Page 94 of Guarding Bristol

“Okay,” he croaked.At least he was still alive.

“Do you remember what happened?”She withdrew the thermometer to check it.The reading must have been normal because she didn’t say anything about it as she made a note in his chart.

The boat.Barros.Leandro and Hawk coming at them.The bullet.

Searing pain.The icy shock of the water.

“Who...who pulled me out?”he managed.His throat was dry and sore.He guessed either from nearly drowning or the intubation during surgery.

A shadow fell over him.

He turned his head on the pillow, blinked up at Barros.

“Hey, man.Good to see you.Glad you’re gonna be okay.”

“Hey.What...happened?”The last thing he could remember was sucking in that last mouthful of water on his way down.The certainty that he was seconds from dying.

“I grabbed you right after you went under.Then the Coast Guard pulled us out.”

It was still so hard to believe it was real.That he was still here.But fear gathered in his gut.“So what happens now?”He wasn’t cuffed to a railing.Maybe that was a good sign.

“It depends.”

“Did they get Hawk and Leandro?”

“Not Leandro.But Hawk’s dead.”

He’d shot him.He wasn’t sorry.But he was deeply sorry that he was facing life in prison for all the lives he’d taken.“Liana.My wife.”

“What about her?”

“Promised her.”He was so damned weak.

“Promised her what?”

Nico held back the rest of it.But he needed help.Needed Barros to understand.“Have to get her help.”

Barros was watching him closely.Nico looked past him, fixed his gaze on a cabinet on the wall marked with a red cross.He stared at it pointedly for a second before looking back at Barros.Barros followed his line of sight.

“Gotta get her help there,” Nico repeated.

Barros turned back to him, frowning.“Yeah, we’ll help her.”He glanced over his shoulder toward the door and nodded at someone.

The doors opened, and an instant later, the most beautiful sight in the world appeared.A nurse pushing Liana toward him in her chair.Her eyes red from crying, but a smile wobbling on her lips.

He reached a hand out for her.She grabbed it, squeezed it between her own.“Li...,” he whispered, his throat closing up.He didn’t know what to say.Didn’t want to tell her all the terrible things he’d done, or for her to know she was married to a contract killer.

“Baby,” she whispered, leaning over to cradle his face in her hands and kiss him.

Tears burned the backs of his eyes.He buried his hand in the nape of her neck, holding on tight.

“I’ll let you two have some privacy,” Barros said.

Nico looked up at him.How much did she know?Had they told her anything?

Barros darted him a warning frown and shook his head slightly.“She knows you were on a job when you were shot and wound up in the water.”

“I’m so glad you’re still here,” Liana choked out.

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