Chapter 5 - An Unbreakable Shield
When Penny Abbott opened her right eye, the world was a blurry collage of warm walnut wood and golden sunlight.
Her head felt as if it had been run over by an interstate freight liner, every pulse of her blood sending a dull, thumping ache behind her temples. Her right arm felt impossibly heavy, bound in stiff fiberglass, and her ribs protested with a sharp, stabbing bite every time she tried to draw air into her lungs.
*The alley,* she thought, panic spiking her heart rate instantly. *The broken glass. The man with the wolf on his sleeve.*
The monitor beside her bed began to chime in rapid, shrill warning beeps.
“Shh. Penny. Easy. You’re safe.”
The voice was deep, textured like velvet and bourbon, and so familiar that the terror in her chest immediately collapsed into a puddle of relief.
A large, warm hand covered her left fingers—gently, with an almost reverent tenderness that made her breath catch.
Penny blinked through the haze. Declan was sitting on the edge of the mattress. He had shed his suit jacket; his white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat, his sleeves rolled up to reveal his thick, corded forearms. There were dark circles under his striking gray eyes, and a two-day stubble shadowed his aristocratic jaw. He looked like a king who had walked through hell to find his crown.
“Mr... Mr. Hayes?” she croaked, her throat feeling like sandpaper.
A faint, self-deprecating smile touched Declan’s lips. “After everything that happened, Penny, I think you can call me Declan.”
He reached for a glass of water on the nightstand, guiding a flexible straw to her bruised lips. Penny took two small sips, the cold water soothing her parched throat. She looked around the opulent room—the soaring ceilings, the master fireplace, the private terrace outside.
“This... this isn't Northwestern,” she whispered.
“This is my home,” Declan said softly, his thumb continuing its gentle circle on the back of her uninjured hand. “You will never step foot in that apartment again. Everything you owned has been moved here. You are under my roof, Penny. And no one will ever touch you again.”
Tears pricked Penny’s good eye. She tried to turn her head away, self-conscious of the swelling, the split lip, and the heavy, clumsy reality of her body trapped in hospital linens.
“Declan... the drive,” she stammered, her voice thick with unshed tears. “Julian Vance... he took the physical drive, but I initiated the wipe—I didn't let them have the logistics data. I saved the mirror files in First Illinois—”
“I know,” Declan interrupted softly.
“I didn't tell them anything,” she pressed, a sob tearing through her bruised ribs, causing her to wince in agony. “They hit me... they told me they would dump me in the river if I didn't give them the password, but I knew what those shipping routes meant to you. I knew what would happen to the Hayes family if the Russians took the port—”
“Stop, Penny. Please.”
Declan’s voice was cracked with raw, unvarnished emotion. He leaned closer, taking her tear-stained face between his large, calloused palms with infinite care, ignoring the bruises, ignoring the swelling. He looked into her eyes with an intensity that pinned her to the pillows.
“You didn't have to protect my empire,” he whispered, his gray eyes shining with unshed moisture. “I don't give a damn about the port. I don't give a damn about the Russian routes. I don't give a damn about the hundreds of millions Vance tried to steal.”
Penny stared at him, her heart thumping against her ribs. “Then... why did you lock down the city? Leo told me... the nurse said you put Chicago under martial law.”
Declan lowered his forehead until it rested against hers, his breath mingling with hers.
“Because they touched *you*,” he said fiercely. “For four years, Penny, I have watched you walk into my office every morning. For four years, I have pretended that I was strong enough to keep you at a distance so you would be safe from my world. And yesterday, while you were lying in that alley bleeding for my family’s money, I realized that my cowardice almost killed you.”
Penny’s breath hitched. “Declan... I’m just your secretary. I’m not... I’m not the kind of woman men fight wars for.”
Declan pulled back just enough to look her dead in the eye, his gaze blazing with absolute conviction.
May you like
“You are not just my secretary, Penny Abbott. You are the only thing in this miserable city that has kept my soul from rotting into dust. You are brilliant. You are magnificent. And as of this morning, every family from New York to Chicago knows that you are untouchable. You belong to the Hayes throne. And anyone who looks at you sideways will die in the dark.”
***
