Valentina smiles and her face melts slightly as she nods. “Welcome back, you idiot.”
“Idiot?” With each blink, my world grows clearer, and remembering her name leads me to recognizing the medical wing buried deep within the Suit’s headquarters. How I got here in one piece is a mystery.
“Yeah, idiot.” Valentina pats my cheek lightly and then sits down in the dark chair at my bedside. “I was not looking forward to replacing the King.”
“I’m fine.”
“Barely.” A worried edge slips into her voice. “Do you even remember what happened?”
It comes back in flickers and flashes. The Arlecchino mask staring down at me from a gun wobbling all over the place. A choked voice, tears and then, faintly, long black hair spilling out from under the mask as the woman tore it off to throw up next to me.
“She shot me.”
“Twice,” Valentina corrects. “You got shottwice. I can’t even begin to explain how insanely lucky you are that Frank parked on the other side of the bank and watched the entire thing go down. If he hadn’t dove in after you—” Her voice catches in herthroat and she shakes her head, breathing deeply. “Nearly had to get a new driver too.”
“Frank.” Bracing my hands on the bed, I shift myself upward. “Is he alright?”
“He’s fine. We’ve run every test in the book on him, and you. Neither of you picked up anything from that filthy water, which is fucking lucky because need I remind you, you got shot.Twice.” She nods toward me, and I glance down. My sheets have fallen and pool at my waist, showing my torso patched in two places with thick, white gauze and tape. One bullet entered near my shoulder and the other on the far side of my abdomen.
“I’m alive.”
“Yeah,” Valentina scoffs. “But barely. One bullet you can walk off, but two? At least they didn’t aim for the heart or your liver. Three days I’ve been waiting for you to open your damn eyes. Raven hasn’t slept, Cassian’s been stuck in a meditation loop as if it can help you, and I had to physically stop Ruslan from kicking down every Irish door until he found where Damian had scurried off to.
“You sat by my bedside?” It’s difficult not to tease, especially since every word out of her mouth is a reminder that I’m alive and well. “Thank you.”
The warmth in my rough voice ends her tirade and a hint of exhaustion slips across her features. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”
“Can’t replace me that easily.” After a few deep breaths that don’t feel particularly painful, I move to get out of bed. Sitting around is not my thing, and if I’m awake, then it’s time to get back to it. My foot’s barely on the floor, and Valentina’s on her feet withboth hands on my shoulders, carving pain into the flesh with her manicure.
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
“I feel fine.”
“You feel fine because you’re doped up. Get back in bed.”
“Valentina, I can’t just lie around.”
“After what happened, yes the fuck you can.”
“Well, I refuse to.”
“You might be taller and 100 pounds heavier, but I will kick your ass back into this bed if I have to,” she threatens, her eyes flashing with the fury that I adore so much. “And I will use your injuries against you and then I will add one because you’ll get blood all over my dress. So get your ass back in that bed!”
“But I?—”
“No.”
“Can I at least?—”
“No.”
“Val—”
“One more word and I’ll gag you.”
“Kinky.” With a tired roll of my eyes, I sink back into bed with her help. Nestling back against the pillows, tiredness suddenly weighs down my eyelids and she flashes me anI told you soglance as she brushes imaginary wrinkles out of her dress.
“Whatever you need to do, I can do it. So tell me.”
