Chapter Seventeen
Satyanna fought her heavy eyelids, but eventually won and opened her eyes. It took her longer than a few seconds to zoom in on the people around her, the few blurry bodies who were moving inside a room.
She blinked.
“She’s awake,” Addie whispered, and walked up to her.
Satyanna looked around, and this time, her eyesight quickly adjusted to the reality around her. A white hospital gown dressed her, and an IV was hooked to her hand. A few machines monitored her, and a nurse checked her vitals.
“Are you okay?” the woman with a kind smile asked, taking her blood pressure.
Okay? That was relative. She glanced down at her shoulder, where she’d been shot, and an ache ran through her. It wasn’t the area covered by a bandage that bothered her. Rather, it was the discomfort from when she’d jumped on Leonardo and pulled a muscle. “My neck is bothering me.”
“I’ll get you a muscle relaxer.” The nurse smiled and put the blood pressure monitor back on its handle on the wall. “You are doing great, though. We have removed the bullet.”
“When can she go home?” Addie asked.
“Soon. We just need to get the doctor to come and check her one more time. I’ll be right back,” the nurse said and sauntered out of the room.
“We were worried,” Bruno said, and she noticed he was sitting on a chair across the room. “I’ll go to the hallway and tell Leonardo you are awake. He’s been here all night, and we had to force him to go home and shower.”
Addie chuckled. “Trust me, that was to your benefit. He still had bloodstains on his clothes.”
Bloodstains. Her temples throbbed; thankfully the nurse wasn’t monitoring her blood pressure anymore otherwise she would have called the doctor on duty or something. Shit. Flashes of the fight flickered in her mind, and she massaged her temple to ease the tension.
“Thank you.” I guess. “What happened to Harry?”
“He was arrested.” Addie smiled. “Someone from the FBI has gotten in touch with the local police, and they will transport him back to the US. He’ll be behind bars for a long time.”
FBI. Of course Harry was no small fish. Besides, just what kind of crimes did he master all the time they were away? “How about Lyanna?”
“She’s fine. The cleaning lady offered to keep an eye on her. But I should be going soon to check on her.”
“Good. I wanna go home,” she said, and if her words were the ground she would have slipped on them. Where was home? Harry was no longer a threat. Would she stick with her part of the deal and stay in Brazil, even though Leonardo only wanted her as Lyanna’s mother?
“I must look like crap, too,” she said.
Addie gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “White isn’t your color. But your face looks good. Seriously. You have some color in you. Do you need help brushing your teeth or going to the bathroom?”
“I got shot, I’m not invalid.”
Addie shrugged. “Point taken.”
With a sigh, she unplugged the IV unit from the wall and scooted on the bed. It took her a bit longer than expected, but eventually she walked to the bathroom and smiled when she noticed a few feminine items on the sink. Had Addie brought them, or were they a part of the upscale hospital? She guessed if there was a place you had to stay while sick, this hospital was it.
No. Three and a half months ago she’d been dying to flee a hospital. She hated hospitals. And now…which was worse? Staying here or going back to Leonardo’s home? She wanted her daughter. But now that Harry was out of the picture, Leonardo would go back to his loft. Where would she go?
She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and ran her fingers through her hair. When she closed the door behind her, she almost fell backward. Leonardo stood in the middle of the room.
Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart beat fast like it had somewhere to go.
“How are you?” he asked. A five o’clock shadow covered his jaw, and she noticed dark circles under his eyes. She shouldn’t fool herself by looking at him wearing gray slacks and a maroon shirt that outlined his perfect body. Deep down, he was the same guy who didn’t want her all the way. He’d said so himself. She was not marriage material.
She glanced around the room and realized Addie and Bruno were gone. They must have slipped out while she was in the bathroom. Traitors. “You made it here in record time,” she said.
“I was already on my way. Thanks to Clemonte being caught, we’re in the process of recovering my sculpture. A French couple had bought it. They don’t want the world to know they are linked to the black market, so they are shipping it back.”
She hoped her brain signaled a special command for her legs to move, otherwise she’d continue standing with her hand at her waist, wearing that shapeless gown that could knock the sexy off Angelina Jolie. “Good. I’m glad. How’s Lyanna?”
“She’s great. Misses you. Do you need help?” he asked, and in typical Leonardo fashion, walked to her and gently held her good elbow, steering her toward the bed.
She bit back a smile. “Thanks.”
“I miss you, too.”
She sat on the edge of the bed, and doubted her sudden light-headedness had anything to do with her health. Air was in short supply when he inched closer, his gorgeous hazel eyes on hers. Besides the stressful last twenty-four hours, there was something relaxed, almost boy-like about his expression. Hopeful.
“I have something for you.” He handed her an envelope.
“Let me guess, another contract? With more clauses?” she said, apprehension trickling into her. But, as she opened the envelope to verify its contents, she found hundreds of tiny pieces of shredded paper. “What is this?”
“This is the contract I asked you to sign.”
Did that mean he didn’t even want her to stay in Brazil anymore? Fear knotted her throat. Or, could it maybe, mean that—
“I love you, Satyanna Darling,” he said, staring deep into her eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat, then a second later resumed its work, about to pop from her mouth. Throbbing. “What?” she managed to ask.
He flashed her a gorgeous smile. A smile that was as comforting as homemade chocolate chip cookies and movies in bed. A smile that was…home. “I love you,” he said, louder this time, as if he challenged her to believe it. “A year ago, when I met you, I fell for you. Then you left. And ever since you came back into my life, I’ve been doing a really lousy job convincing myself that I don’t love you, but I can’t keep on lying to myself anymore.”
“But you have…you said all these things about your parents’ marriage. Made me feel like I wasn’t worthy of being your wife. Are you saying this just because I saved your life?” she asked. She didn’t want his charity.
“No. If you don’t believe me, I can show you the email I sent my assistant to draw me a different kind of contract before we even met Clemonte.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to marry you. I will always be grateful for you saving my life last night, but what you don’t know is you saved it long before. When we met, I was depressed coming to terms with my father’s diagnosis, and you brought sunshine and happiness. Even if only for a weekend. Then I found you, and you told me I had a daughter. What better gift can I ask for? And, when you told me a couple weeks ago that you’d be willing to stay under my conditions…to make it better for our daughter… I may have lied to myself then, too, but that night opened my eyes.”
Could this really be happening? Her heart leaped up her throat. Tingles of happiness swept over her. Yes. Yes, it could. “Oh, Leonardo…”
He cupped her face. “My father always talked about my mother even after she was long gone. They shared this beautiful love story that was the only thing I clung to during my childhood. I don’t need to do it anymore, because we have our own. I fell for a woman who’s brave, kind, and always puts others first. I don’t want to live in a world where you’re not part of my life, Satyanna.”
“I love you, too,” she said.
He kissed her. A long, passionate kiss that made her lift her arm to link her arms around him. Soreness pinched her, and she realized her shoulder still hurt. Damn it. She forgot she was damaged goods. “My shoulder hurts.”
He kissed her nose. “Until you feel better, I will tell you a story.”
“What story?”
“It started in a land far, far away…” he whispered in her ear, and she smiled into his skin. She just knew how that story would end.
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