Page 77 of Broken Princess

Amelia casts him an exasperated glare. "You were shot in the chest. You are definitely not your normal self."

He huffs, but he doesn't say anything more as we reach the steps leading up to the main entrance. I pause as they go inside, watching Amelia as she walks ahead of me. Her dad is still grimacing a little at having to swallow his pride and accept help for what's probably the first time in his life.

She looks back at me over her shoulder and I can't help but smile, even though the expression doesn't reach my eyes. It's been a long week, but it feels like we're finally through the worst of it.

And now, without Milo to worry about, or Natalie and Kayleigh interfering with our plans, the future is wide open.

And we're married. It's still hard to process that. It all happened so fast, but I wouldn't change a thing.

I wasn't the type of person to believe in destiny or fate until Amelia, but I have to wonder if this is what it feels like. Like everything we've gone through has led us to this one moment, where we're finally together and nothing can tear us apart.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but I do know one thing—Amelia is my everything, and as long as we're together, I'll be happy with whatever comes our way.

After some extensive complaining and grumbling, we finally get Miceli to rest upstairs in his room and I find myself settled on the living room sofa with my wife in my lap, running my hands through her silky dark hair.

"I'm so glad he's home," she murmurs, sounding exhausted. "Although I'm not sure how long he's going to rest before he tries to get back to work."

I chuckle softly. "Probably not very long," I agree. "But I’ll be here to make sure he doesn't take on anything before he's ready. The doctor's version of ready, not his."

Amelia smiles and leans in to wrap her arms around my neck, sighing deeply. "Thank you. You sure you don't mind running the family business for a while?"

"I don't mind anything as long as I get to be with you," I say, pulling her closer. "Besides, it's good practice and I won't have my father breathing down my neck the whole time."

"Until we move to your family's place," Amelia says, a hint of anxiety laced in her words.

I know she's nervous about moving, now more than ever, with everything that's going on with her father. "That's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"Oh?" she asks, leaning back to look at me.

"I've been thinking... the original reason they wanted us to move was so you wouldn't have to deal with all the stress of being around Natalie, but she's not here," I say, looking around pointedly. "And I don't think she's coming back anytime soon."

"No, but... what are you saying?" she asks, tilting her head.

"I think we should stay here. For the time being," I answer. "Until the baby is older and your dad fully recovers. I don't want to uproot you when things are still so uncertain."

Her eyes widen in surprise, and I can tell she's pleased with my decision. But something holds her back. "Lorenzo, I... would your parents even go for that?"

"It's not like I can take over full time until I graduate anyway," I say with a shrug. "I'll handle it. Wouldn't be the first time I've fought with my dad over my role."

She smiles a little. "Well... okay. If you're sure."

"I am," I assure her, cupping her face in my palm. I run my thumb along her bottom lip and take a moment to just appreciate her beauty. No matter how many times I wake up next to that face, I'm never going to get desensitized to its perfection.

"What is it?" she asks curiously.

"You," I answer. "You're going to be an amazing mother."

Her cheeks flush with pleasure and she ducks her head, but not before I catch a glimpse of the happiness in her eyes. "And you're going to be an amazing father, Lorenzo," she says quietly.

I hope she's right about that. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make that true. For her, for our baby, and for us. Because the stakes are way too high to fail. Higher than they've ever been.

"I'll talk to my parents tonight," I assure her. "You think your dad is going to go for it?"

"He's going to pretend like he doesn't need us 'babysitting' him, but I think he'll be over the moon," she says, her full lips twitching in amusement.

"Yeah, that sounds like Miceli. Stubborn. Guess you get it from somewhere."

"Oh, hush," she huffs, leaning in to press her lips to mine.

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