So Rare (Boys of South Chapel #3)

17. Kabir

Chapter 17

Kabir

NOW

Levi’s leg is once again jiggling out of control. I don’t bother trying to soothe him this time. The frantic rhythm of his movements matches that of the kinetic anxiety coursing through me.

I won’t rest until she’s with us. My lungs won’t properly inflate or fully deflate until I have her back in my arms.

Mercifully, my twenty-minute time limit was taken seriously.

I sense her before I see her.

Sucking in a steadying breath, I look to the boys and nod once. Then I rise to my feet and wait. One minute. Then two.

There’s a kerfuffle outside the welcome area. As the noises get louder, I prepare myself to storm out there. Before I can, though, the door swings open.

Magnolia storms in first, but I pay her no mind.

It’s the woman behind her—the shell of a human with her head down, whose every movement is stilted—that captures my attention.

What I see is the exact opposite of how one should look after more than a full day at the spa. She’s haggard. Ill. Pale and hollow, without any of the ferocity and spirit that lives inside my firecracker.

“The fuck?” Levi growls, lurching to his feet. “Who did that to her?”

I cuff his neck and give him a silent look of warning to ensure he won’t do anything stupid before I turn back to Hunter.

There’s a bandage wrapped around her elbow. The slightest hint of bruising is just visible along the border of the cloth. Was she injured? Has she been physically harmed by Magnolia or someone on staff?

“Hunter.”

She freezes, and her head snaps up—instinctively, but also defensively.

The emptiness in her eyes causes a piercing pain in chest. She holds my gaze, her brow furrowed slightly. As if she’s trying to figure out where she is, who I am, and what’s going on.

She’s looking at me, but she doesn’t see me. She’s standing right there, and yet she’s a million miles away.

“What is the meaning of this? To be interrupted in the middle of a service, no less.”

Hunter flinches at the sound of her mother’s voice. Magnolia is so focused on sorting out the apparent interruption of her treatment that she hasn’t even noticed the three of us hovering in the seating area.

With her hands balled into fists, Magnolia marches over to the desk and drones on, raging against the hosts who have been made powerless by my hand.

Hunter just stands there. Staring. Searching.

She’s looking at me like she has absolutely no idea who I am.

“Hunter…” I hedge, keeping my tone soft.

Levi attempts to lunge for her, but I tighten my grip, keeping him in place. This time, his desperation having clearly reached a boiling point, he shrugs off my hold, shoots me a surly glare, and takes a step forward.

I’m not about to come to blows with him, but my gods, is he dense. Hooking one finger through the belt loop of his denim trousers, I halt him once more.

“Give her a moment,” I plead.

Something’s not right. Something’s not registering. I can see it—or the lack of it—in her eyes. She’s not with us. Not really.

The tension rolling off Levi is thick enough to slice with a knife. He could easily break away from my hold, but he grants me the power to tread lightly.

“Tem…”

At the sound of Garrett’s voice, it’s as if an electric current zaps through her body and jolts her back to life. Hunter’s head snaps over, and when her gaze locks with his, a heartbreaking, hollow cry fills the room.

Then she’s rushing toward him with her arms outstretched. She slumps against Garrett, letting him take her weight, sobbing. As he holds her tight and whispers to her, relief floods my mind. A wave of bitterness shoots through me, too. But relief dominates. Relief. Relief. Relief. We have her. She’s okay. We have her back.

“Daisy?” The nickname is a hoarse cry, choked out with the same kind of desperation still plaguing me.

When Hunter doesn’t acknowledge him, Levi stiffens.

I keep a grip on his hip—firm, but reassuring. “She’s okay,” I murmur low, hoping to soothe the agitation that radiates from him more violently with each breath. “He’s got her,” I assure him, tipping my chin toward Garrett.

I stand tall, addressing the room, including the staff and Magnolia, who’s red in the face as she argues with the concierge, growing more irate by the second.

“Effective immediately, Empire Forest Retreat and Spa is closed. Employees found to be in good standing and not morally corrupt—” I pause for dramatic effect, regarding Troy, Naomi, and the other woman, the concierge, according to her name badge.

Troy gets the hint. Clearing his throat, he crosses his arms over his chest, then he subtly distances himself from the others.

“—will receive severance and reassignment assistance.”

“When did you three get here?” Magnolia demands, finally noticing our presence.

Her ability to go this long without realizing we were in the room only confirms every awful, self-centered, narcissistic truth I’ve come to learn about Magnolia St. Clair-Ferguson.

I look at Hunter’s mother, really look, and really let her see me.

This isn’t a game. Even if it was, she’s in no position to win. Her hold on my woman stops now. Either she lets this go, or I’ll tear Hunter from her grasp one perfectly manicured finger at a time.

I stride across the room, plant my feet so we’re inches apart, and glare down at the awful excuse of a human I’d love to be rid of once and for all.

“We’ve been tracking you since the moment you coerced Hunter out of her bed and relocated her to this facility.”

Magnolia gapes, her mouth opening and closing like she’s searching for an argument. Slowly, methodically, I press two knuckles to the underside of her chin, closing her mouth for her.

“You’re done. You’re done here, and you’re done with Hunter. This is over, Magnolia.”

Her bottom lip trembles, but the rest of her face remains frozen, emotionless. When tears begin to well in her eyes, I know I’ve fucking got her.

Yet she doesn’t know when to give up.

“You can’t announce this facility is closed. You’re not even from here ,” she hisses, looking from me to the staff behind the desk, then finally over to where Garrett is still clutching Hunter to his chest.

Her expression flickers, but she looks away quickly.

It’s on-brand for Magnolia. She’s never taken a genuine interest in her daughter. She’s never truly cared about anyone but herself.

Tsking, I draw her attention back to me. Standing to my full height, I assess her up and down and say my final piece.

“I’m Kabir Spencer. I’m from everywhere. I own everything. If I don’t own it, I can make that happen, as proven by my recent acquisition of this facility. Do not question my power, my abilities, or my devotion.”

A glance at Hunter confirms she still has her face tucked into Garrett’s side. It’s for the best. At least for now.

“You’re done,” I warn Magnolia once more, menace lacing my tone. “If you know what’s good for you, if you care at all about your daughter or your own well-being and longevity, you’ll heed this warning. Any attempts to contact Hunter from this moment forward will be viewed as a direct threat to what I love most in this world.”

“That’s my daughter. You can’t tell me—”

“ Was . She was your daughter.”

I inspect my fingernails, noting for the first time a smear of blood coating two knuckles. I whip out a handkerchief and make quick work of ridding myself of the bodily fluids. If I’m going to have Magnolia’s blood on my hands, it will be intentional, and a lot more productive than this encounter.

“Clear out all the remaining guests and perform all the closing duties as assigned,” I tell Troy over my shoulder. “My people will be in touch.”