Page 108 of Scarred Heir

When she sobbed I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. There were so many things I wished were different about us. When I swung open the door, the bitter cold flooded the cabin, but the snow had let up.

Once I stepped out onto the porch, my father moved to stand in front of me. He grabbed the side of my face and stared into my eyes.

“I want to get you checked out by a doctor.”

“I’m fine.” I pulled my jacket on. “A little banged up, but it’s nothing.”

“If that were true, I wouldn’t have had to come here and get you out of an enemy cabin.” He let go of me. “What the hell were you thinking? I already have one son on the run. Do you know what it was like for me when Lucas called and said they couldn’t find you?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I need to get this family back on track. Are you going to help me do that?”

“You don’t have to ask me that.” I gazed out at the dark woods in the distance. “I got side-tracked. I allowed my feelings to come before business. I won’t do that again.”

“It could get you killed next time.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“What do you want to do about them?” He motioned toward the cabin. “Their fire is almost out and they have no transportation.”

“Bello canrescue them.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Sable wants to protect her brother from me.” That was all she ever really wanted from the second we met. “I can’t be with her.”

“That’s a tough realization.” He patted my back. “But it doesn’t mean it will always be true.”

I didn’t see how Sable and I would ever get over the hurdle her brother had put in front of us.

“I want to go home.”

“Me too.” He headed down the steps and to one of the waiting SUVs. “I want to sleep in my own bed.”

“Does this mean you’re home for good?” I followed him, hoping he would tell me what I wanted to hear.

I had made a shambles of our organization. I needed my father’s guidance.

“Yes,” he said.

Josh opened the back passenger door and my father got in and slid across the seat, making room for me.

“Now that we know it’s Medina we’re fighting, there’s no reason for me to go underground.”

“We’re going to come at him hard.”

“We’ll talk about it in the morning,” he said. “I want to bring Marchello home. The three of us will protect this empire by any means necessary.”

I climbed into the car and glanced up at the window of the cabin. When my gaze connected with Sable’s, I fought the urge to go to her. The roads her eyes would make me travel were far too treacherous. She couldn’t let her brother go. I understood why. Family was everything to me. But I couldn’t allow Chance another opportunity to put my family in the line of fire. Sable was too blinded by her desire to protect him to see she had left me no other option.

Letting Sable go was the best thing for both of us. Even if the pain of losing her would scar me for the rest of my life.

The End for now.