Keeping My Bride by Angela Snyder

Chapter 65

Verona

WHEN I OPEN my eyes, I see Luca standing a few feet away from me. He’s dressed in a black suit with his back turned towards me. I blink rapidly, trying to get rid of the hallucination, but he stays there. And when he turns to look at me, I realize he’s real and not a figment of my imagination at all.

“Verona,” he says my name, his voice gruff and strained.

A sob rips out of me as I jump up from the chair and run towards him. That’s when I notice that the one sleeve of his jacket is merely draped over his shoulder, and that there’s a sling, holding his injured arm to his side. “What are you doing out of bed?” I ask, confusion and panic setting in all at once.

“We’re going home.”

“But the doctor said you needed some time to recuperate,” I argue.

He reaches out with his good hand, and I take it without hesitation. He pulls me to him, holding me tight and breathing in my scent. “I’m okay. I promise. I’ve taken bullets before and spent less time than this in bed.”

I hate that he’s been hurt in the past, and I hate that he finds it necessary to always be so strong when he doesn’t need to be. Not with me.

“Let’s go home,” he tells me before kissing my crown.

Benito opens the basement door, and tells me as we walk through it, “Don’t worry. We have a nurse on staff at the estate. She’ll keep an eye on him.”

That makes me feel better, but only slightly. I don’t think I’ll be able to fully relax until Luca is one hundred percent recovered. And even then, I’ll still continue to worry about him. We live in a dangerous world, and Luca has many enemies. But at least one of them is dead now.