Father shakes his head. “Sully says the ground was undisturbed, and Mark circled through the footage. No one disturbed Katherine’s grave.”
My gasp gives me away. The two men turn, their faces etched with concern as they stare down at me. I take in the two most important men in my life. My monster and my knight. Two people who both crack me and build me back up. Who came for me in my darkest moments, when everything seemed lost.
Matthias is right.
No more secrets. Between any of us. We can’t let our allies live in the shadows. Or ourselves.
“Avaleigh.” My father gives a tired sigh of relief at seeing me awake. “We were so worried,mo réalta.” My heart. He has never called me that before. It makes me smile.
“I’m fine,” I whisper, my voice hoarse. Matthias senses my need and grabs a glass of water from the nightstand next to his chair. He holds the glass out to me, the straw perching on my bottom lip.
“Slowly,” he instructs sternly when I try to gulp down half the glass. Damn, getting the shit beat out of me sure as hell made me thirsty. The blood loss probably doesn’t help. Once I am finished, he sets the glass back down on the table and helps me sit up against the headboard.
“How are you feeling?” my husband asks.
I grimace. “Sore,” I answer honestly. “But nothing I won’t recover from. I think I prefer Christian’s cattle prod.”
Both of them growl, and the sound causes my eyes to widen. They don’t feel swollen anymore, just a bit heavy and thick.
“Don’t joke about that.” Father shakes his head.
I wave it off. “If you can’t joke about your trauma, then you’re already half defeated.” Or something like that.
“Krasnyy,” Matthias warns, but I just smile at him.
Okay, that action hurts a little too much, but I am happy.
“Tell me what I missed.”
They shake their heads in disbelief.
“You need time to heal, Ava.” Matthias’s gentle tone is unnerving. Who knew I would miss his alpha assholeness. Now I am hoping it comes back soon. Maybe if I annoy him enough, it will make a sudden reappearance. Gentle Matthias is just plain creepy. “Dr. Radick is on his way over now.”
In a good way, to be honest, but I don’t want gentle right now.
I want answers.
And revenge.
Again.
Damn, my life has become a mafia soap opera.
“I need you to not treat me as if I am fragile,” I scold them. “I understand where this is coming from, but I have information you need, and apparently you have your own information to share.”
The pair exchange a look.
I liked it better when they couldn’t stand each other.
“All right, Avaleigh.” My father gives in with a sigh. “But you need to let Dr. Radick check you over without a fuss. Understood?”
I hold up three fingers and smile at him. “Scout’s honor.”
He rolls his eyes at me, mumbling under his breath about me never being a girl scout. Eh, that is true, but still, the sentiment is the same.
“Tell us what happened after the building collapsed,” Matthias prompts after a beat of silence. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, centering myself before opening them again.
“Well, my mother’s family is batshit crazy,” I admit. “Apparently psycho runs in the family as far back as anyone can measure.”