Page 79 of Ruthless Vow

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 youarestill 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.

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