Chapter 31 - Cooper's Recovery
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By the time we returned to the Yates Estate in Springfield, the storm outside had cleared, leaving a crisp, starry night over the manicured grounds.
My private medical team spent two hours re-dressing my surgical wounds. The strain of the warehouse firefight had torn two of my internal stitches, but Dr. Harrison assured me the titanium plates in my knees were intact.
Cooper sat on the rug beside my bed, chewing contentedly on a leather bone. The synthetic drugs that Melissa had injected into his system were completely gone, flushed out by Dr. Aris's detox treatment. He was back to his gentle, loyal self, but there was a new sharp edge in his dark brown eyes—he had tasted blood, and he now recognized threat before it even reached the door.
I sat propped up in bed, wearing a silk robe, my lap covered by the master ledgers.
Dad walked into the bedroom, carrying two crystal glasses of twenty-year-old scotch. He handed one to me and sat down in the armchair beside the hearth.
"The Capos are assembled downstairs," Dad said quietly, taking a sip of his drink. "Sal Rossi, Marcus Vance, and the others. They saw what you did to Lorenzo at Pier 9. Word spread fast. No one is questioning your authority anymore, Emily."
"Good," I replied, taking a small sip of the amber liquid. "Because mercy in our business is just an invitation for another hammer."
Dad winced at the mention of the hammer, looking down at his glass. "I spent twenty years trying to hide you from this dark world, Emily. And now you're better at it than I ever was."
"I learned from watching you, Dad," I said softly, looking at the fire dancing in the hearth. "You built an empire to protect me. Now I'm using that empire to protect what's left of our family."
"And Brandon?" Dad asked. "He's still crying in the cellar. Arthur Vance has stopped speaking entirely. What do we do with them?"
May you like
I set my glass down on the nightstand, my eyes turning cold as ice.
"Bring Brandon upstairs," I said. "It's time my husband and I had a final conversation about our wedding vows."
