Ruthless Vow (Vegas Vicious #2)

27. Nicole

27

Nicole

For what feels like a long time, there’s nothing. No sound, no sight, no sensations. And then, like I’m rising in an elevator slowly to the top floor, I start to become aware again. Not conscious, not yet. Just aware.

I can hear muted voices, but can’t make out the words. My eyelids flutter and through my eyelashes, I can see shadows. The outline of forms, moving around. Coming and going.

It takes time, but the voices start to become clearer, although I still can’t make out any meaning. I hear a steady beeping sound close to me.

The shadows become more defined, and I find that I’m able to open my eyes a little and begin to register where I am.

I’m on a bed. I smell antiseptic and alcohol. There’s an IV pump next to me, a line going into the back of my left hand. The beeping is coming from a heart monitor.

There’s a white blanket covering me. Light streams in from a window, but from my position I can’t see the view. All I know for sure is this isn’t a hospital.

My eyes slide closed. I think I sleep.

When I open them again, I realize that I’m in Leo’s bedroom. The blackout curtains are pulled halfway open, a massive arrangement of bright daisies and orchids on the low dresser.

It’s a weird dream. Why am I in Leo’s bedroom with hospital equipment all around me?

Again, I drift off.

This time when I wake, I feel a warm weight pressed to my side. It takes a minute for me to be able to move my head enough to look down to see that a familiar cat is curled up at my side, sleeping. He’s woken by my movement, and he looks up at me groggily and greets me with a soft “mew.”

“Charlie,” I murmur. “My sweet baby.”

“Nicole.” A shadow looms over me and I turn my head to meet Leo’s gaze. He looks exhausted, dark shadows under his eyes, a few days’ worth of stubble on his jaw. Stubble? Have I ever seen Leo when he hasn’t been clean-shaven?

“Fucking hell, you worried me. Never do that again,” he says.

“I…I worried you?” My tongue feels too big for my mouth and it tastes like an old shoe.

I stare at Leo, confused.

And then everything comes back to me. The engagement party. The note. The cemetery. Seeing Bianca again.

The gun.

“I got shot,” I whisper.

“The bullet was meant for me,” Leo says. “You took the bullet meant for me.”

It was. And I did. It wasn’t even a decision, not a thought, not a plan. I simply acted, putting myself between Bianca’s gun and Leo as if it was the most natural choice in the world. Because it was.

“You nearly died,” he says, his voice raw. “So close, Nicki. So fucking close.”

Nicki. I like the way that sounds. No one calls me Nicki. Leo’s never called me anything but Nicole.

“Where’s my aunt?”

“She’s dead,” he says. “I killed her.”

The answer doesn’t surprise me. I wait to feel a whisper of grief, but there’s only relief.

“Okay,” I say. I don’t ask for details. I don’t want to know, not now anyway.

“When did the hospital release me?” I ask. Why did they release me if I wasn’t even conscious?

“No hospital,” Leo says. “I have a doctor and three nurses here taking care of you around the clock.”

Of course that made sense. Hospitals would ask too many questions, create too much paperwork. If there’s one thing I know about, it’s paperwork.

There’s a flash of movement at the door as Sabina enters carrying a large, colorful bouquet of roses.

“I don’t know what she likes, but I got a bunch of roses,” she says. “Everybody loves roses, right?”

“She’s awake,” Leo says.

Sabina’s eyes widen and she comes to my side, staring down at me.

“Welcome back,” she says.

At this point, I’m convinced I’m dreaming. Why else would Sabina Russo look concerned for my wellbeing?

“I love roses,” I tell her.

“I’m glad. It’s a shit way of saying thank you for saving my brother’s life, but it will have to do for now.”

“Sabina…” I begin, frowning.

“No, save your strength. Seriously. We’re good, okay? That day on the yacht is something I want to forget ever happened, one of the worst days of my life, right after my father’s death, but what you did…what you were willing to sacrifice for Leo.” She draws in a shaky breath. “We’re good.”

My eyes fill with tears and I just nod.

Then Sabina shocks the hell out of me when she leans over and kisses my forehead. “I’ll see you later. Both of you.”

As she leaves, I take note of all of the flowers surrounding my bed.

“It looks like a florist exploded in here,” I murmur.

“There’s an arrangement from everyone—Sabina’s, of course. Damian and Alina. Cassio. Luca. And Dante…he didn’t send flowers, but he brought something else. A very special gift that’s been waiting until you woke up.”

I study his face, frowning. My head is still muddy so I’m not able to put together what he’s hinting at.

At least, not until she enters the room.

She has wavy dark hair and dark eyes, a small nose and full lips. Her coloring is the same as mine as is the shape of her eyes. The last time I saw her was almost two and a half years ago. She’d been seventeen. Now, she’s weeks away from turning twenty.

Sofia, my beautiful sister.

She moves to my side, grasping hold of my hand.

“I missed you so much, Nicole,” she tells me. “I was so scared. I thought you would die and I’d never get to tell you that I always knew you didn’t choose to leave me, no matter what Bianca said. I knew you loved me. I knew you’d find me and come for me. I knew.” She swallows, tears tracking along her cheeks. “And then I got here and you didn’t wake up.” She lifts my hand and presses my palm against her cheek. “But you’re awake now. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

My heart is so full I feel like it might burst. “Sofia, you’re here. You’re really here!” My gaze shoots to Leo then back to Sofia. “Is this a dream?”

“Not a dream. I’m really here.” Her voice catches on an odd sound that’s part laugh, part sob.

“Are you okay? Did Bianca hurt you? It’s been so long, and I never knew where you were, how you were being treated.”

“I’m okay. She didn’t hurt me, seriously she didn’t. I always knew she could, that it was an unspoken threat if I tried to escape. But I’m fine. I’ve just missed you so damn much. And then when I heard that you were shot, I…I was so scared.” Tears spill down her cheeks.

“I know,” I say. I shift my hand, wiping the tears away. “But I’m still here.”

“I love you, Nicole. So much.”

“I love you, too.”

I swallow, wanting to say more, too weak to say more.

“I…uh,” Sofia glances at Leo. “I’m going to let you rest. Leo told me not to tire you out too much. I’ll see you very soon. Just focus on getting better and stronger, okay?”

“Okay.” I watch as she leaves the room. It wasn’t nearly enough time.

I glance at Leo. His expression is intense, his focus wholly on me.

“I don’t want to overwhelm you. I know you need to rest. That just talking to your sister for a few minutes was exhausting. But there are things I need to say.” He pauses and sits in the chair by the bed. “I thought you were dead,” he finally says. “For a minute, I thought you were gone, that I’d lost you. Your heart stopped beating.”

“I’m not dead,” I whisper, wanting to reassure him, to wipe the pain from his beautiful face.

“But you were. And in that moment, I felt a loss unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, a hole the size of the Grand Canyon opened up inside of me. A Nicole-sized hole. You shouldn’t have taken that bullet for me.”

“Leo—”

He cuts me off. “You shouldn’t have taken that bullet. But you did. And you survived. Barely, but you are still here. And that fucking changes everything. It makes everything a lot more complicated for me. And, strangely, a lot simpler.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You’re going to marry me.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

“You’re going to marry me. You will be my wife. You will agree to be mine, now and forever.”

“Your wife?” My head spins. Again, I wonder if I’m dreaming.

“Fuck,” he mutters. “It’s too much, too soon. You’ve only just woken up and I’m in your face about all of this. I’ll let you get some rest.”

“No,” I say. “I don’t need more rest. I’ve been resting for…how long was I unconscious?”

“Three days,” he says, his expression ragged. “Three very long fucking days.”

Three days. That tells me everything I need to know about how severe my injury was, how close to death I came.

But I’m still here. I’m alive, I’m awake. My sister’s been returned to me. Charlie’s at my side. Sabina Russo forgives me for my past transgressions.

And Leo…just told me I’m going to marry him?

“Say it again,” I tell him.

“What part?”

“The part,” I hiss out a breath. “You know what part.”

Leo takes my hand in his. “You will marry me.”

He doesn’t ask it as a question, but I know it is. And for me, there’s only one answer.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“I wasn’t asking.” A smile tugs at his lips, even though his gaze remains serious. Fixed on me, completely on me. He leans over and brushes his lips softly against mine.

“I love you, little wolf,” he says.

“I love you too.”

“Oh, and I also desperately need you to be my executive assistant again,” he says. “Luca is beyond help and it’s literally ruining my life.”

That makes me laugh, and oh my god, it hurts.

“I think we can arrange something,” I tell him. “Just give me a little while to recover from nearly dying, okay?”

“Take all the time you need.”

And then the man I love kisses me again, still so very gently. Anything less than gentle for the future wife of Leo Russo will have wait.

At least for a little while.

But that’s okay, because we have forever.

THE END (FOR NOW)

Thank you so much for reading Ruthless Vow .