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Lucia laughs. “Good for you, baby sister. Oh, my God.” She tugs Elena back in for another hug.
“Donovan, can you call Doc? I’d like him to check Elena.”
“Yes, she needs to be checked?—”
Elena reaches out and grips Lucia’s hand, giving her a hard stare. I wonder what it means, and yet, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she’s alive.
“Sure thing.” Donovan takes out his phone. “Do you know how to use a gun?” he asks Lucia as he drapes an arm around her as he makes a call.
“I’m about to learn by shooting you,” she quips.
I pick Elena up. “You need to rest.” As I carry her to the stairs, I call for Maria. “Can you make a tray for her? Soup, maybe.”
“Yes, of course.”
I reach my room, carrying her in and laying her on the bed. She looks exhausted. I sit next to her. There’s so much I want to say, words I’ve never said before. But I’m a coward. Oh, I’m brave enough to face gunfire and violence, but to hand my heart over…
Her eyelids droop. “Will you stay with me?”
“Always.” I lean over and kiss her temple. I watch her sleep, keeping my promise. But already, I’m planning her father’s execution. Tiberius’s demise. I will clean the earth of the men who hurt her even if it means dying myself.
28
ELENA
My eyelids flutter open, and for a moment, I’m not sure where I am. Then the memories crash into me—the squeal of tires, the sickening crunch of metal, the world spinning. The car accident. Except, it hadn't been an accident at all. It was an elaborate plan orchestrated by my father to take me and my sister.
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the images that follow, but they're seared into my mind. Romeo looming over me, his hands eager to claim what he believed was his. My survival instinct took over. I kicked him and seized his gun. My fingers had trembled around the cool metal as I pulled the trigger.
"Easy, Elena." Niko's voice cuts through the fog in my head, gentle yet firm. "You're safe."
My memory flicks to him. He’d entered the room and I’d nearly shot him too. God, what if I had? Tears sting my eyes.
“You’re safe,” he says again.
I curl into him beside me. “You stayed.”
"Of course, I stayed." His lips curve up in a half-smile, though shadows linger in his eyes. “The doctor is on his way up.”
My hand goes to my belly. Are the twins okay? They’ve been in a car accident and were subjected to my father and Romeo’s manhandling. I realize I haven’t told Niko my plans or about the babies.
"I need to talk to you.”
"Later," he says, a subtle furrow etching his brow. “You need to be checked over, and I have business to take care of.”
I know business actually means violent vengeance. Maybe it’s wrong, but I’m glad. I know Romeo won’t hurt me anymore, but my father or Romeo’s father still can. Niko can stop them, but I know only their deaths will achieve that. In killing Romeo, have I become more comfortable with murder?
A knock at the door slices through our bubble. Niko rises from the bed, and I immediately miss his warmth, his comfort. “I’ve got a surprise.”
“Oh?” I sit up, and my body reminds me of all I’ve been through with aches and pains.
He opens the door and two familiar faces appear, Lucia, rushing in worried sick, and Kate, looking uncertain.
"Lucia, Kate!" Their presence is a balm to all the painful ugliness of the day.
Lucia steps forward, sitting on the bed and taking my hand, while Kate hangs back, her own fears shadowed in her expression.
“This is Doc,” Niko says of a middle-aged man who enters behind the woman. “Make sure she’s okay. Whatever she needs, give it to her.”
