Page 106 of Diary from an Inked Throne

“Do you have a bottle for him?” I asked MacGregor, hating I didn’t have everything I needed for him right here. Some part of me had known I might never hold him in my arms again, and shopping for baby items just felt cruel when he wasn’t here.

But now I regretted all of it.

Hated that MacGregor was the one handing me a bottle when it should have been Dax or Lynx or Luca.

James cried while I defrosted the milk, and MacGregor offered to take him, but I wouldn’t let him touch him.

MacGregor shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. “Suit yourself.”

He might have been decent enough to let me hold James. But I hadn’t missed that he still had a gun in hand, or that his eyes flickered around the place, like he was just searching for an excuse to use it.

The day wore on, one part of me happier than I’d ever been because I had the missing part of my heart right here in my arms.

Another part of me was terrified, not just for me and James, but for the three men who completed our family.

All I could do was my part. And trust they would do theirs.

Without any of us getting shot.

I held James in one arm, his milk bag sitting in a shallow bowl of hot water to defrost in the way I’d read about in the baby book Lynx had bought me so long ago. I tried not to see the blood trail in the grand foyer, but it was impossible not to notice.

MacGregor barked out an order to his men to clean it up, and they found a mop from somewhere to take care of it. But it was too late for me to not see it.

Bruno’s and Viktor’s bodies had been removed from the driveway, and I was sure it was their blood disappearing into a bucket of dirty water.

Their bodies had to be down in the cage room.

The thought made me sick. We hadn’t been friends. But their loyalty had switched instantly from Carlos to Luca, and they didn’t deserve what had happened to them. Nobody deserved to be left down there, dead or alive.

The hours wore on, day turning into night, me focusing on James and keeping him quiet so we didn’t draw MacGregor’s attention. He moved around the mansion with his men, barking out orders, securing the place like he was a soldier at war.

I realized that’s exactly what he was.

The men might have worn suits instead of camouflaged fatigues, but the intent was no different.

Guard the castle.

Keep out the enemy.

Hold prisoners.

Which was exactly what James and I were. Prisoners in a gilded cage.

I didn’t panic, because that would get us nowhere.

Instead, I trusted in the men I loved. Trusted they’d find a way in and that all I had to do was keep us alive until they did.

“Your daddies are coming,” I whispered to James as I changed his diaper, well away from the prying eyes and hearing of MacGregor’s men. “I promise, by now, they’ll know and they’ll be working out a way for us to be together.”

James smiled at me, and my heart swelled.

It was the first time he’d done that all day, and it felt like a sign that what I’d promised him was right.

But the night dragged on, and exhaustion hit me like a truck. James got fussy, despite being clean and fed, and I decided he needed to walk around in the fresh air.

MacGregor stopped me at the door. “Where are you going, lass?”

I forced myself to look him in the eye. “He needs to sleep. I thought I’d walk around with him for a bit.”