“Someone’s happy to be back.”
“Happier now that I see your beautiful face,” I say, waiting for the inevitable blush. And my God, is it pretty.
Stella stayed by my side the entire time I was in the hospital, and I must say it was quite indulging to have herspoon-feed me my meals. Not because I couldn’t pick up a fork, but because she wanted to make sure I ate well and built up my strength before I tried escaping again.
“Are you sure?” she says. “I mean, I’m the one who kept you there in the clinic.”
A smirk forms on my face. “You keep a better eye on me than Franco.”
She smiles, hiding laughter behind her hand. “You tried to force him to get you your car.”
I laugh too. “Touché.”
I approach my cabinet and pull a certain necklace with the ring she discarded from a little treasure box. Her eyes fixate on the ring, and I hold it out in front of her.
“I had it fixed by a jeweler.” I pause. “I don’t have the right to put this back onto your neck or your finger, but it will always be yours.”
She blushes and reaches for it, then puts it back on her neck herself, and I couldn’t be more proud.
“I’m sorry I threw it at you,” she says.
I shake my head. “No, you were right. I deserved your anger.”
Her mouth tips up into a smile. “Thank you for keeping it safe. It does mean something to me.”
Something.
I’ll take it.
Something is better than nothing at all.
Stella
“I’m happy you feel that way.” Matteo’s face erupts into a smile so handsome it makes my knees weak. “There’s actually something else I wanted to give you.”
I frown, confused. “What do you mean?”
He reaches into his drawer and pulls out a phone. And not just any phone. Mine. “Wait. You kept it there all this time?”
He nods. “You were so eager to run away from me, I couldn’t risk it, but at the same time, I knew I needed to give it back to you someday.”
He holds it out to me, and I take it from his hand.
“I trust you, Tesoro.”
I pause as the words resound in my ears.
He trusts me?
“You saved my life.”
So that’s why he’s giving it back. He must think I will never betray him now that I’ve shown him I care for him.
I gulp as I take back my phone and smile, my feelings one bungled-up mess twisted inside my chest. I wish I knew what to do, what to think, how to react to all of this.
I turn around and open my phone, swiping through my things to check, but nothing has been altered. It’s exactly the way it was back when he took it from me.
I open the contacts list and instinctively stop at the 911button, pausing to stare at the idea of calling for someone to take me out of here while I bite my lip so hard I begin to bleed. As my thumb hovers over the button, I suck up the droplet, then glance at him over my shoulder.
