"Hey. Hey." Bruno moves closer. His hands cup my face, thumbs brushing away tears even as more fall. "Don't cry. Please don't cry. You're safe now. Both of you are safe."
But I can't stop. The fear I held back in that basement, the terror I refused to show Scarface, the desperate hope I clung to while waiting for Bruno to find me—it all comes pouring out in ugly, gasping sobs.
"I was so scared," I choke out. "I thought—I thought I'd never see you again. I thought our baby would?—"
"Don't." His voice breaks. "Don't say it."
I look up at him through blurred vision and freeze.
Bruno is crying.
Tears track down his face, cutting through the exhaustion and the blood and the hard mask he always wears. His jaw trembles. His shoulders shake. He's crying.
"I'm sorry." The words burst out of him like they've been trapped too long. "I'm so fucking sorry. I should have protected you better. Should have had more guards. Should have been there myself instead of letting you go alone. You were in that basement for hours and I couldn't find you fast enough and they hurt you—they hurt you because of me?—"
"Bruno—"
"And the other night." He talks over me, the words tumbling out faster now, desperate and raw. "When you told me you loved me. I didn't say it back. I kissed you and I held you but I didn't say the words because I'm a fucking coward who doesn't know how to—I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to be what you need. I've spent two years pushing everyone away and then you showed up and you wouldn't leave and you made me feel things I thought I'd never feel again and I?—"
His voice cracks. He presses his forehead against mine, his tears mixing with mine on my cheeks.
"I love you." The words come out broken. Shattered. "I love you so much it terrifies me. I love you more than I've ever loved anything in my entire miserable life. And I almost lost you. I almost lost both of you because I was too slow, too weak, too fucking broken to keep you safe."
"You're not broken." I grab his face, forcing him to look at me. "You found me."
"I'd crawl through fire for you." His hands tighten on my face. "I'd burn down the whole fucking world. I'd kill everyone who ever looked at you wrong. I'd—" He stops, choking on the words. "I'd do anything. Anything. Just please don't leave me. Please don't take our baby and go. I know I don't deserve you. I know I'm not the man you should have married. But I can't—I can't do this without you anymore. I don't want to."
I kiss him.
It's messy and wet and tastes like salt from both our tears. His hands shake against my face. My fingers tremble in his hair. We're both broken and crying and clinging to each other like the world might end if we let go.
"I'm not going anywhere," I whisper against his mouth. "I love you. I chose you. I'm staying."
He makes a sound that might be a sob or a laugh or both. His arms wrap around me carefully, mindful of my injuries, and he buries his face in my neck.
"I love you," he says again, muffled against my skin. "I love you. I love you."
He keeps saying it. Over and over. Like he's making up for every time he didn't say it before. Like he needs to fill the silence of all those months when he pushed me away.
I hold him while he falls apart in my arms.
Bruno
I hold her until my arms ache. Until the tears dry on both ourfaces. Until the trembling in her body finally stills.
She's alive. Our baby is alive. Nothing else matters.
Antonella shifts against me, her fingers tracing lazy patterns on my shoulder. Her breathing has evened out, but she's not sleeping. I can tell by the way her body stays tense, alert.
"Bruno?"
"Hmm?"
"At the basement." She pauses. Her hand stills on my shoulder. "When you came through that door. I thought I saw?—"
She stops. Shakes her head slightly.
"What?" I pull back enough to look at her face. "What did you see?"