Ruthless Noble by Alley Ciz

CHAPTER 33

“Oh shit!”I hustle to follow Savvy, getting to her just as she starts to toss her cookies.

I take the time to gather her hair to hold it away from the danger zone before I reach into my pocket for her inhaler, sending up a silent thanks for having had the intuition to bring it with us. I have no clue if throwing up is a symptom of her asthma, but I’ll be damned if I don’t take the necessary precautions.

“Baby.” I flop back onto my ass, pulling her to sit between my spread legs once her retching tapers off into dry heaves. “Tell me what to do.”

I smooth more hair away from her face, her skin clammy and deathly pale. I can feel the rattle inside her lungs, and there’s a slight tremble to her body as she curls into the fetal position against me.

Something is very, very wrong here.

“What happened, baby? What did you find?”

She shakes her head violently, eyes squeezed so tight only the tips of her eyelashes are visible.

I tug her closer, bending my knees, scooping her to sit in the deep V my legs form, and cradling her against me. She’s floppy like a rag doll, as if all the fight has left her body. This is not my strong badass, and if I weren’t panicked with the thought of her ending up in the hospital again, I would be out of this room hunting down those responsible for trying to break her, even if that person ends up being her mother. I don’t give a fuck. You don’t mess with what’s mine without suffering the consequences.

Fuck!What did she find? Why didn’t I read over her shoulder?

Nudging her with my free hand, I hold it up, palm extended, and offer her inhaler. She takes it and uses it without protest.

I lose my balance when I try to adjust my position, my hand slipping on a piece of paper discarded on the floor.

With one eye on Savvy, whose eyes are closed again, her breath tickling the skin of my throat with puffy exhalations, I pinch the paper between my fingers and turn it over. It takes a few seconds for the words to process, but when they do…

Holy fucking shit!

From Savvy’s reaction, there’s no way she knew this before today. Given what I know of her family, this type of information has to rock her down to her core.

Crumpling the paper into a ball, I toss it away as if it’s to blame for my girl falling apart.

I have no idea what to do here. I want to rage, to punch something in defiance of the helplessness coursing through my system.

The possessive bastard inside me struggles with not being everything Savvy needs. But as a silent tear cuts across her ruddy cheek, my pride will have to take a back seat if there’s somebody, anybody that can help ease her pain at this revelation.

Savvy needs Tessa, and then she needs her brother. She needs to surround herself with all those who love her unconditionally while she’s forced to wade through this unknown territory.

With an arm around her back and another under her knees, I stand, her arms weakly looping around my neck as I carry her bridal style out of the room.

I don’t bother putting the last of the safe’s contents back, nor do I even close it.

After what we discovered, I doubt us breaking into the safe will be Mitchell’s greatest concern.