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Dad’s lips thinned when I mentioned Marco’s name, but he nodded. “I’ll go tell them they can come in.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said, more grateful for his loving nature than ever. My father might be a ruthless criminal, but he loved me and cared about my happiness.
Dad slipped out the door, and a minute later, Ashlyn burst into the room. She held a handful of colorful get-well-soon balloons, and she pulled Marco along in her wake. From the bemused expression on his face, he was happy to be pulled wherever she wanted him to go.
Ashlyn rushed to my side and released the balloons in her haste to grab my hand. Marco caught them before they could float away and knotted the ribbons to the guardrail on my hospital bed.
“Joseph,” she said my name on a relieved sigh. She looked like she wanted to fling herself on top of me and hold me close, but she stopped herself, settling for holding my hand. “I was so worried about you,” she said, tears spilling from her lovely sapphire eyes.
I reached up and wiped them away. “I’m okay, angel.”
I caught her chin between my thumb and forefinger, turning her face so I could inspect her. One of the last things I could remember was Ricky hitting her with his gun.
I locked eyes with Marco, knowing he’d give me an honest answer. “How is she?”
Physically, she looked fine, but my memories were hazy, and I couldn’t recall everything that had happened after I got stabbed.
Marco wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Our girl’s a fighter. She’s okay.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she insisted. “But you need to rest,” she told me firmly. “I’m going to call the nurse to get you more pain meds.”
“Don’t,” I insisted. “I want to talk to you. Both of you.”
Marco hit the call button for the nurse. “Talk fast. Then, rest.”
I glared at him for being so high-handed, but I didn’t waste time arguing. “We’re leaving New York,” I told them. “Dad says we have to.”
Marco’s eyes lit up with hope. “What?”
“We’re out, Marco. We can leave. They don’t want us here anymore.”
“Really?” Ashlyn gasped, her tears falling faster. “It’s over? We can all go back to Cambridge now?”
“Is that where you want to go?” I asked her. “You don’t have to go back to Harvard if you don’t want to.”
“I’d love to go back. I want to finish school. On my terms.”
I squeezed her hand. “Then that’s what we’ll do, angel.”
The nurse appeared, ready to administer more pain meds. I thought about refusing, but one hard look from Marco silenced me.
“We’ll be right here when you wake up,” he promised.
Ashlyn brushed a kiss over my cheek. “Get some rest. I love you, Joseph.”
Her words of love followed me down as I sank back into sleep.
Epilogue
Marco
Six Months Later
Ashlyn whined and wiggled in Joseph’s ropes. Her arms were drawn tight behind her, bound from shoulders to wrists. A blindfold covered her lovely eyes, and he’d just introduced her to a wicked new toy: nipple clamps.
She was on her knees in the middle of the bed, and he loomed behind her, stroking her skin in a teasing caress that drove her wild.
I increased my pace, my hand flying over the page as my light pencil strokes captured the beauty before me. I used to draw from memory, but now that I was taking my art more seriously, I wanted a live model. Ashlyn was the perfect woman for the job.
