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He stopped at my bedside and looked down at his sister. He watched her for several seconds, the teddy bear in my arms. After what seemed like an eternity, he met my gaze again. “I haven’t seen my sister that happy in three months.”
It was the first time I felt anything remotely close to happiness. “How are you?”
He ignored his sister and focused on me. “Alive.”
“That makes two of us.”
He gripped the rail that divided us, standing beside my bed just the way his father had. “My father told me everything you did. That we’d all be dead without you.”
I didn’t say anything, unsure what to say to a statement like that. I wasn’t trying to be humble. If anything, it was awkward. Conway had been cold to me just the way his father had been, even though he was a sinner the same way I was.
“And you saved my wife…” His voice broke at the end, his emotion overriding his coolness. “If your men hadn’t gotten there first…I wouldn’t have been able to find her again. I wouldn’t have met my future son or daughter.” He broke eye contact, unable to look at me as the horrible thought crossed his mind. “I want to thank you for what you did, but I don’t even know where to begin. My father and uncle mean a lot to me. But my wife…the way I feel about her… I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I survived and she didn’t.”
That was the way I felt about Vanessa. I’d rather die than let something happen to her because living without her was just too damn hard.
“So, thank you.”
I didn’t look at him when I replied. “You’re welcome, Conway.”
“I misjudged you,” he said quietly. “I never gave you a chance.”
“Can’t say that I blame you. The past sticks to you like glue sometimes. You were just looking out for your sister and your family. I respect that.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that I was wrong. I should have listened to my sister. She’s the smartest person I know. Instead of trusting her instincts and actually listening to her, I encouraged my father to get rid of you. The past three months have been for nothing. That’s time you’ll never get back.”
“But I have the rest of my life with her. So it was all worth it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Conway pulled his hands from the rail and placed them in his pockets. “You could have died.”
“Still would have done it. When I got that phone call, I didn’t think about the bullshit you guys put me through. That wasn’t important. I thought about how Vanessa would feel if she lost her brother and her father. I couldn’t let that happen. She loves you both with all her heart, and if she loves you…then I…don’t want you to die.”
His eyes filled with gratitude as he dropped his aloof stance. Conway Barsetti always carried himself with ruthlessness, like he didn’t care about anyone or anything. He seemed cold, untouchable. But he left all that indifference at the door and had an honest conversation with me, wearing his heart on his sleeve. “You’re a better man than I am. If the situation were reversed, I don’t think I would have helped you.”
At least he was honest about it.
“But now, I would. Anything you ever need, I’m there. If there’s anything I can ever do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. You have my loyalty. I know I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did for me…but I’d like to try.”
Her family didn’t understand that they didn’t owe me anything. I didn’t do it for them. I did it for her. “There is something you can do for me.”
“Name it,” he said immediately. “Anything you want, I can make it happen.”
I let go of Vanessa and extended my arm. “Shake my hand.”
A grin slowly spread across his face. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Conway beamed before he gripped my hand and shook it. “To new beginnings.”
“Yes. To new beginnings.”
When the doctors discharged me from the hospital, I was relieved to get out of bed and on my feet again. I didn’t feel like a man lying there, helpless with tubes and wires hooked up to my body.
When both of my feet hit the tile floor, I finally stood up straight and took a deep breath. The last thing I remembered from that night was snapping someone’s neck before I fell to my knees and collapsed.
Vanessa watched me warily, like I might tip over and fall once more. There was nothing she could do to catch me, not when I would crush all of her bones with my weight. “Are you alright?”
The pain was still in my shoulder, but that would be there for a while. “Yes.” I took her hand in mine, feeling her warm and soft fingers. I gripped them tightly, to make sure they were real. For the last three months, all I’d been holding was booze. “Let’s go.”
