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That was a stupid thought. I know exactly why he wants to see her. The same reason I’ve spent all of my time split between both of their rooms. Because he loves her as much as I do.
I open her door and wheel him over to her bedside while I go around and sit on the other side of her bed. We each hold on to her hand, both willing her to wake up. To survive. We didn’t go through all of this mess, only for her to die.
We sit like this as the minutes tick on. Neither of us speaks out loud, silently begging her to wake up.
Her eyes open. And she smiles, squeezing both of our hands.
Arlo and I exhale, relieved that she is awake.
“How do you feel?” I ask.
“Like I just got hit by a car, a train, and an airplane, all at the same time,” she says.
“I will have the nurse increase your pain medications.”
She nods.
But that’s all any of us says as more minutes pass. None of us can find the right words for this situation. There are no right words. Only wrong ones.
“So, who do you want? Me or my brother?” I tease, although I’m not really teasing. I need her to choose one of us. I need her to choose me. Controlling the Carini empire means nothing to me without her by my side.
I expect her to smile, like she always does. She knows that I made a joke to try to lighten the mood, but she doesn’t smile. Her eyes go back and forth between both of us.
“I want to go home.”
My heart sinks. That was the one answer I wasn’t expecting. I wanted her to choose me. But I don’t understand her choice.
“I thought you saved me because you…” I can’t finish.
“Because you thought I loved you more?” Nina finishes for me.
I nod.
She closes her eyes a second as a wave of pain hits her.
“I saved myself. That’s all it was. I didn’t want either of you to die. But it ultimately wasn’t about either of you. I chose one of you to save and one to die because I had to save myself. Arlo had been shot the most, and I felt he had the best chance of surviving.”
My eyes widen. My heart has just been ripped from my body. I thought she loved me. How stupid was I?
I look across to Arlo, who seems just as hurt. Not surprised. Just in pain.
She really did play us all.
“Of course,” Arlo finally answers for us because I’m too angry to say anything. “As soon as you are well enough to fly, we will have you on the first flight home. But you do need to know that, when you leave here, you aren’t safe. You need to hire the best protection you can.”
“What do you mean, I’m not safe?” Nina asks.
Arlo sighs. “We think Enrico survived. We think some of the guards were still sympathetic toward their old master and saved him. It’s also possible that Erick and Clive want you. Not as likely, but they aren’t happy that we took you from them. If they realize that we let you go, they might come after you. Or any number of our enemies. Promise me that you will protect yourself.”
“I promise,” Nina says.
Arlo drops her hand and begins to wheel himself out of the room. I follow, not even able to look at Nina right now.
When I get to the hallway though, I explode. “We are not going to just fucking let her go. Not after everything we went through!”
“Yes, we are,” Arlo says.
“Like hell we are! She almost killed you. And she played both of us to save herself. She…” I can’t even finish.
