ached as he thought about all the things he needed to take care of before Grim could transition, and he suddenly whirled around and dropped to his knees.

“Aye, look at me, old man.” Marcellus’s voice cracked as he spoke.

“You ain’t done yet, you hear me? Think about Tato.

” Grim’s eyes widened, and he grasped Marcellus’s T-shirt.

Marcellus clenched his jaw and looked down at Grim.

His features were aged, though he was only about sixty years old.

A head full of thick Dominican salt and pepper hair filled his head, and his brown eyes misted over as he tried to communicate with Marcellus without words.

Marcellus shook his head. “Nah, man. I ain’t doin’ this without you.

I need you. We need you. Tato don’t even know . . . We haven’t told him . . .”

Grim’s grasp tightened on Marcellus’s T-shirt.

Nyx’s soft voice interrupted them. “The ambulance is on the way. Karma, you can go if you want. You too, King. I can stay since I’m the one that talked to them.”

“Karma, you go ’head. I’ma stay,” King Ro said.

And that was why he was a good leader. They all were.

They knew when to take orders and when to give them.

They stuck together and made sure they assessed any given situation accurately and correctly the first time so nothing came back to bite them.

Marcellus knew King Ro understood that Marcellus was a hothead, so he opted to stay to make sure shit went smoothly.

Marcellus felt a soft squeeze to his shoulder before he heard the sound of Karma’s steps retreat from the room.

He appreciated the gesture. It wasn’t often he got affection, but his mind was too warped to bask in it.

The only thing he could focus on was breathing deeply, willing Grim to do the same.

It must have worked because only a few more minutes passed before a couple of paramedics entered the room and quickly got to work on Grim.

Marcellus backed away and found himself sitting on the floor with his back to the corner of the room, watching them intently.

His hardened gaze seemed to make the paramedics nervous, but he didn’t care.

In his mind, they should be nervous because if anything happened to Grim on their watch, they’d pay with their lives.

“We’re taking him to United Hospital downtown. Does anyone want to ride with him?”

“Yeah.” Marcellus’s deep voice commanded attention, and everyone turned to look at him as he stood. His hulking frame dwarfed the paramedics, but to their credit, they simply rushed past him with Grim lying on the gurney.

Before Marcellus could leave the conference room, King Ro said, “Call me if anything happens. You need me to call anyone for you?”

Marcellus halted as he thought about it. He struggled for a moment because he wasn’t sure if he should allow Tato to come to the hospital. He knew he would regret it if something happened to Grim and Tato didn’t get the chance to see him first, so he caved. “Yeah. You know Ronny?”

King Ro nodded. Ronny was Marcellus’s right-hand man, and everyone knew they rocked together. Ronny was never invited to the council meetings, but he had his hands in almost everything else Marcellus had going on.

“Call him. Tell him to get Tato from Nicole’s house and bring him to the hospital.”

“I got you.” King Ro nodded his head. Nyx offered him a small smile before Marcellus walked out of the room.

His mind felt like complete chaos as he caught up to the paramedics, but there was one small piece of comfort that dominated everything else.

Rage. It wrapped him up like a blanket, as it had since he was young.

As he climbed into the ambulance, he knew no matter what, everything would be okay.

If anything happened to Grim, he would allow his rage to boil over and rule the world. And that thought brought him great joy.