Page 77 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

Sophia grimaced and cracked one eye open. Bright fluorescents stung her sensitive retinas. With a little groan, she lifted her head and looked around.

Oh, yeah.

She was in a hospital room, hooked up to wires and tubes. The EMTs had saved her life last night, but her ribs were bruised and one of them was cracked. Breathing was painful. She reminded herself that it was a small price to pay for being alive—repeatedly.

The clock on the wall read two PM. Barely five hours had passed since she’d finally gone to sleep, but she’d refused to rest until she knew Gio was out of danger.

He’d had emergency surgery when they had arrived at the hospital. The bullet hadn’t been in a dangerous place, but he had lost a lot of blood. Enzo had told her that Gio hadn’t even noticed, and none of his security team knew he had been shot.

He could have died. It had been so close, but the cold water of the quarry slowed the bleeding down, enough to allow the doctors to save his life with multiple transfusions.

It was ironic that she’d been in better shape than Gio in the end. In fact, the hospital staff had to negotiate with her to stay in bed while he was under. The surgeon assured her he was just sleeping off the anesthetic, but he still hadn’t woken when she finally collapsed.

In the meantime, Gio’s best friend Alex had blown in, throwing his weight around and shouting at people. Most of the doctors and nurses scrambled to carry out his orders. The rest ran around trying to escape. She was grateful for Alex’s presence. He had made sure the staff would wake her if there was any change with Gio. There was also the added benefit of him interceding between her and the police.

Detectives had come to interview to find out what had happened. She quickly understood that their primary concern was the Italian billionaire’s life, but since it was also her chief concern she didn’t begrudge them their questions.

However, they grilled her relentlessly, making her repeat over and over again what Richard had done. They wanted to know every detail of her history with him. And all she wanted to do was find out how Gio was.

Alex had come in during the middle of all that. He’d shut the detectives down with a brusque commanding presence she’d occasionally glimpsed Gio use when he was talking business. The questions had stopped immediately, the officers cowed by that dominance that must have been innate to the rich and powerful.

Right before the detectives had left, Alex had taken them aside and hissed something with a ferocious expression. It had taken her a minute to realize he was calling for Richard’s head. Alex had looked so intimidating that she’d blurted out an apology to him for putting Gio into danger, stunning him into silence.

“Never apologize for something like that,” he said, his brow creased. “Gio loves you, and he wouldn’t want you to feel guilty for some psycho’s actions.”

“It wasn’t psychotic,” she said, explaining about the stolen research and how Richard would get fired once the truth was out.

“He did this for ajob?” Alex asked in disbelief.

She shrugged. “You’d be surprised what people will do for tenure.”

The handsome Greek man had shaken his head and promised to follow up with the police and Gio’s family so she could rest. But that had been hours ago and she had slept enough. Gio should be awake now and she wanted to see him.

With slow painful movements, she rolled to the side and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She wasn’t hooked up to an IV, but she did have a monitor taped to her finger. Taking it off, she braced herself on the bed, hoping the oversized hospital gown wouldn’t fly open in the back while she hunted down Gio.

Sophia stopped short in the doorway. Alex hadn’t left. He was pacing in the hallway and, for a second, the expression of dismay on his face terrified her until she heard what he was saying.

“No, no. Stay put, Calen, Gio’s going to be fine. Him and Sophia both. You have enough to deal with. How is Maia taking it?” Alex paused and grimaced. “How much blood? Fuck,” he said. “And you said you think her family is involved?” He broke off and saw Sophia standing there. “Listen, I’ve got to go. Sophia woke up. Okay, I will.”

He hung up the phone and gave her a reassuring smile, waving away a nurse who hurried in her direction.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing for you to worry about,” he said, coming closer. “You should be in bed.”

She narrowed her eyes and stared him down—or up. He was a head taller than she was. There was a bit of a standoff for a minute, but Alex soon caved in to her stubbornness.

“Okay, something is going on with one of Maia’s friends,” he explained. “She’s gone missing. Calen wanted to come when he heard Gio is in the hospital, but Maia is frantic and they can’t fly over here.”

“Because they found blood. A lot of it,” she supplied, nodding sickly.

Alex inhaled deeply and held out his hands in a gesture oddly reminiscent of Gio. “I don’t want you to worry about this. You don’t even know the girl. I haven’t even met her. Just focus on getting well again and go lie down.”

Struggling against a surreal sense of detachment, she agreed—but not about lying down. “I want to see Gio.”

“He’s fine—”

“Now, Alex.”

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