22. Summer
Summer
With the light from the hallway illuminating him from behind, Matteo looked like an angel of darkness from where he stood on the threshold of my hospital room, dressed in scrubs with soot streaked across his handsome face.
Swallowing, I winced against the roughness of my raw throat. “Hey,” I managed to croak out.
Matteo gripped the edges of the doorframe, hanging his head. “This is all my fault.”
I licked my dry lips. “What?”
“I should have never dragged you into this world. My selfishness put you in that hospital bed.”
“Pretty sure a random house fire did that.”
When his gaze lifted to meet mine, there was pure anguish written in the depths of those dark brown eyes. “Nothing is random when your last name is Bellini.”
That statement alone should’ve been enough to have me running for the hills, but instead, I found myself doubling down. Extending a hand, I beckoned him to me. “Come here.”
He shook his head. “Don’t you get it? Being close to me puts your life in danger.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Staring at me like I’d lost my mind, he uttered a single word. “Why?”
The answer was simple. “Because I love you.”
Matteo’s eyes slammed shut, his features twisting into an expression of pain. “Summer,” he rasped my name. “I almost lost you tonight.”
“But you didn’t. I’m right here.” I curled my fingers as I reached for him. “Please.”
His large frame shook with the force of his heavy sigh, but he finally moved closer. When his palm slid against mine, all my muscles relaxed, and I melted into the thin mattress beneath me.
“That’s better,” I breathed out.
Dropping onto the chair at my bedside, Matteo brought my knuckles to his lips, murmuring against them, “I can’t do this again.”
The reminder that this man had lost his wife less than a year ago hit me square in the chest, and suddenly, I could understand why he was so tortured. My hospitalization must have stirred up past trauma.
“Matteo—”
“Marry me.”
I blinked at him for a full minute before near-hysterical laughter burst past my lips. “They must’ve given me the really good drugs because I thought I heard you ask me to marry you.”
Pinning me with that dark stare, he said, “I’ll let you believe it was a question, when in fact, it’s a demand. I need you to be my wife. They wouldn’t let me back here to see you because we weren’t married.”
Okay, so I hadn’t imagined the proposal, but the motivation behind it wasn’t the least bit romantic.
I arched an eyebrow. “Expecting hospital visits to be a common occurrence?”
A full-body shudder rolled through him. “God no. If I never set foot inside this building again, it’ll be too soon.”
“I’m gonna need a better reason than you not wanting to be denied access during a medical emergency. You were scared tonight, I get that, but—”
“ Ti amo .”
Those two words stole the very breath from my lungs.
“ Ti amo , Summer. Isn’t that reason enough?”
It was impossible to argue with that.
His free hand came up to cup my face, his thumb stroking over my cheek.
“You’ve become a beacon of light as I try to navigate my path in the dark.
I knew you were special the first time I laid eyes on you, but I had no idea how quickly you would embed yourself into the very fabric of my soul.
Tonight, I was faced with the reality of having to live without you, and blinding agony that tore through me at the thought.
Never felt anything that painful”—he shook his head on a wry laugh—“and I’ve been shot before. ”
Wait. Did he just say he’s been shot?
Note to self: circle back to that later.
Throat bobbing on a thick swallow, Matteo repeated his earlier demand. “Marry me. Be mine forever.”
This whole thing was sheer insanity. We’d known each other for all of two months, had only slept together on two separate occasions, our first admissions of love had come within the past twenty-four hours, and even though he protested, this was most likely a knee-jerk reaction after I’d almost died in a house fire.
But as far as I was concerned, there was only one answer.
“Yes.”
Matteo’s eyes widened. “Yes?”
Tears spilled over my lashes and onto my cheeks as I confirmed. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
A stuttered exhale rushed past his lips before he rose from his seat and pressed them to mine in the most tender kiss—a sharp contrast to all the ones that had come before.
“Am I interrupting?” a male voice spoke near the door.
Matteo reluctantly pulled away with a growl. “Yes, actually, you are.”
I shoved gently at his chest. “Come in.”
The man in a white lab coat stepped up to the foot of my bed. “I promise to make this quick.” His gaze swung to Matteo. “If you could please step out—”
“Over my dead body,” Matteo gritted out through clenched teeth.
The scary thing was, I had a feeling he actually meant it.
“It’s okay.” I gave Matteo’s hand a gentle squeeze. “He can stay.”
“Very well.” The doctor nodded. “You were extremely lucky that your injuries weren’t more severe.
As it stands, you’re dealing with a significant amount of smoke inhalation.
We’ll keep you on oxygen during your stay, but you’ll likely deal with shortness of breath until your lungs fully heal.
In addition, you’ve sustained deep second-degree burns on the back of your left leg. ”
That would explain why that leg was currently hovering above the bedding, held up by a sling affixed to my ankle.
“When will she be discharged?” Matteo asked.
“A few days, barring any setbacks in her breathing function or the development of an infection at the burn site. But follow-up care will be required until her skin has fully healed.”
“Can she travel?”
That question had my head whipping around. Travel? What the hell was he talking about?
“What type of travel?” the doctor inquired.
“Air travel.”
The doctor’s head tipped from side to side. “Depending on how soon, I would recommend taking a portable oxygen concentrator.”
“Done. Anything else?”
Kind eyes landed on me. “Your body’s been through a traumatic event. Take the time to rest and let it heal. Don’t push yourself too hard, or you’ll land right back in here.”
“Got it. Thank you,” I said.
The minute we were left alone, I turned on Matteo. “What’s this about travel?”
His thumb rubbed circles over my knuckles. “Do you have a passport?”
“Uh, no, actually, I don’t. Where are we going?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
My mouth parted, and a scoff flew out. “Can’t or won’t, Matteo?”
He fixed me with a look that said, You already know the answer to that .
Head falling back against the pillows, I let out a sigh. “What’s really going on?”
“That’s the problem, Summer. I don’t know what’s going on. And until we can figure it out, I need to get you and the girls somewhere safe.”
“Just me and the girls?” I asked weakly. The mere thought of him sending us away had my throat closing up.
“Do you think, after what happened tonight, I’m going to let you out of my sight for a single minute? We’re all going. Together. As a family.”
Relief washed over me, and my eyes slid closed, exhaustion pulling on me heavily.
“Enzo will secure the documents necessary to leave the country.”
A smile touched my lips. “Is that guy some kind of jack of all underworld trades?”
“Something like that.” Matteo chuckled roughly. “My every wish is his command. If he can’t get something done, he has the right connection to make it happen.”
I was seconds away from sleep when a thought occurred, and my eyes sprang open on a gasp.
Panicked, Matteo shot to his feet, searching my body to pinpoint the source of my pain. “What? What is it?”
“Cookie. Did she make it out?”
Collapsing onto the chair again, Matteo shot a death glare in my direction. “If you weren’t laid up in a hospital bed, I would wring your neck for risking your life for that damn cat.”
“Did she?” I pressed.
He dragged a hand down his face and groaned. “She may have used up one of her nine lives, but the little furball is still on this plane of existence.”
“Good.” My heavy eyelids drifted shut. “That’s good.”
There was the soft brush of lips against my cheek. “Rest now, bella . I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
I liked the sound of that.
Lights from the surrounding skyscrapers filtered in through the windows of the room, where I sat propped up in bed, Matteo’s head in my lap as I carved a soothing path through his thick hair.
The pain meds had thrown off my sleep schedule, making it so that I was practically nocturnal.
I’d been cautioned against taking the sleeping pills prescribed to me because our undisclosed destination was in a different time zone, and staying awake all night would have me ahead of the curve on jet lag.
Matteo, on the other hand, hadn’t slept since the fire. At least that’s what the dark purple circles under his eyes would suggest. It was almost like he was afraid that if he allowed himself to succumb to such an essential human function, I would disappear.
I couldn’t say I blamed the guy. The last time he’d fallen asleep, he had woken to the house being in flames, with me trapped inside.
“I’ve never felt like this before.” His raspy voice cut through the silence.
“Like what?” I continued the rhythmic stroking of my fingers.
“Like my heart exists outside of my body. And it fucking terrifies me. Because once word spreads that I risked my life for yours, my enemies will use it against me. You’ll be seen as my weakness, my Achilles’ heel.
And they wouldn’t be wrong. The things I would do if anything were to happen to you .
. .” He didn’t have to finish that sentence for me to know he alluded to the extreme violence he was capable of.
I frowned down at Matteo. “I don’t understand. You’ve been married before.”
He lifted his head, the darkness of his gaze visible even in the middle of the night. “We were never in love.”
My jaw dropped. “You had two children! How could you not have been in love?”