Chapter 74 – Remi
Seventy-Four
Remi
Through the narrow window in Mamá’s hospital room door, I watch her sleep.
The bullet missed her heart and the major vessels around it, but it still did enough damage to require surgery. The doctors expect her to make a full recovery, and I’ve heard those words enough over the last three days that I should believe them by now.
But it’s hard when I can see the monitors surrounding her bed and the IV disappearing beneath the hospital gown covering her arm.
Papá stands beside me, his hands tucked in his pockets. He hasn’t left her side for more than a few minutes at a time since she came out of surgery, and even now, his attention never strays far from the woman on the other side of the glass.
The absolute love of his life.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
He turns to me, his brow furrowed. “For what?”
My eyes stay fixed on the window. “Thiago knew about our family because of me. I told him everything, and Elena used it against us.”
“No.”
“Papá, you don’t have to pretend—”
“No. You don’t get to carry this one, princesa.”
“And you don’t get to decide that.”
“No, but I can tell you when you’re wrong.”
I finally look at him.
“Elena came after you because of something I did long before you were born. Thiago gave her a way into your life, but if it hadn’t been him, she would’ve found someone else.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I trusted him.”
“Maybe not.”
“Or that I gave him information that could’ve gotten all of you killed.”
“You told the man you loved the truth about who you are.”
“And he lied to me about who he was.”
“He did,” Papá says with a sigh.
There’s no attempt to defend him, and I’m grateful for that as I turn my attention back to Mamá’s room.
“I saw Elena’s face when she was talking about Gloria.”
He doesn’t respond for a moment.
“I did too.”
“She watched you kill her mother.”
His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t look away from the window.
“Yes. I killed Gloria for money, Remi, and countless others after her. I didn’t know her daughter was there until after it was done, but that doesn’t change what she saw or what I took from her that day.”
I think about the little girl, Elena or Hannah, described standing beside that fountain after making a birthday wish. It’s hard to reconcile that child with the woman who put a bullet in my mother, yet part of me understands the hatred that grew from it. I’d kill for mine, too.
“Elena had decades to decide what to do with that pain, and she chose to come after my family. She chose to use Thiago and to shoot your mother.” His gaze returns to me. “Those choices belong to her.”
“And Thiago’s?”
“Belong to him.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Papi, I still love him.”
“I know.”
“But I’m still so fucking angry.”
“I know that too.”
When I look at him again, a small smile touches his mouth.
“I don’t know what that says about me after everything he did.”
“Loving someone doesn’t mean you have to excuse the ways they hurt you. Don’t let his mistake be another reason to punish yourself.”
I rest my head against his shoulder, and his arm wraps around me.
“You really think she’s going to be okay?” I ask, needing to talk about anything else.
“She’s going to be a pain in my ass for another fifty years.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“Don’t tell her I said that.”
“I’m absolutely telling her.”
He kisses the top of my head then motions down the hall. “Go see Thiago.”
I glance toward his room. I’ve spent the last three days going back and forth between them, sitting with Mamá when she’s awake and holding Thiago’s hand as he sleeps. I’m so exhausted that I sometimes forget which room I’m walking toward until I reach the door.
“He’s still not awake.”
“He will be.”
I look through the window at Mamá once more before nodding. “I hope you’re right.”
“You know I usually am.”
That earns him an eye roll before I push out of his arms and head down the hall.
The steady rhythm of Thiago’s monitor greets me when I return to his room, and each beep reminds me how close I came to never seeing him again. It might be my favorite sound now.
I try not to think about all the nights I fell asleep with my head on his chest, listening to him breathe beneath my ear. Those memories hurt too much when I don’t know what happens to us after this.
I sit beside his bed, my fingers laced through his, tracing slow circles across his knuckles as afternoon sunlight spills through the window.
His bruises have already begun to fade to yellow and purple, but the bandages wrapped around his shoulder and ribs tell me how much healing he still has ahead of him.
Since the chaos at the warehouse, I’ve spent most of that time here, trying to untangle loving him from everything he did to hurt me. I still don’t know what forgiveness looks like for us.
But I know I want the chance to find out.
I lift his hand to my lips and press a kiss to his knuckles, unsure whether he can hear me or even knows I’m here.
The doctors have assured me he’ll wake up soon.
He’s been heavily sedated since surgery to treat the burns on his back and other injuries, while they continue to monitor his concussion.
“You know,” I murmur, “this is getting kind of old.”
Silence.
“You just really enjoy me taking care of you, huh?” I smile, stroking the back of his hand. “No shower for you this time, though.”
A watery laugh escapes me, then catches in my throat.
“But I brought you a lollipop.” I comb my fingers through his curls. “You know...for morale.”
The slightest pressure on my hand makes me freeze.
“Thiago?”
His fingers move again, barely squeezing mine, and a tear slips from the corner of his eye, trailing down his temple.
I’m on my feet in an instant.
“Baby, can you hear me?”
He gives the faintest nod and wets his lips. His throat works through a painful swallow before he tries to speak
“Ch...chama...” he croaks.
His eyes flutter open for only a second, then squeeze shut against the light, but hearing my nickname from his lips after three days nearly brings me to my knees.
“I’m here.” I cup his face, tears already distorting my vision. “I’m right here. Tell me what you need. Does anything hurt? Do you want me to get the doctor?”
His hand lifts unsteadily from the bed, searching until his fingertips find my cheek. He swallows again, gathering enough strength to speak.
“Don’t...” His lips twitch. “Don’t eat my lollipop.”
For a second, all I can do is stare at him before relieved laughter spills through my tears.
“It’s all yours,” I whisper and press a kiss to his forehead. “I promise.”
His tired smile fades almost as quickly as it appeared, and his attention settles on me. “Are you okay?”
Of course, that’s the first thing he asks.
“I’m okay,” I assure him.
He studies me another second, as if he needs proof before he can believe it. “Helios?”
“It’s over. For now. Elena’s dead. The agents at the warehouse who survived were taken into custody, and everything she’d been running outside Helios started coming apart. The building was raided, but not before every database inside was wiped clean.”
That part doesn’t surprise me. Organizations like Helios don’t wait around for someone else to clean up their messes. They erase what they can, disappear, and rebuild somewhere no one knows to look. Whatever name they use next, I doubt we’ve seen the last of them.
I wonder if Elena had something to do with what Rafe knew. With her dead and every record erased, I may never know.
“Everything?”
“Everything. Whatever they had on my family is gone too. They figured out what Elena was doing at the warehouse. The distress call brought SWAT. Helios was already coming after you, and she sent me that picture, knowing my family would follow.”
He glances down at our joined hands. “How did you get past SWAT?”
No more secrets.
“My family still has people they can call when things go bad. Someone got to your unit before they opened fire and made it clear we weren’t the enemy, Helios was. By the time the order not to engage us came through, I was already inside, and my family came after me.”
His eyes close for a moment. “She brought everyone there.”
“Looks that way.”
“Hoping we’d kill each other.”
“Would’ve saved her a lot of trouble.”
His fingers tighten around mine. “You’re safe?”
“Today we are. Whatever Elena built around my family died with her, and Helios has no reason to come after us. But you know how that goes. Cut off one head…”
“Two more grow back.”
“Exactly. So I’m not stupid enough to believe they’re gone for good.”
Thiago releases a long breath before looking at me again. “Your mom, Remi?”
“She’s okay.” My voice trembles, even after I’ve repeated those words so many times over the past three days. “She needed surgery, but the bullet missed anything vital. The doctors expect her to make a full recovery.”
“And everyone else?”
“Everyone made it out.”
Relief softens his expression as his eyes close. “Thank God.”
“You got the warning to Matteo in time,” I tell him. “My family was already getting out when we received the picture of you.”
He smiles. “Then you came for me.”
“Of course I came for you.”
“After what I did to you?”
“I was hurt and angry, Thiago. I still am.”
“That’s what I was counting on. You still being angry, still hating me.”
I frown. “What?”
“When Elena showed me the picture she sent you, I kept telling myself you wouldn’t come because you hated me enough to let me die there.” His fingers clamp more firmly around mine. “I wanted you to because I thought it would keep you away from that building.”
“You really thought I’d leave you there?”
“I hoped you would.”
“You should know me better than that by now.”
“I do.” His thumb moves across my hand. “That’s why I was fucking terrified you’d show up.
The thought of him sitting in that chair, hoping I hated him enough to stay away fucking hurts.
“Well, that didn’t work out so well for you.”
“No, it didn’t.” He swallows. “Remi, I’m so sorry for what I put you through. It kills me to know…”
I shake my head before he can finish. “I know.”
“No, chama. What I did to you was fucked up, and saving your family doesn’t erase that.”
“I know it doesn’t.”
“If you give me the chance, I meant what I said in that building. I’ll spend as long as it takes to earn back what I broke.”
“You already started.”
He goes still, watching me closely.
“I’m still trying to make peace with what you did, and I don’t know how long it will take, but I want to try. I want us to try.”
His eyes shine with unshed tears, full of love and regret.
“I won’t break your trust again.”
“You better not, because next time, I won't miss,” I say with a wink.
Thiago chuckles as he presses a hand to his abdomen. “I love you, Remi.”
The door swings open, and Zara races into the room, with Matteo close behind.
“Zara!” he calls out after her. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“Uncle Thiago!” she squeals, ignoring him completely. “I came to see you.”
She stops so abruptly that her sneakers squeak on the floor as her wide brown eyes take in the bandages, bruises, and the sling supporting his arm, and her smile slowly slips.
“Come here, baby.” I open my arms, and she climbs onto my lap without a word, still staring at Thiago.
“Your Uncle Thiago looks a little banged up right now, but he’s going to heal up soon, just like Aunt Amalia.”
Zara nods solemnly before looking back at him.
Matteo comes to stand beside me and squeezes my shoulder. “It’s good to see you awake.”
Thiago inclines his head. “It’s good to be awake.”
They stare at each other until Thiago finally speaks again.
“Thank you for answering the phone.”
“I almost didn’t.”
“And I wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“You’re still a bastard for what you did to her.”
“I know.”
“But you warned us when you could’ve saved your own ass and disappeared.”
“I wasn’t leaving any of you behind.”
Matteo holds his gaze for a moment, understanding between them that neither of them needs to put into words. Thiago gives him a small nod, and Matteo returns it.
Zara looks between them with a frown. “Are you done?”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Matteo says with a laugh.
Her face brightens as she holds up the picture she’s been clutching against her chest.
“I made something for you.”
The corner of Thiago’s mouth lifts into a smile. “I think that’s exactly what I need to feel better. It’s beautiful.”
She flashes a cheeky grin. “Uncle Thiago, did you save Remi...just like me?”
His eyes find mine before returning to her. “She saved me.”