Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
"No. I'm not going anywhere. Not until I get to see Luca."
And I didn't.
Not for the six hours it took for Luca to finally wake up fully from the anesthesia and move to intensive care.
Not for the long hours after that where they were making sure he was well enough to move to a normal floor.
"What is it?" I asked when his phone dinged again.
"Uncle Ant did some bribing. They're going to let you up," he told me, leading me back toward the hospital, stopping outside the doors when Bishop moved out from behind a pillar, shrugging out of his jacket, handing it out to me.
"The blood," he explained.
Right.
I probably should have taken Lucky's advice and gone back to the apartment to clean up first, but I couldn't' stand the thought of being that far away in case Luca woke up.
"Thank you, Bishop. I'll have it cleaned. I think someone in this family runs a dry cleaner," I added, voice a little peppy, finding myself a bit delirious with relief.
Lucky led me up to the floor, but stopped outside of the door, giving me a nod, allowing me to go first.
I didn't even stop to question his selflessness seeing as this was his cousin and best friend.
I just charged into the room.
Hospital beds tended to dwarf people, making them look small and frail.
Not Luca.
He looked as strong and intimidating as ever, if maybe a lot more pale than usual, his eyes a bit tired-looking.
But as soon as he heard footsteps, as soon as his head turned to find me there, a smile curved up the edges of his lips.
"There she is," he said, voice warm, if a bit scratchy.
I flew at him, managing to stop myself from flinging my body over his when I noticed the bulkiness of his body under his gown—bandages from the surgery.
I dropped instead into the small space at this side, reaching for his hand crushing it between both of mine.
"Hey you," I said, feeling the tears fill my eyes again.
"How's your arm?"
"Oh my God. You were shot like five times and you're asking about my arm?"
To that, his lips twitched again.
"I heard you've been giving everyone hell."
"Each and every one of them deserved it," I informed him with a nod. "Except for that nurse. I feel bad about that. I have to send her a muffin basket and a note. Something along the lines of 'Sorry for threatening you with a mob hit, I was just scared.' That should do it."
"Don't make me laugh," he demanded, starting to, then wincing.
"Sorry. It's been a heavy night. It's nice to have a little laugh. Even if it hurts."
"I'm sorry I wasn't there."
"Yeah, what the hell, Luca? How dare you get shot and need surgery and leave me surrounded by your people? You inconsiderate ass," I teased, getting another chuckle and wince. "Hey Luca?" I said a moment later.
"Yeah, sweetheart?"
"You were right."
"About what?"
"Right before you passed out. You said I was the right woman. I am. I'm the right woman. We can do this."
His eyes were warm, smile sweet as his hand squeezed mine.
"Yeah, we can."
And so we did.
Epilogue
Romy
"That's a lot of cars," I observed as we pulled down the street leading to his Aunt Adrian's house.
"It's a big family," he reminded me, giving me flashbacks to the night at the hospital after I dipped out to get changed, get some food, coming back to learn he'd had visits from twenty people.
I didn't even know twenty people, let alone well enough for them to visit me in the hospital.
He'd tried to explain the family tree to me as we ate the baked ziti his aunt had dropped off, but my head started spinning, all the stories molding together into one giant blur.
I thought I would be better learning on the fly with faces to go with names.
But seeing all the cars filled me with a nervousness I hadn't expected.
They were his family, after all.
They would be judging me.
They would never admit to that, but they would.
And, sure, I had gotten the stamp of approval from Antony and Matteo, from Lucky and Dario and Michael. But they were a small percentage of the people I would now need to impress seeing as Luca and I were official.
It had been a long couple of days of stress after he came home, constantly worrying I was going to bump one of his injuries, or would screw up redressing them, even though I had made the nurses show me three times just to be sure I knew what I was doing.
We had drop-ins only for a short couple of minutes, his father and him talking in hushed tones on the balcony, Lucky dropping off supplies, Matteo bringing over leftovers from the latest wedding or anniversary party at his party venue.
Mostly, though, they gave us privacy, they gave Luca space to recover, to lay about without feeling guilty. As it was, I was struggling to keep him out of a suit on the daily, I didn't need constant drop-ins that would make him want to be put together.