Chapter 34
GAbrIELA
“He’ll be okay, Gabi.” Mariella’s voice draws my attention from the entryway I’ve been staring at for hours. “You should try to get some rest.”
“I can’t.” My voice comes out raw. “Not until he’s here.”
“They’ve got this,” Abella tries to reassure me.
How she’s so calm and collected, I don’t know. I’m not used to this the way she is.
I witnessed violence growing up, and sometimes Michael came home with blood on his shirt. But it never affected me like today did. Because today, it was Romeo’s blood that I saw.
He’s out there injured, and I have no way of knowing if he’s alright.
“He was shot.” A fresh wave of tears tracks down my face.
“Rafe took a good look at it,” Mariella says. “It’s just a graze. He’s survived much worse.”
I close my eyes as the memory of the lightning strike assaults me. Seeing his lifeless body on the ground fractured something inside me, and I don’t think it ever healed. I’ll never forget how long those seconds felt, waiting for his heart to beat.
It may have taken him nine years, but he came back to me. This can’t be the way our story ends.
When I think about the last two weeks and how horrible they’ve been, I drown in my regrets. He was miserable, but he was there—because he didn’t want to leave me.
Maybe he’ll never be able to say it, but he’s shown me how he feels in a million little ways. Right now, I don’t care about the words. I just don’t want to lose him.
More time passes as Abella and I hold vigil on the sofa. At some point, Nonna shows up with another tray of tea and cookies, urging me to eat something. I don’t want to, but I choke one down just to focus on something else, even for a few seconds.
Outside, darkness slips away, and dawn arrives. Beppe curls up under a blanket beside me, and I fight the exhaustion weighing me down. I don’t want to succumb to it, but at some point, I do.
Someone taps on my arm, and it jolts me awake.
“Hey. They’re here,” Abella tells me.
I open my bleary eyes to see Cristian and Rafe entering the room first, and I sit up straighter.
Michele comes in behind them, and I don’t miss the blood on their shirts.
It triggers a fresh wave of panic as I glance at Rafe, searching for an answer.
He smiles, nodding over his shoulder as Angelo enters, and then finally… Romeo.
I’m on my feet, charging at him before I can process a single rational thought. I skid into him, and he grunts as he catches me around the waist, peering down at me in concern.
I open my mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a sob.
“Hey.” He shelters me against his chest, kissing the top of my head. “It’s okay.”
“I didn’t think you were coming back.” My voice fractures.
He swallows hard, rubbing my back as he holds me close. “I’m here, and it’s over now. Those men will never hurt you again.”
I tip my head back to meet his gaze. “That’s what this was about? They were after me?”
He nods, and I release a shuddering breath as I realize that he did all of this…because of me.
“Romeo, I—”
“Hey, loverboy.” Mariella glances between the two of us. “Sorry to interrupt the moment, but you need medical attention, and I have to get to bed. So where do you want me to patch you up?”
Romeo’s grip on me tightens, and I suspect he’s going to tell her not to worry about it. So I take matters into my own hands and answer for him.
“Can you do it in his wing?”
She gives me an approving nod as she lifts the bag in her hand. “I’ll get set up.”
She leaves us, and Romeo lingers like he wants to say something, but it will have to wait. I’ve been stressing about his injury all night, and I need Mariella’s assurance that he’s really okay.
I pull away from him and tug on his hand, dragging him along with me. “Come on.”
He doesn’t resist, and I don’t let go.
Beppe follows us through the house, and once we reach his wing, we find Mariella utilizing the private kitchen as her improvised medical station.
“Have a seat there.” She points at the stool at the end of the island.
Romeo hesitates, his hand tightening reflexively around mine. I give him a gentle squeeze and pull away.
He takes a seat, but tracks me with his gaze as I grab a bottle of water from the fridge. I slide it toward him as Mariella tells him to remove his shirt.
He tosses it onto the counter, and I swallow, trying not to stare. It’s been far too long since I’ve felt him, but I can’t let my mind go there right now.
“Are you hungry?” I ask. “Do you want anything else?”
He shakes his head, so I return to his side, wrapping my hand around his uninjured arm. As Mariella examines his wound, he turns to face me, and I lose myself in the depths of his eyes. This morning, they’re warm like honey shot through with gold and heavy with unspoken emotion.
“Just a graze,” Mariella confirms. “I’ll need to stitch you up. I take it you don’t want me to numb you?”
“No.” Romeo grunts. “Let’s just get it over with.”
She gets to work cleaning his arm before she starts stitching him. He doesn’t flinch, even when I’m squeezing his arm a little too tight without realizing it.
“I take it you’ll want a shower?” Mariella asks.
Romeo nods.
“Okay. I’ll apply a waterproof bandage, but you’ll need to change it afterward.” She glances up, pointing to the gauze. “Gabi, you can make sure he puts that on after his shower?”
“I will,” I assure her.
Her eyes dart between us, and she arches a brow at me in question. I give her a look, letting her know I’ll explain later.
“Alright.” She packs up her things. “I have a bed waiting for me.”
“Thank you, Mariella,” Romeo responds gruffly.
“Get some rest,” she tells us. “I’ll check on you tomorrow when I get home from the office.”
I thank her as she leaves, and before Romeo can say anything, I stop him.
“You should get cleaned up, and then we can talk.”
He doesn’t seem to like that plan, and I wonder if it’s because he thinks I’ll leave while he’s in the shower.
Every muscle in his body is rigid with tension, and I’m worried about what he has to say. But for now, I set that aside and focus on the present.
When we reach the suite, I deposit Beppe on Romeo’s bed, and he tunnels his way beneath the covers.
Romeo lingers in the bathroom doorway, watching me, and I can see that I was right. He’s worried that if he gives me the chance, I’ll leave. It doesn’t make much sense, considering I waited for him all night. But the last time we were here, I did leave.
I put his mind at ease when I brush past him and turn on the shower. When I strip off my clothes and glance over my shoulder, I catch him staring at me like he wants to eat me. At least that’s one thing that hasn’t changed.
“Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” he answers, voice rough.
I step beneath the spray and let the water soak into my muscles as I wait for him.
A minute later, he joins me, his presence warming my back, but stopping short of touching me. When I look up at him, there’s a trace of uncertainty in his eyes.
Romeo Vitale has never asked permission for anything in his whole life, but right now, it feels like he’s worried one wrong move might scare me off.
I turn toward him, reaching up to touch his face. When my fingers ghost over his jaw, his eyes flutter shut, and a tremor pulses through him.
My wolf has been starving for this, and I want to feed him.
I slide my hand around to cradle the back of his head, tilting his face toward mine as I press against him. The heavy length of his cock presses against my navel, so rigid it sends a shiver through me.
He hooks an arm around my waist, anchoring me to his solid wall of muscle.
A low groan vibrates through his chest as he takes me captive, and when our eyes meet again, his are dark, hot, and feral with possession.
He dips his head, and our lips collide in a bruising kiss that sends a rush of heat down my spine. His fingers thread through my hair, gripping me roughly as he slides his tongue into my mouth.
I’m drowning in desperation as he backs me against the wall, so caught up in the moment, I almost forget. But when he grabs my thighs to lift me, my concern resurfaces.
“Wait.” I pull free, breathing hard against him. “Your stitches.”
“Fuck the stitches,” he growls.
“Romeo.” I shoot him a pleading look. “Just let me wash you, then we can go into the bedroom. It won’t take long.”
He releases a shuddering exhalation, his forehead dipping against mine. “Okay.”
I reach for the soap and lather it between my palms. Once I have my hands on him, I make a liar of myself because I don’t want to stop touching him.
I explore every inch of his sculpted body, mapping the ink and scars as I memorize them in detail.
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than Romeo Vitale, and I know I never will.
He’s a living work of art, and knowing he’s only ever been mine twists me up inside.
When I trace the lines around the bandage on his arm, a heavy awareness settles over me. The wound sits at my exact height. If he hadn’t shielded me with his body, there’s no question I wouldn’t be here right now.
What else could that be, if not love?
I blink through my tears as I look up at him. His thumb grazes my cheek, and he stares at me like I’m the only thing that exists for him.
“I love you.” The words tumble out, cracked with emotion. “I love you so much, Romeo, and I can’t be without you. If you need me to wait until you figure this out, I will—”
“I don’t.”
A sliver of fear grips my throat as he goes unnaturally still.
“I don’t want you to wait.” His voice frays at the edges.
Panic makes me tighten my grip on him as the speech I prepared bursts out in jagged fragments. “You’ve always protected me. Today was proof of that. You took a bullet for me, and—”
“Fuck, Gabi.” He cradles my head, pressing it against his chest. “I came so goddamn close to losing you.”
The weight of those words and the raw emotion in his voice catch me off guard.
I get the sense he isn’t just talking about what happened today.