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Court noticed. “Just relax. Everything’s fine. It’s all settled. There’s nothing to worry about, we’ve got plenty of time for me to fill you in. I really want you to just focus on your recovery right now.”

I shifted, looking around the sparse room, wincing when a sharp pain flared up my side. “Where are we?” My gaze landed on a bouquet of lilies sitting on the table. “You got me flowers?” I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

“Yeah, baby, I did. And I’ll get you a thousand more. Better yet, we can have a garden.” He kissed the top of my head as I hummed. “We’re at Frank’s compound. They’ve got their own infirmary with a doctor on site.”

When I looked confused, he explained, “They get into enough shit that it’s better if they don’t have to go to a regular hospital. No questions get asked here.”

“Oh.” Sure. That all sounded fine.

Court laughed, and God I’d missed that sound.

“Three whole days?” I was still stuck on that. How fucking bad had it been?

“You lost a lot of blood. I thought—” He sucked in a sharp breath and made a strangled sound in the back of his throat.

That small loss of composure constricted my lungs, clamped around my heart, and I squeezed his hand, then brought it to my lips, placing a kiss in the center of his palm. “It’s okay,” I whispered, pressing my cheek into his hand. “I’m okay, Court.”

He brought his other hand to my face and pressed his forehead to mine. I could feel the slight tremors going through him, and I wrapped my fingers around his wrists. “I’m okay. I’m right here.”

“Fuck, Whitney, I was so scared,” he rasped. “I was so fucking scared I’d lost you.”

“No, I’m too stubborn to die.”

He huffed a laugh. “Yeah, you are that and I fucking love you for it.”

The easy way he gave me words I’d never been given in my entire life shook me to my core, and I started sobbing uncontrollably.

“Shh,” he murmured, cradling my face against his chest. “What’s wrong now? Crybaby. Sexy little crybaby. It’s alright. It’s over now. We’re gonna go home and rest and you’re never allowed to go anywhere again because you’re too reckless. I’ll just shackle you to my bed. How does that sound? Good? Yeah, I thought you’d like that. You’re a freak, just like me.”

I choked on a laugh and blubbered out, “Shut up, you idiot.”

He kissed my head and said, “Yeah but I’m your idiot.” He tilted my face up to his, then kissed the corner of my eye, my cheek, my lips. “I love you, and I’m never letting you go.”

I stared into his eyes, knowing he meant every word. “Even though I’m angry and violent and generally just plain socially unacceptable?”

He chuckled softly. “I love you because you’re angry and violent and exceedingly socially unacceptable. And the way you make me feel…God, Whitney, there’s no one else like you in the world.”

Fuck. My nose was prickling, so I scrunched it. “Can I get some water?” I croaked, clearing my throat. “And a tissue?”

He slid out of the bed and went to a little cabinet in the corner, then came back with a bottle of water and a box of tissues. After I drank the entire bottle and cleaned up my face, Court settled next to me again, taking one of my hands in his and absently stroking his fingers through my hair.

“So what happened?” I asked, lying on his chest. “Thorne’s dead, right?”

“Yeah. He’s fucking dead. So is Tom. Frank and his crew helped us clean up the entire scene and get rid of their bodies. We released the footage of them talking about kidnapping you to the media, so now people will think they’ve gone on the run. And they’ll know what kind of scum he was.”

I nodded. “Good.” I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of his hands on me. “Did I hear an explosion?”

Court laughed, nodding. “Yeah. You did.” He hummed, staring at our joined hands, then said, “Unfortunately it wasn’t us, though. Angelo Rossi’s men were there first and one of them had a fucking grenade launcher.” He shook his head. “They almost hit us with it, but Vincent was able to quickly talk them down.”

He drew a line down my hand with his finger. “If you hadn’t gone in there when you did…we wouldn’t have been able to save Valentina. Thorne would’ve killed her before he ever let her go. And the money—well, there was no money. Not physical, anyway. It was actually a code—a bunch of keywords for all of Thorne’s money, stored in blockchains that he’d hidden in an account with a fake name, and it’s only thanks to you that—” He inhaled, and I could tell just how deeply this whole thing had been affecting him that he couldn’t keep his composure for long. “That Jesse’s gonna get the treatment. He started yesterday.”

The smile he gave me was full of so much love and gratitude, was so devastatingly beautiful, that I wished I could freeze this moment. Keep that image of him looking at me like that forever.

I’d do every last thing again in a heartbeat if it meant the outcome would always be this one.

I had spent a lifetime running, only to fall into this man’s arms.

That darkness that lived inside me would always be there, until the day I died. But now I had someone by my side who could chase it away with a soft touch, or a smile, or a gentle kiss. A stern word, a heavy hand.