Aching for His Discretion (The Discretion Dynasty #1)

55. Teegan

Chapter fifty-five

Teegan

F or the last few months, I had grown to love Levi and the man he’d become. He was changing for the better. He was changing for me.

He was controlling his anger and his impulses and working to improve himself for me. What was once darkness had turned to light, and it was evident that he was doing his best with the help he was receiving from the guys and his therapist. He showed me he was ready to make the change and put in the effort to win me back again.

“P-Please, Teegan. Please help me.”

Jacob pleaded, and I simply stared at him as the walls of Levi’s basement felt as though they were slowly closing in on me. Levi was supposed to change. He was supposed to do better.

“What happened?” I asked him, still in shock, and he let out a few more tears as he spoke, his voice filled with relief.

“God, it’s been almost two weeks, I think. It was almost like he snapped. Like he was a different person all of a sudden. He caught me off guard in the parking garage at the hospital and just ambushed me with his gang. Before going to visit your parents, the other guys forced me down here.”

Huh .

It was hard to believe how much could happen in so little time. In those same two weeks, I was happily doing some last-minute Christmas shopping with Levi and the girls as the guys had some business to take care of. It seems as though I have stumbled upon that so-called business .

“Two weeks?” I asked, still feeling lightheaded, and he nodded vigorously.

“I-I don’t know what happened. He just came after me like I was some sort of threat. Please… I don’t think we’ll have much time. You have to get me out of here,” he pleaded, and as I went to take an automated step to help him, I paused.

“A threat?” I whispered to myself as I watched him look at me with hope, however, there was an emotion that I couldn’t quite pinpoint swirling in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Tesoro. He will be taken care of.”

“Do you want me to take care of it?”

“I only want to keep you safe.”

“You need to trust me, Tesoro. Let me protect you.”

Levi’s words filled my mind as I looked at Jacob questionably. Alec, Dr. Harrington, Mr. John, and Theo all suffered the same fate of death by Levi.

My brother ended up in a hospital bed with a bullet in his leg, and the waiter from the restaurant is still recovering from the brutal beating from that night we had dinner.

The old Levi would have killed the waiter. God forbid, my brother would be six feet under if Levi had a change of heart and shot him in the face.

Nonetheless, they triggered something in Levi, something that made him el Diavolo , something that made him block out everything, targeting the threat and neutralizing it to protect someone… someone that belonged to him.

Oddly enough, Dr. Wyatt was threatened with death but was never harmed. Is that why he’s still alive and well? Because he wasn’t a threat to me? Because he genuinely wanted the best for me? Is that why Levi let him live?

“What did you do?” I whispered, and Jacob looked at me, almost flabbergasted.

“What did I do?! That doesn’t matter—”

“Yes, it does,” I said, cutting him off, and he scoffed.

“Teegan! The man is mentally unstable,” he tried to argue.

I remained firm. “Jacob. Tell me what you did.”

“The man shot me in the leg, for Christ’s sake, and you have the nerve to ask me what I did?!” he yelled in shock, and Declan’s voice filled my head as well.

The only reason he didn’t kill me is because he was fucking working on himself and trying to do better for you. So he shot me in the leg and not the fucking head.

“That was a warning,” I replied, and he narrowed his eyes at me as I stepped closer, my heart racing as his eyes held a mix of emotions. “What did you do, Jacob?” I asked, and he remained silent for a short while before responding.

“It wasn’t anything you didn’t deserve,” he seethed, and I furrowed my eyebrows as he continued, “Why the fuck do you think I haven’t been working as many hours at the hospital! It’s because your fucking boyfriend is working with Dr. Lombardi to revoke my fucking medical license. After he fucking shot me! Oh, and I didn’t do myself any better by going to the police, because guess who the fucking devil has working on his side now permanently? That private investigator was the last officer ever to attempt to go after you or him,” he fumed.

I remained silent.

He scoffed as he tilted his head. “Oh, you didn’t know? Let me fill you in on how you’ve permanently fucked me over. He won’t let anyone touch you. He won’t let anyone hurt you. He won’t let anyone destroy the perfect little world he’s built for you. And like a fucking idiot, I tried to tell the police and the medical board, and look where the fuck I am now,” he finished off.

I simply stared at him. In the beginning, I could have only imagined the lengths to which Levi would go to protect me. He wasn’t the best at hiding how impulsive he was. Simply meeting Jacob would have sent the old Levi into a spiral. The new Levi had genuinely asked me if I wanted him to step in when Jacob was berating me in the parking garage. And now that my career, my livelihood was under threat, Levi was only fulfilling that promise.

“You’re so fucking lucky I’m in here. If I ever… and I mean ever get out of here, you’re fucking mine,” he seethed.

I didn’t say anything.

Though I didn’t want to admit it, I was slowly but surely accepting all that Levi had done for me to protect me. Sure, we had some issues with his communication, manipulative behavior, anger, possessiveness, temper, crude nature—

Teegan.

—but he did improve in those areas, and he did want to be a better person within our relationship. And to be better in our relationship, I guess I could understand his moral principles for wanting to eliminate the people who could potentially jeopardize our happiness.

Staring at Jacob for a little while longer, I turned away reluctantly and walked toward the steps.

“Wait… Wait, where are you going?” he asked in a panic.

I paused for a moment as I kept my back toward him while I whispered, “Upstairs.”

“Are you not going to let me out?! You want me to fucking die down here!” he yelled, and I simply looked over my shoulder at him for a moment as I sighed.

“Well... you said it yourself. He won’t let anyone hurt me. Who am I to stop him from protecting me? And if I’m not mistaken… you just threatened me while simultaneously asking to be let out. Did you not?” I asked.

He paused for a moment before screeching horribly again as I turned back and walked up the stairs.

“You fucking heartless bitch! I am going to make you fucking pay, you little whore! DO YOU HEAR ME!!”

Ascending the steps, I did my best to block out the curses and threats he made and closed the door behind me reluctantly. Leaning the back of my head against it for a while, I breathed in deeply as I kept my eyes closed.

I could feel Levi’s presence in the room, and as I heard his footsteps approach, I opened my eyes slowly. As he stood in front of me, looking as dominating and as handsome as ever, I whispered, “Did you really go to therapy?”

He pushed my hair behind my ear. “I did, Tesoro,” he muttered.

“And are you still going to see your therapist?” I asked, and he ran his thumb over my cheeks as he towered over me slightly.

“I killed him. But he wasn’t a good man. He taught me how to control myself, but his redeemable qualities stopped at his degree.”

“What about Dr. Lombardi?” I asked, and his jaw clenched slightly as he spoke what was presumably the truth.

“He owed me a few favors and was previously my personal doctor to repay some of his debt. He fixed Nico up when he was shot a few years back, and I sent him to John Hopkins to keep an eye out on you and send me updates about you every hour of every day that you were in the hospital.”

“Really?” I asked him, my heart beating just a bit faster, and he nodded.

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Tesoro. Not anymore.”

“Why did you tell me you changed?” I asked, and he cupped my face in his hands as he leaned down.

“Because I did change, Tesoro. In the past, I was more reckless and unforgiving. I hurt those who wanted to hurt you without a second chance. I give second chances now. It’s up to them to make the decision on whether or not they want to take my chances for granted.”

I remained silent as he continued to caress the sides of my face.

“And then I… I hurt you , Teegan,” he whispered, and I bit my lip as he leaned his head against mine, his eyes closed as his jaw clenched. “I harmed the one thing, the one woman I would give my life to in a heartbeat. I made you question me, question us. I forced you, I lied to you, I manipulated you… and to this day I have never forgiven myself for the things I did.” Shaking his head against mine, he sighed, muttering in Italian. “Tesoro mio, my life, my air, my heart. I only just got you back. I don’t want to lose you again.”

He breathed me in for a moment, and I gently placed my hand on his chest as he pulled back slightly.

“If this is another breaking point in our relationship, I understand. If you decide to leave... If you want me to let him go, you can tell me. I will never hurt you again, Teegan,” he said truthfully, and I thought for a moment. Oddly enough, my overthinking and overly cautious thoughts were silent as I gave a small sigh.

“I don’t... want you to let him go,” I whispered, and his eyes narrowed slightly as I bit my lip. “I want to trust that everything you do for me is to protect me.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, Tesoro,” he whispered, and I nodded.

“Then I want to let you. I fell in love with a man who would do anything for me. I don’t want to fall in love with a man who would stop.”

The possessive look in his eyes grew, and I felt a sense of familiar comfort as his eyes darkened slightly. “I would never stop.”

“Well, in that case, I’m yours,” I said truthfully, and he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on my lips as my knees buckled slightly.

“That’s good to hear,” he said after we pulled away and he tilted his head in thought. “But you know… I could have sworn the boy downstairs said you’d belong to him if he ever made it out of there, huh?” he recalled.

As if on cue, Jacob yelled from the basement. “Get me out of here, you little bitch!” he screamed.

I felt one of Levi’s hands lower from my face and slowly wrap around my throat.

“You know what I think, baby,” he began, and I gasped softly as he placed a small kiss on my collarbone.

“I think we should show him… just how much you fucking belong to me, hmm. Just how much you’re mine,” he muttered, and I shuddered softly as his other hand trailed down my back.

“H-how are we going to do that?” I whispered, and he chuckled as his hands rested on my waist and leaned his forehead against mine once more.

“Help me take off your little panties... and then you’ll find out.”