Page 35

“Shit!”
After he calmed down, Kade got out of the car and opened the front doors to pull the bodies out.
He sighed and looked around. When he saw all the green, he groaned.
“Goddamn it.”
Kade opened the trunk of the car and looked at how much room was in the back.
“They should fit,” he said quietly.
Twenty minutes later, he had successfully loaded the bodies into the trunk of the car and was leaning against it, tired.
He didn’t know what he was going to do, to be honest. Micah seemed to have taken over his empire all by himself, and even though he didn’t want to admit it, that’s what happened.
There had to be some people who stayed loyal to him, but they probably didn’t do anything to stay alive.
He thought it was completely useless.
Kade was more worried about killing Micah and keeping Isla safe than he was about saving what was left of his business at this point. This was no longer his life. It was hard to admit that Micah was right in one way.
He didn’t feel the need to stay on top anymore; that hunger was satisfied the day he met Isla.
He laughed and shook his head. He didn’t want it, but he couldn’t let Micah have it.
Isla had been home from work for three hours and was starting to worry about Kade. She had called him more than a dozen times, but after a while, her calls went straight to voicemail.
Is he trying to stay away from me?
She walked back and forth in their bedroom, trying to calm her breathing. There could be a lot of reasons why he wasn’t picking up her calls and why he was out so late.
“His phone might have died, and maybe something came up at work. See? He’s fine,” she said to herself.
She heard a door slam shut all of a sudden.
She jumped at the noise, and her heart raced in her chest.
“Baby?” A voice that sounded rough called out.
Isla’s breath caught in her throat, and she fell forward before running down the stairs to greet the man who had been missing all day.
But when she saw him, she stopped.
His clothes were ripped and dirty like he had been dragged through the mud or had been in a fight. His hair, which was usually neat, was a mess on his head.
When Isla saw his bloody face, she choked on a sob and put her hand over her mouth. There was so much blood everywhere that it was hard to tell where it was coming from.
Kade grimaced and wiped his hands on his pants.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said to the crying girl to try to calm her down.
Isla ran up to him and raised her hands to touch him, but they shook in the air because she didn’t want to hurt him.
He said softly, “I’m fine, baby, come here,” and then he hugged her tightly.
Isla cried and screamed nonsense while he held her in his arms. At that moment, she didn’t even think about getting covered in his blood.
“What happened? You were gone for so long. I was so worried,” she cried. “You’re bleeding.”
Isla sniffed and moved away from his chest. She took his hand and led him up to their bathroom.
“Where does it hurt?” she asked after she made him sit on the toilet seat.
Kade tried to smile to show her he was okay, but his busted lip made it look more like a painful grimace.
“Kade, I’m serious,” she whined, and tears started to fall down her face again.
Kade’s smile faded, and he sighed. She stood between his legs.
“I don’t know where to start,” she said, rubbing his jaw softly. She turned it to the side and saw purple bruises, which made her cry even more. “I know you’re hurting.”
He said, “Baby, I’ve been through worse. I only got punched once; the rest of the blood isn’t even mine.” Isla didn’t like that information, though.
“How did this happen?” she asked quietly as she wet a clean cloth.
Kade let out a sigh and tried to relax on the toilet seat by spreading his legs and leaning back.
He said, “There was an… issue at work.”
Isla frowned and turned around, not happy with his answer. She began to wipe the blood off his face, and her heart rate slowed down a little when she saw that he was telling the truth about how badly he was hurt.
She said, “I’m a big girl; I can handle it.” Her voice wavered, though, which showed that she wasn’t just trying to convince him with her words.
Kade shook his head and played with her hair.
“It’s a long story, and I don’t have the energy to tell it right now.”
Isla frowned.
“But I—”
Kade gave her a stern look, which made her stop talking in the middle of her sentence.
He groaned and grabbed her hips when he saw her face.
“I’m sorry, baby. I promise I’ll tell you everything, but not right now, okay?”
Isla bit her lip and nodded, but not happily. She was happy to see that he only had a busted lip and bruises on his jaw and cheek after she had cleaned his face. He was still hurt, but not as much as before, even though there was a lot of blood.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked after he got up. She had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye because he was now a head taller than her again.
He looked away from her and said, “I have to go back.”
Isla’s eyes got bigger and she gasped as she held on to his arm.
“What do you mean? You’re still hurt.” She ran out in a hurry. Her eyes were puffy from crying, but they looked like they were a bottomless pit full of tears because they just kept coming.
He grabbed her chin and made sure she was paying attention. “If I don’t finish up at work, you won’t be safe.” “The only thing that matters to me is your safety.”
Isla shook her head and moved away from him. Her eyes were full of tears, but they also held despair, fear, and hopelessness.
“Your safety is the only thing that matters to me,” she said, her voice breaking. “Please don’t go.”
Kade’s heart broke for her, but he knew what he had to do.
“Baby, I’m not going yet. Please stop crying; you’re killing me.” He said softly as he held her close.
“Okay, I promise I won’t be gone for long,” he said softly in her ear. “And when I get back, we can watch movies and cuddle while we eat ice cream. How does that sound?” He asked as he stroked her hair.
Isla sniffled and nodded against his chest, holding on to the fabric of his shirt as if it were her last hope.
Kade hummed and gently pulled her back.
“How about we clean up?” he suggested.
Isla nodded shyly and wiped her eyes.
“I’m supposed to be taking care of you,” she said in a low voice.
Kade laughed and swiped her bottom lip.
“I will always look out for you.”
Isla’s cheeks turned a nice shade of red, and she looked away from him.
Kade laughed at how shy she was, which made her blush even more.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she said, her eyes still darting around at everything but his.
“I can’t help it, baby. You’re so cute,” he said, tickling her sides.
Isla laughed and hit him on the chest and arms until he gave in.
“Okay, take your shirt off.”