AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leaning over her, I pull her into my arms. “Shh, babe, it’s over now. I got you. I won’t let anything happen to you again.”
“I can’t feel my legs, Thi,” she whispers, fear etching every word. “There were tingles when I woke, but I felt a sharper pain when we were tussling and now nothing.” The last little bit is caught up in more weeping.
“Listen, we will do everything we can, okay? All that matters is you are alive. I love you, Nikki. Nothing matters other than you being alive.” Bringing her back to me, wishing I could take this pain and burden from her, I rub her back, telling her how proud I am of her and how much I love her.
When she stiffens, at first I think it’s out of doubt until I feel a sharp sting in my neck. Then I hear an “oomph” and a crash.
Several things happen at once. Reaching up, I take the needle Natalie stuck in my neck but didn’t get a chance to plunge because Nik used what little strength she had to bring the patient monitor down on her head. Snake, Padre, and Rocco come in. After a quick assessment, Padre and Rocco go back outside, and Snake locks the door staying with us.
The angle she attacked me in left Natalie’s neck exposed, so when the machine came down, it broke her neck.
Snake takes her broken form and goes into the bathroom.
“I didn’t—” Nik starts, shaking her head, his eyes following Snake’s retreating form.
“I know. You saved my life. I’m sure whatever was in there was meant to kill you and then me.” I smooth a hand over her brow. “None of this is on you. This is all her,” I assure her with soft words.
There is a brief knock on the door, then Angel steps in. “Where is she?” he asks dispassionately. He never liked Nat, never trusted her, so his reaction was expected.
“It’s good to see you awake, querida,” he says in a tone I’ve only heard him use with his wife. “Easy will be so happy to hear this. You were so brave. You are a hero,” he says, as if he witnessed everything that transpired in the last few minutes, but he’s a man with eyes and ears everywhere, so I am far from surprised.
“What do you want me to do with it?” Snake says, coming out of the bathroom where he took Nat’s body so it wouldn’t further upset Nikki.
“I’ll bury it. She can just disappear.” I tell him.
“No.” Angel tsks, shaking his head. “You need to find another outlet for your little hobby.” Then he looks at Snake and smiles. “Make it look like an accident. You know what to do.”
Snake’s smile is wicked when he murmurs a quiet “sí.”
A few minutes later, there is a quiet knock, and Padre comes in dressed as an orderly. He pushes a cart into the door of the bathroom. I make Nik look away as they place Nat’s lifeless body inside with more care than she deserves.
I listen to my wife’s soft crying as I watch Nat’s vacant eyes descend into the cart with hospital linens. I feel nothing watching the woman I called a friend being erased. Any and all feeling I had for her was eviscerated the moment I saw her trying to harm what was mine.
I gather Nikki close. As close as I dare. Snake rights the patient monitor and follows Padre out of the room.
“See you, irmão.” Angel squeezes me on the shoulder and gives Nikki’s head a soft pat. “You’re an amazing woman, Nicolette Love-Shelby.”
His words have her looking up through her tears. Her smile causes my heart to tug harder. He follows his men without another word. I don’t have to worry. He’ll take care of everything, with no one being the wiser.
Nikki turns from watching them exit, then wraps her arms around me, nestling her head against my throat.
After a few quiet moments, she stiffens, pulling back, drawing her arms away. She looks down for a long time. I say nothing, my eyes trained on her bowed head. Silence encompasses the entire room. It is a movement, a song all on its own. This silence has a cadence, a beat, a rhythm; it’s in this silence that she looks up from the sapphire on her finger. “But you gave it to Nat.” She chews her bottom lip. “She said it wasn’t real. The one you gave her—she said it wasn’t real.” The revelation neither of us could accept all those years ago settles between in the silence.
“I just knew I couldn’t dishonor my mom by giving it to her. Especially after I met you.” I cup her chin, letting the implication sink in for both of us. “I knew I couldn’t have you—wasn’t worthy. I knew it was wrong to even think about, but I could never give her the ring. Not when you spoke to my heart even then. I just wanted to be your friend. To watch over you. To guide you, help you. I just wanted to protect you. Eu te amo,” I tell her, watching her eyes swim with emotion. “Eu sei que eu não te mereço, mas eu vou passar o resto da minha vida tentando. I know I am not worthy of you, but I will devote my life to trying.”
“Eu te amo, Thi,” she whispers against my heart as I drag her as close as I dare.
Later, after she’s checked by Mimi, who schedules more tests after privately hearing the whole story and warning about possible re-injury, there is nothing for us to do but hold each other until sleep finally takes us.
For the first time since the attempt on her life, I fall into an exhausted slumber, the first real rest I’ve gotten since she was hurt, holding my little wife.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Nikki(eight weeks later)
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Looking over my shoulder, I see Mathias standing in the doorway of my studio, looking like a demon risen from hell, ready to slay me.
