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I knew Miles, Ford, and Worth had helped during his recovery from a gunshot wound, but I wished I could have been there for him. “Did your friends stay with you around the clock when you were recovering?”
Carter nodded. “Yeah, they did.”
“I wish I could have been here. This recovery is fucking painful. I can’t believe I made you suffer like this.”
“You didn’t have a choice about shooting me, and your perfect aim saved my life. My recovery sucked, but this is worse. You can’t compare what you did to me to me to what happened to you. My brother wanted you dead, and he damn near got his wish.”
“I wish you’d gotten a chance to torture the fucker.”
Carter shook his head. “That wouldn’t have helped me. I let him suffer for as long as I could after you shot him, but when I ended things, it felt right. I was ready for everything to be over. He didn’t matter at all. You were the only thing that did.”
“Has anyone asked questions about him disappearing?”
“No, and in the end, we didn’t need to deal with my father. He was found dead at his desk the morning after you were shot. He put a bullet through his head after signing over his business empire to me.”
“I kept meaning to ask you, but I’m just now on a low enough dose of pain meds to think straight. Did you expect him take himself out?”
“I knew it was a possibility. He doesn’t know how to exist in a world where he’s not a winner.”
“So it’s over.”
“For now. The cartel will be dealt with eventually, but not before you recover.”
“I’m still willing to go back to Colombia.”
“Damn it, Matteo. Haven’t you finally suffered enough? Can’t you accept that you don’t owe me anymore?”
“I….”
“Sweetheart, I love you. I forgive you for everything, what happened in the jungle, you drugging me—twice—you going after Landon on your own, all of it, and I am never letting you go.”
Some of the heaviness seemed to lift off my chest. Maybe it was the drugs I was still on, but it felt so real. I felt truly human again. I loved this man. I’d saved him, and he’d saved me, and he didn’t care what I’d done in the past. “I love you too. Thank you for being here.”
“Thank you for fucking surviving this.”
“I didn’t think I was going to.”
“Neither did I for a while, and I wanted to kill my brother and my father all over again. I wanted to make them suffer for days, weeks, years.”
“And now?”
“Now I want to forget it all and start fresh.”
“What about the money?”
“From my grandmother?”
“Yes, as well as all the money from the family business.”
“I’m going to use it for good. I’m going to make something decent, something that helps people.”
I was relieved. I didn’t want his inheritance to be another burden. If it had been, I would have told him to give away every cent. We’d be fine without it.
“I’m using some of the money right now to ensure you get the best care.”
“Carter, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do.”
