He grins. “Yeah, I’m not much of a pretty boy now.”
Despite the circumstances, I laugh.
“How long have I been here?” I do remember coming too once before and being in this hospital, but it’s so blurry I don’teven know if it’s real. Judging by the darkened bruise on Nico’s face, I had to have been here at least a day or two.
“A day and a half. Not too long. How’re you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been run over.” I try to sit up but wince. Nico helps adjust me in the bed so I’m not lying down. Once I’m situated, he takes his place back on the edge of my bed.
“You suffered a broken leg, a concussion, two fractured ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Not to mention the drowning.” The way his jaw tenses when he mentions the drowning tells me that was hard for him. I barely remember the fall into the water.
“How’s Jake?”
I wasn’t the only one who was in that car that awful day.
The grin falls from Nico’s face. “He’s stable, but still has a long recovery ahead of him.”
I shut my eyes, fighting tears. Jake has become like family to me. I couldn’t even begin to think of him losing his life. And to think, it all stemmed from my fake client. Just the mention of them had me opening my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I say, as I think back over everything that happened.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because of me, you lost everything. I should’ve fought harder or tried to get away.”
He’s shaking his head. He grabs my unbandaged arm and brings it to his lips.
“You think I care about that money? Angel, I would’ve given my sister my life to keep you safe. Hell, I’d give up the rights to my hotels to have you right here with me. That decision was easy for me.” He looks down and then back up at me.
“When I got out of that hellhole, my only goal was to rebuild everything my uncle stole from me. I surpassed that long ago. But you know what I figured out about revenge? It’s never filling. No matter how satisfying it is, it can never nourish you.
“It wasn’t until I laid eyes on you that night at the club that I felt fulfilled for the first time. When you said I do on our wedding day and when you gave birth to my son, those are the things I found that gave me the most satisfaction. Baby, I will walk through this world penniless before I ever take a step without you.”
This. This is why I fell in love with this man. Nico has shown me, even in the beginning, that he has always cherished me. Even the way he went about getting me tells me I am important to him. He’s shown me how much he values me in every way that he knows how. I don’t know why I ever questioned this man.
“I love you,” I admit with a watery gaze.
He presses his lips to mine in a gentle kiss. There is no pressure or tongue, just my lips gently touching his. He exhales against my mouth before leaning his forehead to mine.
“I love you so fucking much.” He breathes the words out.
“I want you to know that we’ll be okay,” I say, leaning back so I can look into his eyes. “I’ll start taking more clients, and we can sell the house. We don’t need that big of a home. And I can….”
His laughter cuts me off. Nico laughs as if I’ve just told a hilarious joke. He sits back on the bed, still holding my hand.
“What’s so funny?”
He shakes his head. “Tiff, we’re not broke.”
“I mean, I know that.” I shrug.
I’m assuming he still had all his assets and net worth, but let’s not act like she didn’t clear his bank account.
“But she still took a lot of money.”
He waves me off. “As of twenty minutes ago, every dime I gave her is now back in my bank account. Plus the measly hundred thousand she already had.”
Now I’m confused, my face is scrunched up to show it. “I don’t understand.”
