DAISY!
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. I ripped the electrodes from my chest and forced myself upright, ignoring my muscles’ screams of protest. Someone had shot me, and she… She was at the mercy of my enemy.
I had to get out of there. Now.
“Camillo!”
My eyes snapped toward the sound, and the relief I felt nearly knocked me back down. There, in the doorway, she stood watching me. Her brow was furrowed and that hair I loved so much was pulled into a braid. There was no sign of blood on her, no visible wounds.
The woman I loved was safe and sound.
The woman I loved…
I lunged out of bed and she rushed to meet me. I immediately pulled her into my arms, crushing her against my chest.
“Dolcezza…” I gasped, and the tears finally came, thick and hot.I had almost lost her. “Dolcezza, are you okay?”
Her small, gentle hands rested on the bare skin of my back, and her laughter vibrated against my chest. “That’s what I should be asking you, isn’t it?” she said. I stepped back just enough to look at her, to see her face up close. There were still faint marks from her injuries, but they were healing. I stroked her hair, loosening it from the braid. “I thought I’d lost you, Camillo.”
“How long was I out?” I asked, pulling her back into the safety of my embrace.
That’s where I wanted her. Forever. But wanting wasn’t always enough, and I knew it all too well.
“Over a week. It was… horrible.” She wriggled out of my arms and wiped away a few tears that betrayed her composure. “Lie down. You’re not fully recovered yet.”
Before I could protest, she pushed me down with her small hands and I yielded. I let her cover me and reattach all those monitors to my chest.
She was the only one who mattered, and she was alive. Safe and sound.
I studied her face. The way her eyes were now shadowed with exhaustion. Only Dio knew how much I would give to keep her here, by my side, forever. There was nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to grow old by her side. But no one simply walked away from The Life. I would be a mafioso until the day I died, and Daisy was too pure for my world.
“I need to know…” I murmured, exhaustion and desolation weighing heavily on me. “I need to know what he did to you.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and took one of my hands in hers. I realized she was still wearing the Vicari women’s ring, and my heart tightened.
It had always been hers and would remain so. The famiglia Vicari tradition would end in her hand.
“Nothing more than what he showed you on camera,” she admitted, and suddenly her peridot eyes looked away from me,drifting off into the distance. “I killed him, Camillo.” My eyes widened. “I killed them all.”
“What…?” I whispered, unable to comprehend what she was telling me.
“Cissio Accorinti. Antonio Palumbo. The woman… and the children, too. I shot them all.” She paused for a moment, letting out a heavy sigh. “And I don’t regret it one bit.”
I shut my eyes tight. My Mamusia’svoice echoed in my mind:‘But will she be able to be terrible when necessary?’
I took a deep breath and placed a hand on her waist. “Ti amo, dolcezza.”
To my surprise, she gave me a sharp, sidelong glance. “I just told you I killed three children, Camillo, and you’re professing your love?”
I laughed, my heart racing and the beeping of the monitors filling the room. Ah, my Piccola Furetta.
“Well, I’m not innocent of that crime either.”
She snorted. “You had your reasons. I would have done the same.” She looked at me, dead serious. “I did the same, in a way.”
I sighed and pulled her toward me, feeling her brief resistance before she finally lay down. Her scent of strawberries and chamomile soothed my soul. “My world ended when I realized they had you,” I admitted, running my fingers through her hair. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”
She nestled closer against me. “I… I thought it was you… That my time had come.” Her tearful voice broke something inside me, and I held her even tighter.