Page 264 of The Morally Grey Billionaires Boxset

Declan

“She refused you?” Cade gapes at me from where he's seated opposite me. We’re at the cafeteria in the hospital.

After she turned me down, I was too shocked to say anything.

Yep, the man who’s known for delivering impactful one-liners on screen found himself dumbstruck.

She turned me down and it was as if someone had struck a red-hot knife through my chest and twisted it. And I felt every second of it.

Emotionally, there's still that familiar screen between me and what I feel, but everything seems sharper, more in perspective.

Like someone wiped the screen so I can sense everything with more clarify.

The therapist I worked with told me if I received an emotional blow intense enough, it might kickstart the breadth of sensations I'd be able to express. And perhaps that’s what had happened.

Perhaps the shock of her denying me this opportunity to come to her aid caused a trauma intense enough to rival the blow I took to my head.

The pain in my chest deepens, and I rub at it.

I wanted to stay with her, no matter that she didn’t want to look at me, but the nurses came in to check on her and shooed me out.

I wandered out of the room and found Cade waiting for me. He took one look at me and hustled me down the stairs and to the canteen, where he pushed me down into a chair, then placed a cup of coffee in front of me. Now, I wrap my hands around the cup and stare into the murky depths.

“You okay?” Cade frowns.

No, I’m not. I never will be. I’m going to lose her, and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do about it. The pounding at my temples intensifies. A drop of moisture plops into the cup and I stare at it. Apparently, I’m crying again.

A flash goes off somewhere off to the side, but I don’t look up.

I don’t fucking care if a pap takes a picture of me crying and splashes it all over the internet.

I don’t care if it’s bad for the action hero image I’m going for.

I don’t care if it ends my career. I don’t care. .. About anything but her.

“The fuck—” Cade jumps to his feet, but before he can head for the pap, I hear the sound of a scuffle, then the pap’s voice protesting. His voice fades, and silence envelops me.

I glance up to find Finn hauling the journalist away.

Rick jerks his chin at me, then follows them to the entrance of the cafeteria where he parks himself.

I look around, noticing, for the first time, that the place is virtually empty.

Except for a lone doctor in scrubs who’s on his phone in a corner, and two nurses who are eating at another, there’s no one else.

One of the nurses watches me with empathy in her eyes.

She gives me a small smile, then goes back to her food.

“Fucking paps. They must have been tailing me, which is how he tracked you down here,” Cade growls.

I go back to contemplating my coffee.

Cade clears his throat. “It won’t be long before news of Solene’s condition gets out to the press,” he murmurs.

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” I say grimly.

“You can delay it, but you and I both know, it’s only a matter of time before the news is all over the media.”

I grip my coffee cup tighter.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” he asks.

“What do you mean?”

“So, she turned you down… What are you going to do about it?”

“What can I do about it?”

Familiar voices reach me, and I glance up to see Michael and Sinclair making their way toward me.

JJ pauses to speak with Rick. Both turn in my direction.

Then JJ claps Rick on the shoulder and follows in Michael and Sinclair’s wake.

Michael turns around the chair on my left and straddles it.

Sinclair slides into the one on my right.

JJ hauls a third one over to our table, and plants it between Michael and Cade before seating himself.

“So—” He leans across the table. “Where were we?”

I scowl between the three of them, not liking where this is going. Knowing this is an intervention, and unable to say anything to cut off their monologues before they start.

I raise the cup of coffee to my mouth, only Sinclair snatches it away before I can take a sip. Some of the brown liquid splashes onto the table in front of me. A slow burn starts at the base of my neck, but I ignore it.

I reach for one of the two cups of water Cade placed between us, but Michael snatches it and holds it out of reach.

I reach for the second cup of water, but JJ gets to it before me.

He drains the water, crumples the paper cup, and tosses it onto the table.

The burn turns into a flash fire that ignites my entire body.

I jump up with such speed, my chair crashes to the ground.

I hear a gasp, then out of the corner of my eyes, I spot Finn escorting the two nurses and the doctor out the door. He steps out and slams the door shut behind him. I crack my neck, then face down the men, none of whom have moved from their chairs.

“Sit down.” Michael nods toward my chair.

“Fuck you,” I growl.

Sinclair yawns. “Sit the fuck down, if you know what’s good for you.”

I show him the bird.

Cade barks out a laugh. When I glare at him, he wipes the smile off his face.

“Good to see you’re behaving like the loser you are.

” This from JJ. I throw myself across the table and at him, only Michael and Sinclair move as one.

They each grab one of my shoulders, haul me back and to my feet, and drag me through the space between the tables and chairs behind us to throw me against the wall.

My back smashes into the hard surface. Pain zips down my spine to my feet, then bounces back up to meet the burning sensation at my nape.

It’s like a lit match to fuse, and every cell in my body sparks.

I growl and charge forward, but both men grab me and hurl me against the wall again with such force that bits of plaster from the ceiling float to the ground.

My back screams in protest, my bones feel like they’ve been tossed around in a rollercoaster, and sparks of red fly behind my eyes.

I shake my head to clear it, begin to straighten myself— Only, I’m tossed back into the wall, over and over and over again. I hear a crack, then an entire section of the ceiling crashes to the floor on my right. Suddenly, I’m released.

I draw in a breath and my lungs burn, but it’s nothing compared to the agony that I feel in every breath I take.

My entire body goes numb, then spasms, then goes numb again.

The pattern repeats until I’m panting in earnest and seeing double.

The specks of darkness in front of my eyes close in on me.

I resign myself to falling unconscious, when water drenches me.

I gasp and snap my eyes open to find all four of them staring at me.

Michael places a jug of water on the table next to him, then narrows his gaze on me. “Better?”

I’m never going to get fucking better. When I don’t reply, Sinclair grips my shoulder. I shake it off.

“You’re going to have to man up and do the right thing here,” he snaps.

“You think I haven’t tried?” I take a step forward.

My back spasms, the pain slices through me, and the darkness tries to overwhelm me again, but I shove it aside.

I find my focus, take a deep breath, then another, and will the pain to subside.

When it turns down a notch, I take another step forward. “I offered her my kidney; she refused.”

I don’t need to bring them up to speed, I know Cade messaged them, which is why the fuckers arrived here. I wish they’d stayed out of my business, but at this stage, I’m beyond caring. I simply want... Her to accept my kidney.

“What are you going to do about it?” JJ rises to his feet and walks over to stand in front of me. “You going to moan and cry about the fact that she turned you down, or you going to find a way to convince her?”

I scoff, “Like I haven’t tried that.”

“Try harder, stronzo,” Michael drawls.

“Clearly your persuasion skills need polishing up if you can't convince your woman to do what’s good for her,” Sinclair taunts.

“You losing your touch?” JJ closes the distance to me and grabs my collar.

"You can’t sway your submissive to do the one thing that would save her life?

You’re going to lose her, you bastard, you absolute good-for-nothing turdstain.

You’re a fucking loser. A piss poor excuse for a man.

A failed Dominant. An alpha who’s lost his power, you—”

Something snaps inside of me. I twist my torso, break his hold, then snap my head forward.

I connect with his nose, and blood blooms from his face.

I stagger back, then throw my head back and roar.

“I will not let her die. I will not. Will. Not.” I turn, then crash my head into the wall again and again.

I’m grabbed by my shoulders and pulled back. This time, Sinclair and Michael half-carry, half-drag me back to my chair, which has been rightened. They thrust me into it, then stand on either side of me.

Cade takes in the blood dripping down my face and winces. “You’re not pretty anymore, I’m afraid.”

Good. It's this focus on my countenance that made me want to avenge what her brother did to me.

It blinded me to the fact that I'd fallen in love with her the moment I saw her singing on the beach.

I found her again, only my ego stopped me from doing the one thing I should have done all that time ago—I should have bound her to me and never let her go.

I should have told her how much I loved her.

How much I cared for her. How much I want her—need her—yearn for her to be in my life. By my side. To be mine.

JJ draws in a breath, then sits back in his seat, “It’s not too late.”