The Billion Dollar Brute [#4]

Chapter 7

"How is she?" Theo asked, glancing inside the bedroom he hardly recognized anymore. He knew every room like the back of his hand, but it wasn't the same anymore.

"She's still in a state of shock." Nicholas closed the door and stepped further into the hallway with his brother. "After the party, I found her things packed like she was going somewhere. I followed her and found her being chocked to death by her own father."

"Holy shit," Theo said in one breath. "So you shot him?"

"Only to injure him," Nicholas defensively said, earning a proud grin from his brother. "I'm not losing her, Theo. I've told her about Caden, and I didn't even have to convince myself to. She's so good for me, you know?"

"Yeah," his younger brother agreed. "Do you love her?"

"Would you give me shit about it if I did?"

"No," Theo honestly said. "I'd be glad you found someone who makes you less of an ass."

"It's been three weeks," Nicholas said. "But this woman knows me whether she knows that. We still have so much to learn about each other, but I love her. I really do."

"Damn, announce it on a segment of 20/20," Theo teased with a snide grin.

"Fuck you."

Theo clasped a hand over his brother's shoulder and offered him a genuine smile. "What happened with Caden is no one's fault. Serena took a lot of his death off my chest, and if Logan is doing the same, you've got something great going."

"I don't want to have to rely on her to make me feel like a good brother."

"Then allow me," Theo said, giving him a brief nod. "You're a good brother, Nick. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so. Just stop feeling guilty."

• • • • •

There was still a heavy ringing in Logan's ears when she woke up. She panicked for a moment, unaware of her surroundings until she saw the familiar face staring back at her.

"Hi, love," he whispered, leaving over the bed to kiss her.

"Why didn't you take me to my room?"

"Because I can't stand being apart from you," he admitted. He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. "Don't try leaving me again, Logan. What was that back there?"

"I don't know," she honestly said. "I used to solve all my problems by running away."

"What was the problem?"

"You didn't love me back."

He chuckled and pulled a ring from the pocket of his suit jacket. "I love you back, Genevieve. Maybe asking you to marry me right now is a spur of the moment decision, but I'll never regret it. If you say yes, I will be the greatest fiancé you could ask for. And I'll be an even better husband."

She unhooked herself from her IV and pushed him back against the mattress, pressing her mouth to his. "This is not a spur of the moment decision but yes."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Really."

He laughed in triumphant joy and slid the ring on her finger, lifting his head to kiss her soft lips until they were forced to break away for air. "I've actually had the ring for a week now."

"And you haven't even slept with me last week yet," she teased.

He chuckled. "I love you, Genevieve Logan. But you're fired."

"You're firing your own fiancé?"

"Yes, I am. Now be a good little fiancé and sleep because you look beyond exhausted."

"I don't care," she muttered, biting his lower lip. She grinned when he let out a suppressed groan. "Let's make love first."

"I can't say no to you."

• • • • •

Logan took a deep breath before stepping off the elevator. The smell of hand sanitizer wafted through the air once again and just as fresh as when she first walked in from downstairs.

"Logan," Theo called out to her, "what are you doing here?"

"Visiting," she said, jerking her head to the left. "My father is here."

"I see," he said, giving her a tight smile. "Do you need me to go in there with you?"

She nodded, and he took the lead. "So do you also work in the hospital when you aren't in the office?"

"I'm just making my rounds today," he explained, pushing the door to Thomas' room. "He's been cranky all morning."

Logan ran a hand through her long hair and exhaled. "I'll be fine."

"You're engaged?"

Logan looked down the ring on her finger and blushed. "Don't tell anyone yet. Nicholas wants to announce it."

"I'm happy," he blurted, pulling her into an embrace. "It was about damn time."

"You don't think it's too soon?"

"Three weeks?" he questioned in a sarcastic tone. "No, Logan. You two have waited a lifetime."

She laughed and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Give us crap about it when he announces it. He'll just love it."

"But he loves you so much more," he said. "Take care of him, alright?"

"You know I will."

Theo nodded once as she entered the room and patiently stood outside.

Logan didn't know what to say when her father looked her in the eye and then down at his cellphone.

I'm sorry my fiancé shot you? I hate you for almost killing me?

Neither one of those sounded any good.

"How are you?" she managed to ask.

Thomas pointed to the patch on his shoulder. "How do you think?"

Logan flinched. She was angry at him for his insensitivity and anger, and she knew she had to voice the thoughts she'd been holding in for so long. It was now or never.

"I'm going to assume you're just peachy," she said, pulling up a chair to sit beside him. "I really thought things could be different, so that's why I came to you. But when you wrapped your hands around my neck and silently prayed no one could see you, I wasn't that little girl you once loved. I was the helpless child you came to molest in the middle of the night. I was something you could control, but I'm not anymore. I run my life now."

Thomas bitterly laughed and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "You came all the way here to tell me that? It's pathetic, Genevieve."

She cringed at the sound of her name on his lips. "Nicholas has asked me to marry him. We're going to start a family, and our children will never know who you are."

His eyes darkened in rage as he raised his phone to throw it across the room.

Theo immediately burst through the door upon hearing the loud crash and glanced at a satisfied Logan. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "I'll tell my fiancé you're grateful he spared you."

"I will kill you both with my bare hands," he yelled, desperately clawing at wires to unhook himself. "Come back here, Genevieve! We aren't finished!"

"I think we are, father."

With that, she took the hand Theo held out to her and squeezed as he led her back to the lift.

"I'm proud of you," he told her as he pressed the button to bring her down.

She exhaled and nodded once. "So am I. Now where can I find the gynecology unit?"

"Third floor and the lobby should" - He immediately stopped speaking and glanced at her flat stomach. "Genevieve Logan, are you pregnant?"

The corner of her lips lifted into a smile. "I'll see you soon, Theodore."