Vanni jogged up the stairs to Emma’s apartment and looked over the ledge on the second floor of the stairwell, getting a bird’s-eye view of the parking lot. He grimaced, not seeing her car. Had she already left for work? He rethought his strategy for finding her. He’d talk to Amanda first. This time, he was better prepared to talk to her than he had been several days ago, when he’d still been sideswiped by Emma’s refusal to see him again.

This time, he knew what Amanda needed to hear in order to become his ally in getting Emma to talk to him, and Vanni was ready to say it.

He approached Emma’s apartment and drew back his fist in order to knock. The door flew back before he’d ever made contact. Amanda stared at him, shock plastered all over her pale face.

“Oh my God, Vanni. How did you know?”

Alarm roared into his awareness, making his flesh tingle. He edited himself at the last second from saying How did I know what?

“Where?” he demanded tautly instead, his buzzing, shocked brain tightening its focus on Amanda’s leggings and T-shirt, haphazard bun, and clutched purse. She was clearly running out the door in crisis mode.

“North Shore Hospital. She’s in the emergency room.” He stepped back when she walked out and slammed the door. “Colin is coming to get me—”

“Emma?”

Vanni realized he’d yelled and that he was clutching Amanda’s arm. He loosened his grip with effort.

“Emma?” he repeated tautly, a cascade of chills going through him. Oh no. Please don’t let this be happening.

“Yes. The hospital just called. She was in a car accident. They’ve brought her there.” Vanni’s grip loosened when Amanda gave a desperate lurch. She started to jog toward the stairs.

Oh, Jesus. He’d dared to care about her. He’d fallen in love with her. Was this the inevitable result?

“Amanda,” he shouted sharply. “What did the hospital say?”

She turned, still jogging “I don’t know anything, Vanni. I have to go!”

The examining doctor said good-bye to Emma and pulled the curtain closed. She was in some kind of makeshift examining room in the emergency room, a square ten-by-ten-foot space set off by curtains, not walls. She could hear the doctor talking to Colin and Emma on the other side of the curtain, telling them what she’d already told Emma.

“She’s fine, but we’d like to keep her overnight for observation . . . just to make sure there’s no concussion. There isn’t any observable wound to the head. The air bag deployed, but she lost consciousness for nearly ten minutes following the accident. Her vitals are all good, but we’d like to watch her for the next twenty-four hours for any signs that there might have been a blunt head trauma.”

“Do you suspect there’s a brain injury?” Amanda asked anxiously.

“No, the stay overnight is just a precaution, I assure you. Your sister is going to be fine.”

“Can I see her?” Amanda asked.

“Of course. We’re running a little short-staffed today. She might not be moved to a room for an hour or so.”

Ever since Emma had regained consciousness, she’d experienced a strange sort of desire for action, an inexplicable restlessness. In fact, when she’d first come to in the ambulance, the first thing she did was swing her legs off the stretcher and start to get up.

“Whoa, whoa, where are you going?” the stunned EMT had asked her, urging her to lie down again.

Emma hadn’t been able to reply logically. She only experienced a deep, profound need to be somewhere. That sense of an inner push—or an outer pull—continued. She’d almost screamed in frustration when the doctor told her a few minutes ago they’d be keeping her overnight for observation. Her silent reminders to herself that she was being ridiculous, that she had nowhere to go with such a sense of urgency, were only minimally calming to her.

Was she disoriented? Had she hit her head harder than she thought?

She heard a murmuring as Colin and Amanda conferred, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

A second later, Amanda was coming around the curtain. She and Colin had been there earlier, but had vacated the space when the doctor came to examine her. She gave Emma a bright smile.

“Where’d Colin go?” Emma asked when she absorbed that Amanda was alone.

“He, uh . . . went out to the waiting room,” Amanda said, setting her purse down on a chair and coming up next to the triage bed where Emma stiffly reclined. Energy surged through her. The last thing she felt like doing was lying around. Suspicion flickered through her at Amanda’s forced neutral tone and the way she avoided Emma’s eyes.

“Why’d he go out there?” Emma asked. “Amanda?” Her sister met her stare hesitantly. “What’s up? Why are you acting so weird?”

Amanda sighed and glanced reluctantly at the closed curtain and then back at Emma.

“He went out to the waiting room because Vanni is out there.”

“What?” Emma said incredulously, sitting up straighter on the bed, her skin tingling, her muscles shouting at her to move.

“I’m sorry . . . I didn’t want to bother you with it, but—”

“That’s all right, just tell me why he’s here,” Emma interrupted hastily.

Amanda explained about running into him as she left the apartment earlier. “I assumed he knew about you somehow, because of the timing and well . . . I was in shock myself. I told him what hospital you were at before I realized he wasn’t there because he knew about your accident,” Amanda admitted ruefully. “He arrived here just after Colin and me, but of course, they wouldn’t let him back. A couple security guards actually had to restrain him, and they threatened to call the police before Colin and I intervened,” Amanda said worriedly, her blue eyes huge. “Emma . . . he’s a wreck.”

“A wreck?” Emma asked in alarm. She swung off the sheet that covered her lower body and looked around the tiny space frantically. “What did they do with my clothes?” she demanded.

“Emma, lie back down! I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you should have told me. Is Colin—”

“Yes,” Amanda said, her hand on Emma’s medical-gown-covered shoulder, urging her back onto the bed. “He went out to tell him you’ll be fine!” Amanda insisted.

Emma grabbed her sister’s wrist, forcing her to meet her stare.

“Amanda, listen to me. Go and get him,” she directed. “Go and get him and bring him back here.”

“But—”

“There’s no ‘but’ about it. You don’t know everything about Vanni. He’s lost a lot of people in his life. This must be hell for him. He needs to see for himself that I’m fine.”

“But you’re the one I’m concerned about,” Amanda argued.

“If you are, then you’ll go get him,” Emma said firmly. “Because I need to see that he’s all right, too.”

“But what about—”

“Damn,” Emma said, flipping back the sheet again in preparation to go herself.

“All right, I’ll get him!”

“Hurry,” Emma directed succinctly.

Amanda blanched. She looked highly uncertain as she grabbed her purse and left the curtained-off space, and Emma knew why. She was concerned because Emma had said she would never see Vanni again. She and Emma had both agreed it was for the best, given the situation. But Emma didn’t care about that at the moment. She didn’t care about caution, or Vera Shaw’s threats, or her vulnerable heart.

She only wanted one thing with every fiber of her being: to see Vanni’s face again.

It felt like an eternity, waiting, but Emma knew it was probably only a matter of seconds. She held her breath at the sound of rapid, firm footsteps approaching on the tile floor. She jumped slightly when the curtain whipped back.

He looked far too tall and large for the cramped little space when the curtain fell back into place behind him. She recognized the soft gray T-shirt he wore with faded jeans; she’d seen him wear it during their golden, heaven-sent days at La Mer. He looked both wonderfully familiar to her and fantastically new, like she was witnessing a miracle firsthand. Her gaze traveled over his tense, bold features with a frantic hunger. Something wild leapt into his sea-colored eyes.

“It’s okay. I’m fine—” she sputtered, but she was cut off, because suddenly he was stalking toward the bed, a blazing look in his eyes, and he was bending down and squeezing her against him.

“Don’t leave me, Emma,” he said roughly, his face pressed against her neck. Her face scrunched tight with swelling emotion. She dug her fingers into his thick hair and fisted it.

“No. I won’t,” she vowed shakily. She’d seen the truth there, bold and harsh and big as day on his anguished face just now. This was hurting him even more than she’d imagined the truth about Cristina would. She’d have to find a way to break the news to him. Better her than Vera Shaw. At least when he knew, she’d be there with him to help shield him from the pain.

She wasn’t sure how long they clung together like that in their desperate embrace. He did pull back after a stretched moment, however, his gaze searching her face. He palmed the back of her head gently, a tear spilling onto her cheek at the familiar, prizing gesture.

“They said you’re going to be okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “They’re keeping me overnight, but it’s just for routine observation. I wish I could go now . . .” She swallowed thickly as she stared into his rigid, handsome face. She hadn’t understood until now that he’d been the target of her restless anguish since awakening from the wreck. She touched his whiskered jaw, and then smoothed back his longish, finger-strewn bangs from where they’d fallen on his forehead.

“I’m so glad to see you,” she whispered.

He shook his head, his gaze narrowing on her face. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” He leaned down and covered her mouth with his. Her heart seemed to seize and then renew its beating, stronger and faster than before. His taste and the sensation of him filled her like an elixir, sublime and wonderful because she’d thought she’d never experience it again. Warmth suffused her. When he broke their kiss, she held him against her, forehead to forehead.

“I’m so sorry,” she said in a pressured whisper.

“No. I am. I know Vera said something to you to upset you. I’m sorry I was so dense when you talked about how much she hated you. I know she can be difficult at times, but I usually just disregard her fussiness and territoriality. I’ve grown used to it, even if I don’t love it. I’ve built up a layer of protection against her, I guess. I had no idea she’d purposefully try to hurt you or sabotage something because I cared. If something worse had happened to you this morning,” he said, his voice cracking slightly, his gaze glacial, “I would have held her personally responsible.”

“No, Vanni,” Emma said. “The accident was just that: an accident. A stranger ran a red light. I know because the police officer investigating the crash told me the man who hit me had been treated at another hospital’s ER. He’s not seriously hurt, and is admitting he ran the light.”

He leaned back and peered at her closely. “So you didn’t wreck because you were upset or from unfocused driving?”

“No,” she said, sidestepping the truth a little and not feeling too guilty about it because she didn’t want to burden him further with rage. The fact of the matter was, she might have been hit whether she’d been distracted by thoughts of Vera, Cristina, and him or not. There wasn’t much you could do when someone barreled through a red light. Besides, she was going to have to tell him the truth about Cristina and how it related to Vera’s threats, she realized with a sinking sensation. He didn’t need any extra fury and helplessness in addition to that. “It was rotten luck and timing, that’s all.”

He nodded after a moment.

“Sit down,” she whispered, scooting over slightly on the cot. He perched his hip on the edge of the mattress. Emma curled around him, still holding his hands fast in hers, but wanting to feel him with as much of her body as she could.

“You’re sure you feel all right?” he asked quietly.

“I’m fine, Vanni. Please believe me,” she assured.

“And you meant what you said earlier?” he asked cautiously.

“About not leaving you?” she asked, squeezing his hand. “Yes. I meant it. That’s all past. I’ll stay with you, for as long as you want me.”

Her heart started to thrum in her ears as he looked down at her with a lancing stare.

“Forever,” he said.

She blinked in shock at his steadfast demand.

“Forever is a long time,” she whispered.

“It won’t be long enough,” he stated grimly before he was leaning down, and she was lost again in his kiss.

The golden-pink light of sunset was peaking around the closed curtains in her hospital room when Amanda and Colin stood to say it was time for them to go. Emma had studied the couple closely during the last few hours, seen the way they communicated with only a glance, the warmth in their eyes when they looked at each other. Maybe it was just her new, profound happiness because of what had happened with Vanni earlier, but Colin and Amanda really did seem right together. It made her feel both glad and heartsore. She’d assumed she was the wronged party when they’d gotten together despite her realization that she didn’t want to be with Colin herself. Maybe, in fact, she’d been the one in the wrong for keeping them apart for all these years, all because she needed the security of Colin.

But all of that was over now, and in the past. When it came time for them to leave, Emma hugged Amanda extra hard.

“I love you,” she said earnestly in her sister’s ear when their heads were close.

Amanda pulled back and studied her face. Tears filled her blue eyes.

“I love you, too,” Amanda said.

Emma put out her arms to Colin, who looked shocked by the gesture. She noticed Vanni’s eyebrows go up in doubtful wariness across the room, but he didn’t say anything. As she watched him over Colin’s shoulder, his guardedness and skepticism slowly faded and was replaced with a small smile.

The couple left them alone. Emma had been placed in a private room—a fact that she firmly believed Vanni was responsible for, even though he’d merely shrugged and changed the subject when she’d asked him about it earlier.

Vanni pulled up a chair close to her bed. A nurse’s aide knocked and entered. She poured a glass of ice water for Emma and left the pitcher on her bedside table. After the aide left, Vanni leaned forward and grabbed Emma’s hand. Emma hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off him all day. He was a miracle to her. The feelings she was having were miraculous, too. Yet all the while in the background, a black, heavy threat hovered. She was going to have to tell him about Cristina, and soon. From what he’d told her about his confrontation with Vera on the phone earlier, Vera might be vindictive and pounce the truth on him at any time.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, the low, gravelly sound of his voice making her skin prickle with awareness.

“Fine. Ready to go home,” she replied with a sigh because he was lazily stroking the skin of her inner forearm, and it felt so good.

“Well you’re going to have to be patient,” he replied, giving her an amused, pointed glance. “Since we have plenty of time, why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

She tensed, her gaze sharpening on him. “What do you mean?”

“There’s something weighing on you,” he said matter-of-factly, still stroking her arm. “You’re not very good at hiding things, baby,” he chastised her when she gave him a forced look of surprise. She grimaced and he gave a gruff laugh. He stood and she scooted over for him to sit on the edge of her bed. He squeezed her hand. “Just say it, Emma. I’m not going anywhere.”

“No?” she asked, attempting to smile but not succeeding very well, given the way his gaze narrowed on her face with concern.

“Not a chance. I’ve told you I’m not letting you go. I’m willing to face death again, if I have to, that’s what today taught me . . . that’s what last night did.”

“Last night?” she asked curiously.

He gave her a stern glance. “I’ll tell you about it another time. Right now, you talk about what’s on your mind. Does it have to do with something Vera said that night you came to the Breakers to meet me, and I asked her to find you and tell you we were landing a little late? I wasn’t sure you’d picked up my phone messages.”

“A little late?” Emma asked, surprise temporarily making her forget the anxious topic. “She told me you wouldn’t be returning that night.”

“She lied,” he stated flatly. “She was likely lying about whatever it was that she said to spook you as well.”

Emma recalled the official-looking birth certificates. “I wish she was lying,” she whispered. An image of Vera waving those pieces of paper in front of her face sprung up in her mind’s eye. For the first time, she realized Vanni’s aunt had gone and gotten the birth certificates on purpose. She’d known Emma would be at the Breakers, alone and vulnerable, and she’d prepared for battle. Maybe Vanni saw something on her face, because he squeezed her hand. Her gaze flickered to his face.

“Tell me,” he said.

“It’s just . . . you’re . . . you’re not going to like it, Vanni.”

“Does it have to do with you?” he asked, his blue-green eyes looking like gleaming crescents as he peered down at her through narrowed lids.

She shook her head, looking away from his stare.

“Emma, as long as you’re fine and you’ve given up on this crazy idea about not seeing me anymore, I can take it,” he said. “Everything else is a breeze compared to thinking something had happened to you, worrying I was never going to have the chance to see you again.” His finger brushed across her jaw. “Touch you. Tell you how I really felt about you,” he said more quietly.

She went still beneath his caress. “And . . . how is that, again?”

“Are you trying to sidestep the issue?” he asked quietly, humor quirking his mouth.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted, meeting his stare earnestly.

A smile quivered on his firm lips. Her love for him swelled like a balloon expanding in her chest, threatening to burst.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said, his fingertip brushing across the bridge of her nose. “There’s nothing more important than what’s happening between us.”

“Really?”

He looked at her, his heart in his eyes, and shook his head. “You’ve hauled me into the world of the living again, Emma . . . kicking and screaming in protest at first, maybe . . . but still . . . here I am. I’m going to stay here, too, as long as you’ll have me.”

“Forever,” she mouthed, smiling. His fingertip brushed across her lips, and she felt that familiar tug at her core.

“I love you,” he said simply. “I never thought I’d tell another person that. I thought I knew what that word meant. But I’ve never known this.”

She stared at him, unable to draw breath.

“What? Don’t you believe me?” he asked, his brows knitting together.

“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I love you, too.”

He cupped her jaw before he leaned down to kiss her. She’d been wrong to think they’d left behind that golden, unfurling sweetness on the sun-drenched beach at La Mer. It spread inside her now in the unlikely setting of a hospital room, all because he was here next to her, taking a risk.

He lifted his head and plucked softly at her lips with his.

“Now. Tell me,” he urged.

And with his breath mingling with hers, and that golden sweetness running thick in her veins, she gathered her strength, knowing his pain would be hers.

She couldn’t read his expression as the truth spilled out of her, no matter how desperately she tried.

“. . . and Vera showed me the birth certificates, Vanni,” she finished, her voice having gone high as her concern mounted. He just continued to look at her, an unreadable, vaguely stunned expression on his face. “Vanni, I think it’s true,” she whispered, touching his face. “But is it really that terrible? Yes, Cristina bore you, but that doesn’t take away a tiny bit of the love you have for your mother. If anything, I’d think you might love your mom more, knowing how she dedicated herself so completely to you and Adrian, despite the fact that you weren’t hers biologically. And you’re still the same person. Vanni?” she asked, her desperation mounting. “Say something.”

“That bitch,” he bit out. Emma started at the venom in his tone. “I can’t believe she did that!”

“I told you, she hated herself for not being capable of being a good mother. Cristina suffered more than you’ll ever know with the knowledge of her lack—”

“I don’t mean Cristina,” he interrupted. “I mean Vera. She spewed all that at you, and then told you that if you saw me again, she’d tell me about Cristina and . . . what? I’d go into a tailspin? The truth would ruin me forever? And you believed her?”

Emma’s face went slack. “I believed her, but with good reason. She had the proof. Are you telling me you think she was making it all up? Cristina wasn’t really your biological mother? I was being gullible?”

An expression of pure frustration and fury tightened his face. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. You didn’t do anything wrong. Vera was telling the truth. Cristina was . . . is Adrian’s and my blood mother. My father told me before he died. That’s not why I’m in shock. I can’t believe that Vera has known all these years, and that she used the information to blackmail you. What a fucked-up bitch.”

He shook his head distractedly, obviously lost in thought. His gaze eventually landed on Emma’s face. He blanched.

“Jesus,” he muttered heatedly under his breath. He stood and poured her more ice water. “Here. Drink this. You’ve gone white as a sheet,” he said grimly, handing her the water and sitting back on the bed next to her. He waited until she’d taken a swallow. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking the cup and setting it back on the bedside table.

“You knew? You knew all along Cristina was your biological mother?” she asked, shock ringing in her voice.

He sighed and shut his eyes briefly. “Just since my father died five years ago.” His gaze sharpened on her. “It wasn’t the most welcome of news, and I can’t say I took it well. Still . . . it didn’t ruin me, even if it did confuse my feelings for Cristina all that much more,” he admitted bitterly. “But that’s not the point. You were willing to keep this from me because you thought it’d hurt me that much? You were willing to sacrifice what’s happening between us because you thought that would hurt me more than losing you?” Stark pain flashed in his eyes. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Emma shook her head, clobbered by the turn of events. Relief swept through her, escalating her emotional state even more.

He shook his head, clearly as incredulous as she was. “And the worst of it all?” he asked. “It almost worked, what Vera did.”

“No. Don’t think about that,” Emma said firmly, finding her voice. She reached for him. “It didn’t work. We’re here together.” He held her fast and she squeezed him back. “You know what I’m thinking?” she asked him with a bark of hysterical laughter after a moment, her voice thick with emotion.

“What?” he asked as he pressed his lips against her neck with feverish intensity.

“Maybe that car wreck today wasn’t such a random accident, after all.”

He stilled. His hand rose to cup the back of her head. He pulled her back slowly. Before his face lowered next to hers, she saw the fierce light in his eyes.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. I may have said I doubted you at first, but I was kidding myself. It couldn’t be more clear to me now that you can make miracles, Emma,” he said with grim finality before his mouth claimed hers.