My phone buzzes again. I ignore it.
I know it’s probably Scarlett or my family. After the shootout yesterday, I called them so they would hear from me before they flew down themselves.
And sweet Aria, even amid her grief—Blake didn’t make it—she came up and consoled me this morning. Part of me feels guilty for being relieved about Elias when she just lost everything.
The news cycle is vicious, the headlines wild. “Anderson Princess Crossed Paths with Mobster Husband,” “Is It True Love if He Doesn’t Die for You?”
I don’t care anymore.
My body aches—bumps and bruises from the scuffle—but none of it matters. Not when the man inside has been unconscious since they wheeled him into surgery after the SWAT team took control of the scene.
“Gunshot wound to the chest, left side. Hypovolemic shock. Through and through lung shot.”
Words I remember from nurses speaking in hushed tones.
The last twenty-four hours have been the most terrifying of my life.
“But we’re lucky,”as Dr. Hayden, the surgeon, said.
The bullet missed his heart and the major vessels. And because we were already in the hospital, they stabilized him fast.
He should wake up soon.
God, I miss his gravelly voice and brilliant green eyes.
I miss the way he calls me hiszemër.
His heart.
A breath whispers from me as I take the music box out of my bag and flip it open. Dazzling red gems glimmer, a splash of color against the sterile white walls. “Für Elise” tinkles in the hallway.
“He finally gave it to you, huh?” Sofia comments.
I smile. “How long did he have it?”
She frowns, thinking.
“Decades. It was the first thing he got when he cashed in on a secret he overheard while working at a nightclub. Fake ID and all. So he was eighteen, maybe. Around that time.”
Almost twenty years.
He’s been carrying my dream all along.
Sofia traces a petal with her finger. “He’d never let me touch it. I knew then.”
“Knew what?”
Her lips curve up, the smile transforming her normally reserved face. Hints of the exuberant little girl she once was shine through.
“You were it for him. He’s never dated anyone else.”
My heart skips a beat. “No one?”
I look through the viewing window at the doctors hovering over him. A man like Elias Kent, with his money, dangerous good looks, and power, should have no shortage of female attention.
“No. My brother acts like a cold-hearted bastard, but he’s a secret romantic. Faithful and loyal, just like our dad.”
Sofia squeezes my hand. “You stole his heart twenty years ago and never gave it back. But I don’t think he’d have it any other way.”
