King of Masters by Brynn Ford

CHAPTER 31

Murphy

STELLA PACES A trail across the rug in my office, her arms folded tensely across her chest as we speak in hushed tones. A month has passed since we rescued Anya from the forest. By some miracle, she survived and recovered, and I’ve secretly given her shelter in our factory in Oslo.

“It’s only a matter of time before they all find out. We should just let her leave.”

“If we let Anya leave Oslo, the families will find her.”

“Well, it’s only a matter of time before your family realizes that you cleared out the entire factory. The girls you let go, the people who helped them leave… they’ll talk. People always talk, Murphy.”

“They won’t talk. They’ve all been given monumental sums of hush money, enough for them to live out the rest of their lives comfortably.”

She stops beside my desk and looks down at me. “Your family will realize how much money you’ve spent. They’ll know.”

“My family doesn’t have the privilege to access those bank records. Only the other Heads of House do, and currently Leo Leblanc is the only one. I’ve thought this through clearly. I know what I’m doing. Have a little faith.”

Her anxious features soften as she side-steps closer. She leans back against the desk in front of me, dropping her arms and curling her fingers around the edge of it at either side of her hips. “I’m trying,” she says softly, her deep brown eyes catching hold of mine.

The look takes my breath away. I roll my chair toward her, spread my legs wide so I can move in closer. I put my hands on her hips and look up at her. “I know you are, and I’m grateful for it.”

She smiles at me, though stress still holds her expression. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you for doing this.” She presses her eyes shut and takes in a deep breath. When she opens them again, I see nothing but raw sincerity. “If you continue down this path, I’ll be proud to call myself your wife.”

Proud.

She’s proud of me.

The thought strikes my chest like a hot iron and fills me with instant warmth. To have her pride is as fulfilling as having her unconditional love.

It’s greater than love.

It’s acceptance.

It’s gratitude.

It feeds my soul in a way that makes me realize for the first time that I was starving.

I push to my feet and eliminate the space between us. She slips up onto the edge of the desk and opens her legs for me, letting me settle between them so I can wrap my arms around her. She hugs me freely, closely, her cheek pressing against my beating heart.

“You know your soul was never lost,” I say against her ear. “It was only searching for mine so you could heal me.”

She lifts her head and looks up at me, her forehead creasing as she searches my face. I let go of her so I can take her cheeks in my hands.

“I would do anything for you.” I kiss her sweetly, gently, tasting her appreciation for the changes I’m making on her tongue.

Fuck, she’s everything.

I destroyed her world to bring her into mine, but she’s so goddamn powerful that she’s convinced me to burn it all down to ashes. She moans into my mouth, and I wonder if she can taste my love for her, my gratitude, my obsessive, undying passion for her.

She gradually pulls her head away, just enough to break the kiss. She pants as her hands slide back around the sides of my waist, and she pushes them up my chest, over my shoulders, and around the back of my neck. She digs her fingers into my hair and tugs me forward, bringing me down so our foreheads touch. Her skin is flushed pink from our kiss, and I lick my lips, hungry for more.

But she stops me with her words when I tilt my chin.

“I love you,” she whispers, and it stops my heart. “I love the man you’re becoming. I won’t fight it anymore…I don’t want to.”

I take in a deep breath, inhaling the sweetness of her words. I open my mouth to tell her that I love her, too, but a fucking fist pounding on my office door disrupts our perfect moment. We both let out a sigh of annoyance. I kiss her lips once more, then step away from her, moving across the room to open the door.

Cordelia shoves her way through the door and stomps into the office, whirling around to face me as I push the door closed behind her—I have a feeling this is something I don’t want anyone else hearing.

Bailey jumps to her feet, head down and tail wagging, a low growl rumbling through her chest. I wave my hand at her to hold and she tensely sits. Bailey’s never taken much to Cordelia, but I’ve never seen her hop on guard this quickly before.

“Where’s the money?” Cordelia demands.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The money. Millions have disappeared, and I want to know where it went.”

I narrow my eyes at her.

She doesn’t have access to the bank records.

How the fuck does she know?

I remain firm in the territory of playing dumb. “Nothing has disappeared. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Vigo gave me access to everything well before he died. I’ve seen it all. I know that money has disappeared, I just don’t know where it went, and I demand to know right now.”

I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Vigo Vittori was spilling secrets to Cordelia before he died. He knew she wanted my power, and the sick bastard enjoyed ruffling feathers.

“You have no right to that information, and I’ll ensure your access is stripped within the hour.”

She stomps toward me, coming in far too close, but I let her. I would never take a step back for her.

“Where is our money?” She spits her words with a fury I’ve never seen from her.

Stella quickly moves to my side and Bailey pops up, moving in front of her. “Back the fuck away from my husband.”

I hold out my arm in front of Stella, preparing either to hold her back or protect her from my cousin, knowing the former is more likely than the latter.

Delia’s gaze flickers to Stella, then back to me. “It has something to do with her, doesn’t it? Did she swindle you out of our family’s money?”

I step forward, forcing Cordelia to take a step back. “It’s her money, too. Stella is as much of an O’Shea as you and I.”

“She’s not our blood, Murphy.”

“Our blood became one when we consummated our marriage.”

She scoffs, turning her attention to Stella. “What did you do with our money?”

Stella’s face shows cold, impassive dignity. “I spent it on new shoes, of course. I felt it only fair that I should show the same level of entitled pretension on my feet as you do. I am above you in rank, after all.”

In a swift motion far too quick for me to catch, Cordelia slaps my wife across the cheek. Bailey barks and snaps. Fire erupts in my gut and sets me ablaze. I snatch her bony wrist in my grip, twist her arm behind her back, and shove her forward into the bookcase.

“How dare you lay a finger on my wife? I should cut off your hand for touching her!”

“Murphy,” Stella says softly, her hand landing on my shoulder.

I release Cordelia and step back with a snap. “Get the fuck out of my office. I want the whole goddamn family in the living room. Now!”

She whirls around to look at me with narrowed eyes. “You’ve just lost my good favor.”

“And you’ve fucking lost mine!”

Her upper lip snarls. “Then I have nothing to lose.” Her furious eyes glance toward my wife, looking her up and down with disdain.

I move into Cordelia’s space and point my finger over her shoulder toward the door. “Get. Out.”

I could fucking throttle her. She’s lucky she has the good sense to leave. She whirls around, yanks open the door, and marches her pompous heels right out of my office.

I turn and pace away, grabbing my cell phone from my pocket and sending off a group text to the family to have their arses in the living room in five minutes. I shove my phone back into my pocket.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to set an example.”

“How?”

“Cordelia wants to question our authority and lay hands on my wife? Then I’ll show them exactly what happens when they cross us.” I grab her hand and pull her toward the door.

“Murphy, wait.” She stops, tugging backward on my hand and forcing me to stop with her. I’m huffing with anger and fire blazes in my veins, but her eyes wash across my face like water dousing the flame.

A sly smirk curls the corner of her mouth. “You’ve never been hotter than you are right now.”

Fuck.

I let go of her hand, lasso my arm around her waist, and drag her against me, bending to bruise her lips with a powerful kiss.

My eyes squeeze shut as I let myself taste her and feel the power of her love. I was meant to be a king on my own until I turned forty, but I wonder now if that rule was only ever meant to dampen my power. Alone, I could rule my kingdom in the four families’ world, but with her, I can conquer the universe.

I open the door and hold it wide for her, letting my queen lead the way. As she steps across the threshold, Bailey rushes after her, turns as Stella exits the office, and starts barking like mad.

“What are you—” Stella begins, but then the universe implodes.

A flash of orange hair catches my attention first. Cordelia is standing right there, far too close to my wife, whose lips are parted in shock. Cordelia’s face is twisted in rage but singed with satisfaction. My eyes draw down in disbelief to see Cordelia’s fist against Stella’s stomach. Cordelia grunts and draws her arm back in a swift motion, and that’s when I see the blade pull free from Stella’s flesh. Her lips part as pain and shock wash the color from her cheeks; instead, color floods from her middle, crimson seeping through her shirt.

The shock that registers in her dark brown eyes is what sets off the adrenaline in my veins. Her gaze drops to see the deep crimson stain spread across her stomach. Blood spills from her, and when she slumps, reality strikes me.

She’s been stabbed.

I rush forward to catch her beneath her arms, falling to my knees with her as she drops to the floor. Bailey circles us madly, yipping and whimpering.

“Stella!” I hear Declan yell from somewhere down the hall. “Fuck! I’ll call the physician.”

“Call a fucking ambulance!” I shout at him. “She needs a surgeon!”

I frantically scan all around me, searching for Cordelia, searching for help, trying to figure out what the fuck I’m supposed to do here. That’s when my eyes land on Cordelia, casually striding away down the hall, dangling the bloody dagger in her fingers, leaving a trail of crimson dripping down the hallway.

It all happened so quickly. She must have already had the dagger on her when she came into my office. She was prepared, ready to attack, and she did it with all the demonic grace of a monster.

She’s a monster.

“I have nothing to lose,” she’d said in my office.

I see Cormac round the corner with Tally, and I shout to him, “Stop her! Hold her! I’ll cut off her fucking head!”

I don’t wait to see if he follows my orders as my attention is drawn back to Stella, her arse on the floor between my knees, slumped back against me.

Stella looks up at me, her entire body tremors in shock. “I’m okay,” she whispers. “I’m okay…right?”

“You’re gonna be okay.”

She nods, but I see the fear in her expression. Her eyes turn away from me to glance down and she sees the horror that I see—a pool of blood soaking through her clothes and spreading wildly.

“Shit,” she mutters. “Oh, shit, that’s a lot of blood. That’s all from me?”

Declan appears at her side, slamming down to his knees. “Fuck. I called a private airlift. An ambulance would take too long. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

“We might not have fifteen minutes!”

“What?” Stella’s voice cracks. “It’s not that bad, right?” Her eyes lock onto mine.

“You’ll be all right,” Declan tells her. “Just fifteen minutes and help will be here.”

“Am I gonna die?” Her voice catches on the words and fear brings burning tears behind my eyes.

“No. You’re too strong. No one can end you that easily. Just hang on.”

Fiona appears, dropping to her knees opposite Declan. “We have to put pressure on the wound.” She leans forward, lifting Stella’s bloody shirt. “This might hurt,” she warns before putting her hand over the spot where blood spills.

A scream bursts from my bleeding wife, ripping through my chest, echoing hauntingly through the hall. I hold her steady as she cries in pain, as Declan holds her hand, as Fiona keeps pressure against the injury.

“Oh, Stella…no!” I hear my mother’s voice echo sorrowfully as rushed footsteps approach us.

As minutes pass, Stella’s sobbing fades into silence and her trembling, rigid muscles suddenly go lax before she falls heavily in my arms.

“Stella.”

She doesn’t respond.

“Stella!”

A distant sound chops through the air, the blades of a helicopter swiftly approaching.

My air has been stolen from me. I can’t breathe. Her blood pools around me and mine might as well drain with hers.

If I lose her, I have nothing.

The family, the wealth, the prestige, the power…it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing to me anymore.

I want her.

I only want her, and I don’t care about anything else.

“Stay with me,” I whisper as I bend to kiss her hair. “You can’t leave me now. My soul will be lost forever without yours.”