21. Jaelyn
CHAPTER 21
JAELYN
I put my hand on top of Bruno’s, smiling as his brown eyes flutter open. They meet mine and his lips slowly curl upward as if it even hurts to smile.
“I had to be here when you woke up, to say thank you,” I whisper, giving his hand a little squeeze. “You saved my life with that vest, Bruno.”
He coughs a little and shifts on the bed. “Yeah, well, Serge said to do anything I needed to protect you.” He lifts his hand, pointing at my swollen head. “That looks painful.”
“At least I’m alive to feel it.” My eyes pool with tears, the memory of all of those gunshots exploding into the air and then plugging the Kevlar shirt I had on underneath my own. I was sure in those moments that the shirt wouldn’t be able to withstand the impact and that the bullets would ravage my body.
I’d have resembled Swiss cheese if not for Bruno.
“I will be forever grateful,” I whisper, giving him a kiss on the cheek just as the door creaks open.
“Ahem,” Sergio says, clearing his throat. “So this is how it’s gonna be, huh? What do they call this? Some Florence Nightingale shit?”
I straighten up, grinning at Sergio. “Jealous?”
He walks over to the bed. “Of this guy? Never. How many lives you got left, Bruno? I can count ’em on one hand, bro. And if you get any ideas about taking off with my woman, I can promise that number will go down to zero.”
I let out a snort of laughter. “Oh yeah?” I say, nodding to his arms, both in matching slings. “How exactly are you going to manage that?”
“I’ve got three legs, or don’t you remember?” Sergio says with a wicked glimmer in his ice-blue eyes.
“Oh, right,” I say, walking around the bed. “How very fortunate for you.”
“And you ,” he murmurs, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose.
The door opens again and a nurse rushes in. “Bruno, is everything okay? We heard the alarm go off.”
Bruno looks at us with a wicked smile. “Yeah, I did that. Now get the fuck out of here so I can rest, okay? And if you resist, my friend Nurse Sandy will kick your asses out.”
Sandy flashes a stern look at us and I blow Bruno a kiss before leaving the room with Sergio. “Thank you,” I mouth to him once more.
He gives me a thumbs-up with a half-smile before his hand drops back down to the bed.
We walk out of the room and meander through the corridors to get to the waiting room.
Matteo is huddled in the corner with two police officers, I guess giving them a statement, and Dante jumps up from his chair when he spots us. “Hey, how are they?”
“Nate is still sleeping,” I say. “They said they’d come to get me as soon as he wakes up. And Bruno is good. Thank God.” I shake my head. “If he hadn’t given me that Kevlar, I’d be lying on a slab in the morgue right now. He saved my life.”
“How’s the head?” Dante asks.
“Sore, but hey, I’ll take it. Beats death.”
“Yeah, that’s like my mantra,” Sergio quips, nudging me closer the best way he can since he doesn’t have full use of either arm.
I look around the hospital. There’s crime scene tape everywhere. Turns out the cops had been detained on their way over here earlier. A car bombing a few miles away took them off-course, giving Becerra enough time to take over the hospital without any outside interference.
Of course, he didn’t anticipate that Sergio would turn out to be more detrimental to his cause than the authorities.
I look around at the people sitting in tight groups, fear etched into their faces.
I don’t blame them.
It’s the same type of fear I’d lived with since fleeing Miami.
But it’s a fear I can finally bury with all of the other useless emotions that came along with it.
We’ve officially closed the book on Becerra and the Bowman family.
And we can finally breathe again.
Matteo walks over to us, running a hand through his hair with his good hand since his other one is hanging in a sling that matches Sergio’s.
“Did you finish with the cops?” Sergio asks. “Feed ’em some bullshit to chew on?”
He nods. “Yeah, I gave them my story about how we ended up on Becerra’s radar, that they didn’t like the fact that Nate picked us over Becerra as a partner for the Sapphire Lounge. It’s why they shot him at the hotel and why they came here to finish the job. We just did our civic duty by defending our new partner with our legally obtained firearms.” He winks at me. “Don’t worry, I conveniently forgot all about the Miami connection.”
I grin. “Thanks.”
“Crazy shit,” Sergio mutters. “Can you believe Becerra actually thought he was gonna use us to get into the syndicate? That was his fucking play, not revenge. It was always about the money.”
“Not for the other Bowman brother,” I mutter.
“Hey,” Sergio says, nuzzling my ear with his lips. “You don’t have to worry about him or the rest of them ever again. It’s over, babe. Really and truly over.”
My shoulders sag. “I know. I just can’t believe it. We’ve lived this for so long, it’s hard to imagine that it’s all finally in the past.”
“If you live this life, you’ll find out very quickly that there’s always a new enemy hanging around in the shadows, just waiting to pop out with a machete,” Matteo says with a snicker.
“Ugh, no machetes,” I groan, burying my head in Sergio’s chest. “But I can handle the rest.” I sneak a look up at Sergio and smile.
“Oh yeah, you’re definitely ready,” he murmurs.
“Miss Torres?” A pretty brunette rushes over, a smile on her freckled face. “Your brother is awake and asking for you.”
I gasp, flashing a smile at the guys. “I’ll be back!”
I follow her into the recovery area for the emergency surgery wing and run right up to my brother’s bed. “Nate! Oh thank God, you’re awake!” I grip his hands, pressing them to my lips.
“Your head…you’re hurt?” He makes a funny noise as he shifts slightly on the bed. “What the fuck happened?” he mutters. “I heard the nurses and doctors talking about some attack?”
“Oh, wow, that’s a loaded question.” I let out a sigh before giving him the rundown of what happened while he was under anesthesia.
“Fuuuuck,” he breathes once I get to the end. “Jae, you could have been killed.”
“You, too,” I say, a gaggle of tears clogging my throat. “But thank God, we’re both okay. The doctors were able to finish your surgery and Bruno saved my life. They were looking down on us, Nate. Mom and Dad. I am a thousand percent sure of it. They protected us, just like they always tried to do when they were alive.” One tear slips down the side of my cheek. “They made sure we would still have each other. I love you so much, Nate. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.” My head falls onto his arm and his fingers ruffle the top of my hair.
“Stop crying,” he croaks. “I’m never leaving you, Jae. I will always be here to watch over you and keep you safe.” He clears his throat. “But I won’t be the only one with that job, will I?”
I raise my head, a small smile tugging at my lips. “Well, first of all, I am very capable of taking care of myself.”
“As evidenced by the grapefruit-sized lump on your head,” he grumbles.
I roll my eyes. “Okay, that aside, I’m pretty damn tough in case you haven’t noticed.”
“So tough that you got yourself kidnapped by a fucking mafia goon who probably can’t even add two plus two.”
“He’s a little jagged around the edges,” I muse. “But I like it rough.”
Nate groans, holding his side. “Don’t ever say that again.”
I giggle. “Oops, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, it’s true, but?—”
“No more!” Nate growls.
I smooth back his hair. “He’s an acquired taste for sure.”
“Great, that’s what people say about sushi. Why the fuck would I keep trying something I hate?”
“Because I…” I pause. I what? Lust him? Like him? More than like him?
All of the above?
There is one thing I know for sure. Sergio Villani came into my life for a reason. And whatever the reason may be, I’m not letting him go.