Page 26 of Sweet Union
“Thanks to you. I shouldn’t have gone into the house. I should have stayed in the car.”
“As I told you to.”
“I know. But I heard gunshots, and I just needed to know you were ok. When I saw Romeo, I was so scared. I remember feeling this intense pain as the bullet hit me, and then, I was out. I don’t remember anything else. I think it was all black. Did you kill Romeo?”
“No. I had to choose. You or him. I could go after him or save you.”
“You should have gone after him, Luca.”
“Then you’d be dead. I’d never let that happen. I’d choose you a million times over Romeo.”
Tears spring to my eyes. “You mean that?”
He kisses the back of my hand. “I mean that.”
“I’d do the same.”
“Is that why you didn’t listen to me to stay in the car?”
“You know it was. Your safety means more to me than my own.”
He sighs wearily, “And that’s what scares me. I want you safe, Nat.”
“And I want the same for you.”
“I guess we’re both stubborn, then.”
I flash him a smile despite the amount pain I’m in. “You know it.”
We stay quiet for a moment, lost in each other’s.
The Luca speaks. “So, you’re really not going to let kill the good doctor out there?”
“No. She’s innocent. And she’s helped us both.”
“Not of her own free will. She’ll call the police on us again.”
“Probably. But I think it’s time we go back to New York. My dad can help us against Romeo, and you know it. We can’t be on the run, just the two of us like this. It’s too dangerous.”
“I agree. Back to New York City we go.”
* * *
Luca helpsme out of the exam room. As we pass a /. Dr. Ryder, she glares at us.
“Someone will come by to help you,” Luca tells her. “But until then, you’re not getting out of the ties. I’m not loosening them this time.”
“You two are dangerous, bad people who think you’re good. I’d be careful out there. One of you is bound to die at some point.”
“Nice knowing you, doc,” Luca says with a wink as he carries me outside.
Even though Dr. Ryder has a valid reason for hating Luca and me, and I shouldn’t care what she says, her words carry weight.
They ring in my ears all the way back to New York.
Will Luca or I die in the process of taking Romeo down?
Only time will tell.
