Chapter 40 #2
When he finally reaches the bed, he stops beside the chair that has clearly been occupied for days. My eyes drift toward it. Then back to him.
"So..." My voice comes out softer than I intended. "You really stayed."
A faint smile touches his lips. "I couldn't leave."
The answer makes something tighten painfully in my chest. Not because of the words. Because despite everything that had happened between us, despite all the reasons he could have used to leave, he hadn't. He stayed.
"You stayed for three days."
His eyes drift briefly toward the chair beside the bed. "I wasn't a very good company."
A quiet laugh escapes me. "I don't think that was the point."
For the first time, something softer appears in his expression.
"No." He says quietly. "It wasn't."
The man standing in front of me barely resembles the composed extraction specialist who walked into my life. Up close, the exhaustion becomes impossible to ignore. His eyes are bloodshot and there is a heaviness about him that makes him seem older somehow. More human.
"You look terrible."
His eyebrow lifts slightly. "So do you."
"I have an excuse."
"So do I."
Despite everything, despite the pain in my chest and the ache still running through my body, I find myself smiling. For the first time since walking into the room, so has he.
Then the smile fades. "I'm sorry."
The words come quietly enough that I almost don't hear them.
"Nico…"
"No." He shakes his head gently. "Please let me say this."
His eyes lower briefly to his hands.
"I walked into your life for all the wrong reasons. I told myself I had reasons for it. I told myself Marcus deserved it and that somehow that made everything else acceptable." He lets out a slow breath. "Then I met you."
His expression softens.
"You were stubborn and argumentative and impossible to predict. Every time I thought I understood you, you proved me wrong."
A small laugh escapes me. "That sounds familiar."
For a moment, some of the heaviness lifts. Then it returns.
"I should've told you the truth sooner. I should've trusted you enough to let you decide what happened next instead of making that decision for you."
His hand reaches around mine.
"And after Sebastian shot you..." His voice catches for the first time. "I thought the last thing you were ever going to know about me was a lie."
My chest tightens painfully.
"The doctors kept telling me you were stable. They kept telling me to be patient." He shakes his head once. "I didn't care about any of that."
His eyes finally meet mine. "I just wanted you to open your eyes."
The machines beside my bed continue their steady rhythm, filling the silence that neither of us seems ready to break.
Looking at him now, with weariness written into every line of his face, I realize this isn't guilt speaking.
It's fear. The kind of fear that only exists when losing someone suddenly becomes a possibility you can't survive.
I squeeze his hand gently. "Look at me."
He does.
"I understand why you hated dad. I can't forgive him for what he did to Vittorio." Saying the words aloud feels strangely difficult.
"I can't change what happened to you." I continue quietly. "And I can't pretend losing your father was something you should simply move on from."
My fingers tighten slightly around his hand. "But I can forgive you. Because somewhere along the way, this stopped being about Marcus and Vittorio. You stopped looking at me and seeing the person you were supposed to hate."
A small smile touches my lips. "You started seeing me."
For several long seconds, he says nothing. He just looks at me. Then he looks away, and only then do I notice the shine in his eyes.
For perhaps the first time since I've known him, Nico looks completely unguarded. No sarcasm. No carefully controlled expression. No walls left standing between us.
When he finally speaks, his voice is quieter than I've ever heard it. "I love you."
There is no hesitation this time.
"I fought it for as long as I could, but somewhere between Ireland, surviving that island, and sitting beside this hospital bed wondering whether I'd ever hear your voice again..." He lets out a slow breath. "I realized I don't want a future that doesn't have you in it."
The room feels strangely smaller suddenly. Or maybe that's just the tightness growing in my chest.
My vision begins to blur as I look at him sitting beside me, exhausted and terrified and somehow still here after everything we've put each other through.
"It took you long enough."
A quiet laugh escapes him. "I know."
"I was beginning to think I'd have to say it first."
The corner of his mouth lifts slightly. "You probably should have."
Despite everything, I smile. "I love you too."
For a long time, we simply look at one another, both of us trying to come to terms with the fact that the future we'd convinced ourselves we couldn't have is suddenly sitting right in front of us.
Then he leans forward slowly, giving me every opportunity to pull away. I don't.
His forehead rests against mine for a moment before a familiar smirk appears.
"I thought you didn't kiss men hired through auctions."
I raise an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't fall in love with the woman you were supposed to kill."
For a moment, he simply looks at me before a soft laugh escapes him. "Fair point."
And then he kisses me. Softly. As though he's still afraid that if he moves too quickly, the moment might disappear.
For the first time since our paths crossed, there are no secrets left between us. No lies. No revenge. No ghosts standing between us.
Just Nico and me.