Page 109 of The Masked King

“I have to go. Loose end to tie up.” He addresses Enzo. “Stay with Demi. Davide will be outside the room, but the Russians will be out for blood until I get this resolved.”

Enzo nods once. Maybe he understands the cryptic messages, or maybe he trusts his brother to handle it while he protects me. I’m too befuddled to dissect it.

“Demi,” Gio says, jolting me out of the sleepy cocoon threatening to take me away again, “good to see you.”

Then he’s gone.

27

ENZO

“Sleep, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” I raise her hand to my mouth again and kiss her knuckles.

Her eyes are heavy, and I can see her fighting it, her mouth going slack with sleep, and the jolt as she drags herself back to consciousness.

“I don’t want to.”

It’s a lie, and we both know it.

“Demi, we have all the time in the world to be together… if that’s what you want.”

Her eyes grow huge with tears. “It is.” She chews her bottom lip, and I tug it out from under her top teeth with my thumb. “I should’ve⁠—”

“Hey, no should haves and what ifs, okay. Things will be different from now on.”

“Different how?” She smiles, and my insides squirm because she is, and always has been, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, even with the pain causing her to flinch whenever she thinks I don’t notice.

“That’s a conversation for when you’re not floating up there on drugs.” I point at the ceiling.

Demi glances at the door, her eyelids drooping again. “Gio reneged on the coffee agreement. It’ll keep me awake…”

“I can send Davide out for coffee.”

“Will you get it?” she asks, voice drifting. “I’ll doze until you get back.”

I don’t want to leave her, but Gio appointed Davide, the son of our father’s closest confidante, to guard her, and there will be other guards posted around the hospital.

“I’ll be back before you can miss me.”

I lean in and kiss her lips, but she’s already away with the fairies.

It’s been too long since I had the opportunity to study her in slumber. When we were together, my mind trained itself to rouse early, so I could have her all to myself before she woke up. I didn’t realize at the time just how precious those moments were, but I know now, and I’ll hold on to every goddamned one of them.

I kiss her eyelids, noting the fine veins like tiny streams beneath the skin, her soft lips, her top teeth barely visible as her mouth relaxes, the curve of her cheek, bruises turning from purple to green. Then I notice the darker bruises around her throat, and my fists clench.

If I could kill the Russian over and over, every day for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t quench the anger inside me. I don’t know if it was my bullet that finally finished him off in the basement, or Gio’s, but my gut is telling me that this isn’t over, and my closure is yet to come.

“I love you.” I kiss her lips, and she stirs against the pillow, her hair fanning around her face, but she doesn’t wake up. “I’ll be right back.”

Perhaps a walk will do me good, loosen some of the tension in my back and shoulders, and I could use the caffeine buzz to keep me alert.

Davide glances at me when I step outside and close the door behind me with a small click. Not much older than me, he appears to have aged prematurely, his tanned skin heavily creased across his forehead, deep grooves around his mouth.

“I need some air,” I say, keeping it brief.

He nods once. “I’ll be right here.”

Outside the hospital, the streetlamps light the way, creating a golden bubble around those citizens not tucked up in bed. There’s a tiny, family-run Italian café nearby that will still be open at this early hour, serving some of the best pasta dishes and espresso I’ve ever tasted.