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So do Gigi and Natalia.
No one talks about who shot me or what will come of it, and I don’t ask questions. I want to give my brain a chance to heal, to digest all that’s happened, before I hear of who has to die at my husband’s hands for shooting me.
By the end of the day, I’m exhausted. I smile at everyone and thank them for coming, and when the last person leaves—other than Benny, of course—I almost let out a celebratory whoop that I can get a moment of silence.
I can’t wait to get out of here.
To go home, watchBuffy, and snuggle in bed with my husband.
* * *
“Just so you know,this TV hardly gets any channels,” I tell Benny as he arranges my food onto the rolling table over my bed.
After seeing the hospital menu, I requested a juicy cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. Benny okayed it with the doctor first, and surprisingly, thirty minutes later, Monster Marchetti arrived with a takeout bag.
Cristian freaking Marchetti delivered my food.
Benny snags one of my fries. “I’m not here for the TV channels.”
“You’re here for the fries then?”
He winks at me. “That and this.” He steals my cheeseburger, and just as I try confiscating it, he holds it out for me to bite. “And to keep my wife company.”
My wife.
He once said those words with such disdain.
Now, he says them like they’re magical.
I chew my bite while Benny holds the cheeseburger for when I’m ready for another.
“What would’ve happened if we had married years ago?” I ask when I finish chewing. “If we had to sayI dowhen they signed the contract?”
“We probably would’ve given each other just as much of a hard time.” He smiles. “But you’d have succumbed to the charming man I am fairly quickly.”
I snort and dip a fry in ketchup. “Charming, huh?”
He nods, my playful Benny coming out. “I’m your Prince Charming.”
“You aresonot my Prince Charming.” I wave my fry at him, ketchup sliding off it and onto the table. “Nor do I want a Prince Charming. How boring.”
I drop the fry into my mouth and savor the delicious taste.
“What would you like then, dear wife?”
“A husband who’s a villain to everyone but me.”
He chuckles. “It appears I don’t have to change anything about me in this marriage then.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
BENNY
“Vincent hasn’t had many visitors,”Charlie, one of the hospital security guards I paid off, informs me. “The lights have pretty much stayed off all day. The nurse said the family asked for quiet and limited check-ins.”
I slap a hundred in Charlie’s palm. “Thanks.”
I waited until Neomi was asleep before sneaking out of her room. I didn’t want to leave her, but I need to pay Vincent Lombardi a visit. It’s not going against my father’s orders since I don’t plan to kill Vincent here. My father was right. It’s too risky.
