Page 96 of The Devil's Pawn

“She died,” Chiara adds. “But I had her. I loved her. And the time we had, was our time. So it’s okay. Don’t feel bad. Shewasamazing.” Her hand is back on my knee, holding me reassuringly.

I lift my head, finding kindness in every facet of her expression.

“I wish you’d had a mom like that too,” she says.

Tears well in my eyes. My heart is surrounded by a bout of emotion, squeezing at me from all sides.

“I’m so lucky I have you.”

“I’m lucky too.” She smiles softly. “As people, we tend to see the world in all its negativity, but I’ve learned to see all the good instead. And you’re one of the good things.”

She gently circles her arms around my neck, and mine come around her, clutching tight. My cousin. My sister. My friend.

“Ow, shit,” I mutter as one of the wounds on my upper arm burns.

“Damn it. I’m sorry.” Her face contorts with horror as she practically jumps off of me.

“It’s okay.” I brush it off. “I’ll be fine. I can’t wait to go home tomorrow.”

“With Dante?” She sits back down on the chair, wagging her brows.

“Duh. I don’t think he’d let me get my own place in my condition, even if I wanted to.” I pause, staring absently and missing him. “And I don’t want to. I mean, wearemarried.”

“Wow, someone’s got it bad.”

“Speaking of, how are you and Dominic? Or Dom, I should say?”

“Hot. Amazing.” She stares dreamily at me. “God, that man…who knew? And those ties….”

She bites into her lower lip as her head falls to the back of the chair.

“Umm…okay. So when are you planning on telling me what happens with said ties?”

She peers back up at me. “Probably when you’re well enough not to bust your stitches?”

“I don’t havethatmany.”

Her shoulders reel with a laugh, and then she fills me in on all the ways he likes to…uh, enhance their sexual experience with his work ties. She tells me everything, going back to how it all began from the time they were little.

We spend a while talking, and it’s nice to have her back with me after thinking I’d never see her again. But here we are, forgetting about our past, at least for now, and focusing on the present.

The past will always be there, and the future is buried in the unknown, but the present is what we live for. And I’m here. Living, fighting for every moment and every breath, and never taking it for granted.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

DANTE

“I lovethat you want to take care of me,” Raquel murmurs, her breath wafting against my neck. “But I can walk, you know.”

She nuzzles closer with a yawn. Her arms are wrapped around my neck as the tip of her nose rubs up and down right below my ear.

My cock hardens while my eyes drift closed. I want inside her so badly, I almost forget she only got home from the hospital earlier today.

“I know you can walk all by yourself,” I groan hoarsely. “But this is a lot more fun.”

“You’re not wrong.” She sighs with contentment. “Where are you taking me?”

“Upstairs. To sleep,” I clarify.

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