Corey

My throat kills me, eyes feel gritty. The astringent smell of disinfectant hits my nose before I manage to crack my lids.

Oh God. I’m alive. I’m alive and Stefano thinks I betrayed him. I blink, trying to focus as my eyes adjust to being open.

A face comes into view, but it’s not the one I want to see—the one I need to see. “Stefano?” I manage to croak through dry lips.

Sondra surges off the chair beside me, leans over. “She’s awake!”

“What…” I lick my lips. “Where is Stefano?”

“Get out.”

My heart surges at the harsh, clipped sound of his voice. He’s alive. Free. Here.

But he sounds angry.

“Watch how you talk to my wife.” It takes me a moment to place the angry growl before the figure of Nico looms into view.

“Will you please both get out?” Stefano’s normal easy-going charm is completely absent.

“You’re lucky I know what it’s like to be in your shoes with your balls hanging in the wind,” Nico remarks.

“Fuck off and get out.” Stefano looks like shit. His jaw is shadowed, expression haggard.

“I’ll be back,” Sondra promises me, but I hardly spare her a glance. I can’t look away from Stefano’s intense gaze, which is locked on my face.

“Stefano.” My voice is so hoarse I can hardly speak, but I have to get this out. I push myself up to sit and swing my legs over the edge of the hospital bed. Pain shoots down my left arm and I gasp.

“Back in bed, back in bed.” Stefano lurches to my side and scoops my legs back up onto the mattress. “What are you doing?”

“Stefano, I didn’t know about the bug—”

“Shh.” He puts his finger on my lips. “I know, bella. I know. I shouldn’t have doubted you. I’m so fucking sorry.” He pulls up the chair Sondra occupied and sits beside me, holding my hand. An IV is attached to my arm.

I rub my dry lips together. “Thirsty.”

Stefano jumps up and retrieves a water bottle, which he holds to my lips. I drink, liquid dribbling down my chin onto the thin hospital gown.

There’s suddenly too much to say and no words to say it. I stare up at Stefano, at a loss. “Are you still mad at me?” It’s all I can think to ask. It’s the only thing that really matters to me right now.

His brow furrows. “Hell yes, I’m mad.”

My heart plummets.

“Don’t you ever—ever—take a bullet for me again. I can take care of myself. Capiche?”

Tears spring to my eyes as I remember the moment of horror I experienced when I thought he would die.

“Hey.” He brushes my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Perdonami. Corey, I have to tell you something.” He looks around the room like it will supply him with strength. “It’s bad.”

The tears well up again, even though I don’t know what he’s going to say.

“I know we have a lot to talk about. I don’t even know if you would’ve forgiven me for what I did to you—how I acted. But I’ve done something even worse.”

The anticipation makes it so much worse. Or maybe it’s the pain. I can’t stop the tears from spilling from my eyes, even though I don’t know what he’s going to say.

“Your father’s dead. I killed him.”

Oh.

I blink the remaining tears back.

“Okay.”

He lifts a brow. “Okay? Did you hear me?”

“I heard you,” I croak, my raw throat grating. “He killed Leo. He almost killed me.” I touch the bandage above my heart. “Of course you shot him.”

Stefano strokes my hair back from my face, cups my cheek, concern etched into his features. “Leo’s not dead; we were wearing Kevlar. The doctor says you’re going to pull through. You’ll need physical therapy for your shoulder, but it should mend.” He picks up my hand and brings my fingers to his lips, kissing them. “Corey, say you’ll forgive me. For your father. For throwing you out. I messed up. Big time. But I’ll never doubt you again, I promise. And if you give me another chance, I swear I’ll work my ass off to make it all up to you. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying.”

“I love you, Stefano,” I blurt, my cheeks wet with tears.

For a second there, I swear I see moisture in Stefano’s eyes, too, but then my tough guy blinks them back. “Baby, I love you, too. I’m fucking crazy about you. Say you’ll come back with me when they let you out of here.”

I nod through my tears. “Yes, of course. That’s where I want to go.” I sniff. “You’re the only one who ever saw the real me.”

Stefano grows serious, picking up both my hands. “I want to discover everything there is to know about you.”

“I’m sorry I held back. I was a coward. My fear of getting hurt is exactly what got me hurt.” I give a watery laugh. “Ironic, huh?”

“I’ll never hurt you again,” Stefano swears.

I squeeze his hands. “What happened with my dad? What did the police do?”

“Your dad turned up dead in an alley in Detroit where he was working a case.”

“He was still working in Detroit? He told me he’d been transferred here.”

Stefano shakes his head. “No, he lied about that, too. He was here on personal time, looking for ways to manipulate his daughter’s situation to make money. Your winnings from Memphis have been recovered, by the way. The police will want to talk to you about the purse snatcher who shot you in the Hard Rock parking lot just before we found you. I imagine they’ll be in as soon as they hear you’re awake.”

“Got it.” I reach for the water bottle and drink some more down. I’m not even worried about talking to the police. I don’t question Stefano’s methods.

Justice was served, in its own way. It doesn’t matter to me if it happened on the right or wrong side of the law. My father didn’t uphold those laws.

“A little bit of good news? Turns out your dad never took your mom off his life insurance as beneficiary. She’ll be getting a quarter million as soon as things are settled.”

I smile. Yep. Justice has definitely been served. My mom deserves that money after putting up with my asswipe of a dad for all those years before he left.

She can retire from her job as a school attendance clerk, figure out how to make herself happy.

Me—I already know what makes me happy, and he’s sitting right in front of me.