“I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
“Get some sleep. You look beat.”
“Thanks, Caleb. For having my back tonight and for going after him when I couldn’t.”
“You’d do the same for me.”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Look after your woman. We’ll talk in the morning.”
The nurse is coming out of my bedroom when I approach. “She’s still sleeping, but all her vitals look good, Don Accardi.”
“Thank you, Lucille, and please call me Joshua.”
“She’s a fighter. Try not to worry. Good night, Joshua.” The older woman pats my arm as she moves out to the living room.
I slip into my room and stare at my love, hating to see her so battered and bruised. Lighting is low with only one table lamp turned on, but I can see still the damage that bastard inflicted. Her face is swollen and almost unrecognizable. One eye is almost completely shut. And there is heavy bruising and grazed skin on her right temple and cheek. Her lips are cracked, and fingertip marks are evident around her throat. A large bandage covers the mess he left of her arm, and I imagine her ribs are strapped up under the blue nightdress Mom dressed her in. Ijust want to cocoon her in my arms and wrap her in cotton wool so no one can hurt her ever again.
I grab a quick shower and dry off in the en suite bathroom before pulling on cotton pajama pants and a white T-shirt.
I ease under the covers beside Gia very slowly and quietly so I don’t wake her. Although I want to pull her into my body and hold her close, I resist, knowing it could wake her and she’s in pain. She also has a drip in one arm, hooked up to a machine. Turning on my side, I look at her, my heart so full of love it feels like it might burst.
I almost lost her tonight, and it put so much into perspective.
I need to tell her I love her so she never doubts it.
And as soon as the time is right, I’m proposing.
We may not have been a couple for long, but when you know, you know.
Gia is the one, and some day, soon if I have my way, she will be my wife.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Gia
Iwake a few times during the night when the nurse comes to top up my medication, but I’m barely conscious. It’s only when I fully wake the next morning I become aware of Joshua sleeping beside me. His hand is extended toward me in slumber, but he’s too far away, and I need his arms around me.
It hurts when I move, and I have to be careful with the drip in my arm, but I scoot sideways on the bed, ignoring my pain in a bid to get closer to him. His eyes pop open with the movement of the bed. “Hey,” I whisper in a hoarse voice, setting my hand on his T-shirt- clad chest. My vision is blurry in my swollen eye, but I can see him clearly with my other.
“Gia.” Emotion swims in his eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” I tease.
“Don’t joke. You nearly died last night, Gia. If I hadn’t made it in time, I?—”
I press my fingers over his lips to stop him. “But you did. You saved me, Joshua. We’re both alive, and that’s what we should focus on.” My eyes narrow as the events of last night replay in my head. “Please tell me you got him. Please tell me he’s in your bunker waiting for me to torture and kill him?”
“I wish I could, but he’s in the wind. Caleb took a team, and they combed the area for hours, but just like the night they stole the drug shipment, it’s as if he’s vanished into thin air.”
“What about O’Hara’s man? Did you find his body.”
He nods. “He was at the warehouse, riddled with bullets. Diarmuid took possession of his body last night, and they’ll give hima good send-off. His words.”
“I want to attend his funeral. He died so I could escape.”
“We’ll both go. I’ll get the details.” His gaze rakes over me. “How much pain are you in?”
