Ruled by her Daddies

by Roberts, Laylah

  Hell, he didn’t even like her name coming from this asshole’s lips. This wasn’t good. He was supposed to keep Aleki and Caleb from becoming too involved. From acting with their hearts.

  Wolfe wasn’t certain he even had a damn heart. Aleki told him if he did there was no way he could watch those cute cat vids that Aleki loved without smiling.

  So yeah, maybe he didn’t have a heart.

  He still wanted to kill the asshole doctor smiling down at Genevieve.

  Genevieve opened her mouth and Wolfe knew she was going to lie again. Brat needed a good spanking.

  Fuck.

  “Vivi,” Caleb spoke gently before she could. “The doctor needs the truth of how you’re feeling.”

  “But I am fine,” she whispered back.

  Caleb gave her a firm look. “We all know that’s not true.”

  Genevieve sighed. “I still think you’re all making a fuss about nothing. I just feel a bit tired and weak.”

  “You came in here with a temperature of a hundred and three. Your pulse was slow and your blood pressure was low.” Ethan set a cuff around her arm as he spoke. “You have a badly sprained ankle and an infected wound on your arm that appears to be a bullet wound. Does that sound like you’re fine?”

  Wait. What the fuck?

  Wolfe straightened and beside him, Aleki raised his face. But it was Caleb who spoke.

  “What the fuck did you just say?” he snapped.

  The doctor frowned at him as Genevieve jumped in surprise.

  “What part of it did you not hear?” Ethan asked snootily.

  “The part where she was fucking shot and you took over twenty-four hours to tell us that!” Caleb snarled back.

  “She is my patient, not you. And I wasn’t going to give you information about her health without her consent.”

  “You don’t think that her safety trumped your fucking morals?” Caleb roared. “She was shot! Whoever shot her could be looking for her right now!”

  Fuck. Who the fuck shot her?

  “Aren’t you supposed to report all gunshot wounds by law?” Wolfe asked.

  “Yes. But you’re paying me for my discretion.”

  “We’re paying you to tell us when the women we have brought in has been shot!” Wolfe scowled at the doctor until he gulped nervously.

  Fucker should be nervous. Wolfe was pissed. So was Caleb.

  “Shot?” Aleki whispered. “Vivi, what is going on?”

  Genevieve wouldn’t look at them, her gaze aimed at her feet.

  “I can still get them to leave,” Ethan told her, touching her shoulder gently.

  “Get your hand off her,” Wolfe growled.

  The other man snatched his hand back with a start. “I have to touch my patient to examine her.”

  “Examining her is fine, groping her is going to end up in you losing your hand.”

  “I was not groping her!”

  “Wolfe!” she gasped.

  “Vivi,” Caleb said quietly but firmly. “Look at me.”

  She raised her gaze to his immediately.

  “Do you know who shot you, jelly bean?”

  Her pale cheeks flushed slightly. “I couldn’t see their face.”

  Wolfe thought she was being honest this time. But it was obvious there was a lot she was holding back.

  “But this has to do with the person you’re so afraid of?” Caleb asked.

  “I think so,” she whispered.

  “Okay.”

  Wolfe opened his mouth to ask her more questions, but Caleb nodded at the doctor. Right. He should have thought of that.

  “So how are you feeling?” the doctor asked her.

  She licked her lips. “I can’t really feel my arm or foot.”

  “Because I’ve given you some good drugs.” Ethan looked to him. “If it’s okay to touch her now, I’d like to continue examining my patient?”

  Wolfe nodded, ignoring the asshole’s sarcasm.

  “You’re dehydrated. The IV is helping rehydrate you. Antibiotics are fighting the infection. You’ve still got a slight fever, so we’re going to keep a close eye on that. What about your foot? How did you injure that?”

  “I twisted it.”

  They all waited but she didn’t say anything more. The doctor sighed. “Right. And then you walked on it?”

  “More like ran,” she admitted.

  He grunted. “Well, I will need to x-ray it to be certain, but I don’t believe anything is broken. I think it’s a severe sprain. We’ve got a portable x-ray machine that we’ll bring in soon. Any chance you’re pregnant?”

  “N-no.”

  “Good.” He wrote some more. “Right, Vivi. Well, I’ve got to tell you that I’m worried about you.”

  Vivi stared up at Ethan. She kind of wished she’d told the guys to get out. It was hard to think with them so close. Difficult to breathe. She couldn’t believe she’d had a panic attack in front of them. Those had become more frequent lately, usually coming when she’d been required to attend some function on William’s arm.

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Caleb asked.

  Ethan flicked him a gaze but then looked at her again. “Vivi, do you know what height you are?”

  “Umm, I’m five foot eight.”

  “And your weight?”

  She hesitated.

  “I can have some scales brought in if you don’t know.”

  “I’m not sure but I think maybe a hundred and twenty?”

  “My guess is that’s it’s closer to one-ten,” Ethan told her. “Have you been on some sort of diet and restricting your food intake?”

  She licked her dry lips then grimaced. “I haven’t been on a diet.”

  Ethan frowned. “You’re underweight. We took some blood when you came in and your blood results are worrying. You’re anemic. You’re deficient in a number of vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin A and zinc. Any anxiety? Negative feelings about yourself?”

  “A little bit,” she whispered, feeling ashamed.

  “There’s no need to feel shame over this,” the doctor told her in a gentle voice. “Are you sure you’re happy having everyone in here for this conversation?”

  “Careful, doctor,” Wolfe warned.

  She saw Ethan swallow heavily. Wolfe could be pretty intimidating.

  “What about hair loss? Weakness? Problems with sleeping?”

  “Um, over the last few weeks, I’ve had some hair loss. And yeah, I’ve had problems with sleeping for a while.”

  “Vivi? What’s going on?” Aleki asked. “Have you been trying to lose weight?”

  “No. Not on purpose. I just . . . you know my stomach is tied to my mood. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.”

  “How long has this been happening for?” Ethan asked.

  “Few years. Maybe longer.”

  Ethan scowled. “I’ll be frank, Vivi.”

  Because he’s been so shy and reticent up until now?

  “I’d like to admit you to the hospital. I want you to speak with a therapist and a nutritionist.”

  She shook her head. She didn’t have an eating disorder. She wanted to eat. It was just that her body wouldn’t let her.

  “I can’t do that,” she told him.

  “Somehow I figured you were going to say that.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, hating that she might have upset him.

  “I’m not comfortable releasing you yet, not until your temperature comes down more. I also want to see you eating and drinking. I’ll leave the IV in for at least another day. I would prefer that you were in the hospital, but if you had someone willing to take care of you, ensure that you did little more than rest, eat and drink then I could let you leave in a few days.”

  Great. Someone to take care of her?

  That wasn’t happening.

  6

  “Mr. Pierce?”

  Caleb turned as the doctor called out to him. The nurse had just come in to give Vivi a sponge bath and had shooed them
all out. He had left reluctantly. He didn’t want to leave any aspect of her care up to others.

  But he knew he had to give her some privacy. At least for the moment.

  “Yes?”

  Aleki and Wolfe paused too, waiting to hear what the doctor wanted to say. He noticed he hadn’t told any of them to call him Ethan.

  Asshole.

  “Could we talk about Vivi’s care in private?”

  “Whatever you have to say you can say it to all of us.”

  Ethan sighed. “Fine. But I’m only saying this to all of you because she made it clear in there that I could. I wanted to reiterate that she really is run-down and weak. She will need a lot of care if I release her. I do think she’d be better off at the hospital.”

  “If she doesn’t want to go, I can’t make her. There are other factors at play here.”

  “I don’t need to remind you that we’re paying for your discretion do I, doc?” Wolfe drawled.

  “You do not. I’m not in the habit of talking about my patients. She’s obviously been under a lot of stress and for longer than just the last week. She needs time to recover. She’s weak and undernourished. I’d like for her to have as little stress as possible and to slowly build up her health and strength. And I’m not letting her out of my care until I’m sure that’s going to happen.”

  Caleb gritted his teeth at the clear challenge. Did he really think that he got to keep her?

  “I assure you, doctor, she’ll get every possible care,” he said stiffly.

  “Really?” the doctor gave him a skeptical look. “She’s not going to recover if she’s subject to a great deal of stress and uncertainty. It’s interesting that you didn’t notice she was getting so rundown.”

  Caleb glared at Ethan. He wasn’t sure if the doctor knew that Vivi wasn’t really his wife or not. But he didn’t like the implication that he thought Caleb had been neglecting her.

  “We’ll handle it,” Caleb said. He didn’t want to say more without talking to Wolfe and Aleki first. He needed to get them on board.

  “I’ll need a list of everything she should be eating,” Wolfe demanded.

  The doctor just stared at him then nodded. “I can do that. But that’s just part of it. It’s not just her physical well-being. It’s her emotional care too.”

  “I’m out,” Wolfe stated, walking towards the suite of rooms they were sharing.

  Caleb sighed as Ethan stared after him in surprise. “Wolfe doesn’t do emotional stuff.”

  “But I do expect that list,” Wolfe called back before disappearing.

  “Tell us the rest,” Caleb demanded.

  “Whatever has happened over the last few years has obviously affected her deeply if she’s stopped eating properly. To get her to eat, you need to keep her emotional well-being in mind. Maybe she needs a change of scene. Something that will be a change but won’t add to her stress. Perhaps a vacation.”

  A vacation, huh?

  * * *

  Half-awake, Vivi tried to roll onto her side, hissing in pain as she moved her injured arm.

  “You can’t lie on that side, it’s injured.”

  Wolfe.

  She took a steadying breath and opened her eyes, staring at him. He was sitting on a chair, facing the bed, spooning lime jello into his mouth.

  “You might be developing an addiction,” she murmured.

  “Hmm?” he asked around another mouthful.

  “The lime jello. You can’t seem to leave it alone.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve been addicted to things before. I can break any need.” There was something in his gaze. Something pointed that seemed to indicate he was talking about her. But he’d never needed her. They’d only been friends.

  Well, sometimes she’d wondered about being with all three of them. But those thoughts had been ludicrous and every time she had them, she’d feel guilty for weeks afterward. As though she was betraying Aleki.

  But it seemed as though she’d hurt Wolfe when she hadn’t meant to.

  “I’m sorry for leaving, Wolfe,” she whispered.

  He licked the spoon clean. Jeez Louise. Why did that look so sexy? And how could she think of anything as sexy when she was in the state she was in?

  He reached for another spoon and pulled out a tub of raspberry jello. Tearing off the top, he dug some up and held it to her mouth.

  “Open.”

  She figured it was pointless to argue so she opened her mouth and let him feed her.

  “Why do you suppose they feed sick people jello?” he wondered. “It has no nutritional content.”

  “I guess because it’s easy on the stomach. I don’t know. Why are you here? You told me when I broke up with Aleki that I better not come crawling back because you’d do everything you could to destroy me.”

  “I remember what I said.” He set the spoon down and leaned forward, looking right at her with those obsidian eyes. His eyes pierced her, as though he could see into her soul. “Thing is, it looks like you’ve already been destroyed.”

  She winced. She got it. She was a shell of who she’d once been.

  He leaned forward. “Tell me why you really did it. Why you broke up with him. You could have made it work. If you wanted it enough. But you didn’t want it enough. Why? You know what I think? I reckon if he’d been rich and white, you’d have been all over that.”

  Shock filled her face. “You really think that I cared about money or the color of his skin? Really?”

  He shrugged. “Convince me differently.”

  “Why? Why should I convince you differently? I didn’t ask you to come find me. And if that’s what you think of me, maybe you should just leave.”

  There she was. The girl he remembered. He’d thought she might be gone for good.

  Sweeping his gaze over her, he took her in. Too thin. Weak. Helpless.

  He didn’t do well with helpless things. He didn’t know how to look after them. Before, she’d been strong. Not as strong as him or his brothers, of course. But tougher than this broken woman before him.

  Broken.

  It was a good word to describe her. Maybe there was still strength inside her but at the moment she was close to shattering. And Wolfe might just be the catalyst. The final hit that broke her irreparably.

  And he found himself surprisingly reluctant to drop the hammer.

  When did he decide that he no longer wanted to hurt her? To make her pay? Had he forgiven her?

  No.

  They wanted her. Aleki and Caleb. He could see it. It seemed Caleb had never stopped wanting her. Aleki was more difficult to work out. But Wolfe didn’t think the other man wanted to hurt her.

  But Wolfe couldn’t forgive what she’d done. And he had to know the truth. To see if there was a part of her worth their time.

  Tears filled her eyes. “I would never . . . could never . . . I loved him.”

  “Loved him? Or love him?”

  She blinked. “I don’t think you ever stop loving the love of your life.”

  He leaned forward, staring at her fiercely. “Then why?”

  “I broke up with him because I loved him.”

  “That makes no fucking sense. Make sense damn it,” he snarled.

  “I was keeping him safe.”

  “From who? Who was threatening him?” She still wasn’t making sense and it was frustrating the hell out of him.

  She wiped at her cheeks. Her nose was running. Her cheeks blotchy. She wasn’t a pretty crier.

  Unable to take it any longer, he reached for some tissues and held them out to her, resisting the urge to clean her up himself. She didn’t deserve his care. It was something a Daddy might do. Wolfe wasn’t her Daddy.

  Wolfe wasn’t entirely sure he could be anyone’s Daddy.

  Although he liked the idea of making rules. Things he could enforce. Maybe he would be too controlling. He could definitely be a bastard. But he had Caleb and Aleki to ensure he didn’t take things too far.

  But rules. Consequen
ces. Yes, he could get into that. Aleki and Caleb could take care of their Little’s emotions. Her feelings. Aleki could indulge. Caleb could support. He could discipline.

  It seemed a perfect arrangement in many ways.

  For him, it meant he didn’t have to worry that he was emotionally detached. That he might hurt any woman they took as theirs.

  What if Aleki and Caleb wanted Genevieve? Could he live with that? Could he put the past behind them?

  Maybe.

  She closed her eyes with a grimace.

  “You’ll give yourself a headache.”

  “Too late,” she whispered.

  “I’ll call the doctor.” He stood.

  Her eyes shot open. “For a headache?”

  “It’s hurting you, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes. But I don’t want to be a bother.”

  He stared down at her curiously. He didn’t think the daughter of one of the richest, most powerful men in the state would concern herself with being a bother.

  “It’s his job.”

  “Yes, but . . . it’s fine. It will go away soon.”

  He shook his head and reached over to grab the buzzer, pressing down on it. The doctor and nurse were employed to care for her and only her.

  The nurse walked in quickly. “Can I help?”

  She was an older woman with kind eyes that invited you to trust her.

  Wolfe wouldn’t be falling for that.

  “She’s in pain.”

  The nurse looked at her watch. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Pierce, you’re not due for any more painkillers for another hour.” If she thought it odd that he was watching over her rather than her supposed husband, she didn’t say anything.

  Smart woman.

  “That’s unacceptable,” Wolfe told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Bravely, or foolishly, she met his gaze. “I’m sorry, sir. But I can’t give her anything more until then.”

  “She’s in pain.”

  “Is your arm hurting?” she asked Genevieve.

  He slid between them, the urge to protect her too strong to ignore.

  “Her head is hurting,” he said before Genevieve could speak.

  “Wolfe, just leave it. I’m fine.”

  “Hush, Genevieve. I’m handling this.”