Page 104 of Beautiful Devil

“We're going to unpack everything you just said, but let’s get something straight. This is theonlyplace that Iwantorneedto be right now. I don’t know who put that crazy idea in your head that I’d rather be elsewhere, but they’re wrong. I won’t be able to let you out of my sight ever again after what just happened.”

Tears slip down my cheeks, and I can see something reflecting in his eyes back at me, but that can’t be because it almost looks like love, and Fabi doesn’t love me. At that realization, more tears begin to fall.

He wipes them away and looks directly into my eyes when he says so softly, “Who hurt you,dolcezza? Who put those irrational thoughts in your head to make you feel this way? I’ll kill whoever it was. Tell me,amore mio.”

I want to laugh and cry at the same time becauseheis the one who hurt me and put these thoughts in my head. But as much as I’m hurting, I don’t want to see him in pain.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. When I open them back up, Fabi is still looking intently at me, patiently waiting for me to answer. That's odd. I’ve never seen this man ever be patient. Shaking that thought out of my head. It’s now or never.

I open my mouth and reply meekly. “You.”

He drops his hands from my face as if I’ve burned him and physically recoils back. His entire demeanor changes and his face is a mix of anger and…hurt.

I’vehurthim?

He takes a couple of minutes to look at me before clearing his throat and answering me.

“Me?Dolcezza, how have I hurt you?” he asks in disbelief.

Okay, now he has me doubting what I overheard with the look he’s giving me.

No, Gia. Don’t do that. You know what you heard.

As I replay his words in my head, I’m getting angry all over again. The tears quickly dry up as I repeat what I hope will be the last time I will ever have to utter these words.

“Yes,you. You said, and I quote, ‘I married her to get one up on thestronzo,Dante. I married her for business. She’s a good fuck, but not someone that’s made for this life and not someone that’s made for me.’”

His face falls, and he looks visibly upset and remorseful. I shake that thought right out of my head, because no way the infamous Don Moretti is remorseful.

“Dolc—”

I hold up my hand and cut him off before he can give me some lame ass excuse and let me down gently with the whole “it’s not you, it’s me” speech. I’d rather be kidnapped again before listening to that speech.

“Don’t, Fabi. I get it. We come from two different worlds, and I was just a means to an end for you. You got what you wanted, but don’t keep up this act, okay? I’m a big girl. I can take being turned down. I assume you already have the divorce papers drawn up and you’ll expedite it just like you did mine and Gallo’s divorce? Just hand them over. I’ll sign them so you can be on your merry way, and I can go home to my shitty apartment.”

I hold my hand out as best as I can with the IV in, but I’m met with nothing. I look up to see complete anger on his face now, directed atme. He gets so close to my face, I can feel the words he’s speaking against my own lips.

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, woman, but I’m not going anywhere now orever! When we said ‘I do,’ that was it for me! I told you before, and I’ll continue telling you until my dying breath if I have to. This is a real marriage. We’re not getting divorced. You’re stuck with me until one of us dies because I fuckinglove you, Gia! Can’t you see that? Do you really think I would have searched all over for you and come after you if I didn’t? You think I did that because I want a fucking divorce? Don’t you think I would have just left you with Dante and let him kill you if that’s what I wanted? When we realized Dante had his men hack my security cameras, I was ready to burn this city to the ground to get you back.”

He gets up and starts to pace around the room. I have never seen him act this way before, but if I’m being honest, he makes a valid point. Why not just let Dante kill me if that’s how he really felt? But the fact that he thinks Dante is the person who hacked his system does give me a little chuckle that I try my best to hide. I can’t do it. The laugh I’ve been holding breaks free. Confusion is evident on his face as he stands watching me laugh and cry simultaneously,

“How do you know it was Dante?” I eventually ask confidently.

“He kidnapped you,dolcezza. Who else would it have been?”

“That’s only partly true,” I tell him. “I was leaving. I hacked the cameras so you wouldn’t see me leaving. I was so hurt by what I overheard, I just wanted to get away. You had gone back to being the asshole you were when we first met. You were pulling away from me and I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stay and live through another loveless marriage. I couldn’t do that again.”

He stops moving and grabs ahold of the end of my hospital bed, hangs his head and begins to shake it back and forth. He’s fully facing me now, but he’s not looking at me. His voice is much calmer now when he speaks and has a slight catch to it.

“You are full of surprises,dolcezza. Seeing you tied to the chair and staring down the barrel of Dante’s gun, I saw my own life flash before my eyes. I didn’t think, I just reacted. I pulled my gun and aimed for him at the same time he shot you. As soon as the bullet left my gun, I ran to you as fast as I could. I thought I lost you, Gia. When I finally reached you and saw the state you were in, my heart broke. I didn’t know if you were alive or dead, but I carried you from that dilapidated house, in the midst of an all-out war, and I didn’t put you down until we got here and the doctor made me let go of you so he could work on you.”

He stops talking to take a couple deep breaths before starting back up again.

“You were in surgery for almost eight hours. During that time, I didn’t eat, I didn’t drink. I didn’t even sit down. I paced the halls, worried sick that I was going to lose my wife, the one person who has come to mean more to me than anyone in this world ever has. When Dr. Chang finally emerged from the OR and told me you made it through, I felt like I could finally breathe again. Then he told me about all of your other injuries and how you were in a coma...”

He stops talking and finally looks up at me, and a gasp leaves my mouth. And that’s when my heart stops beating. When I look at Fabi, I can see how bloodshot his eyes are and the tears in them. He starts to walk back to the right side of the bed and reaches out to take my hand again, and this time, I let him. Instantly, I feel that spark that I’ve felt all along, but I also feel a sense of calmness and belonging.Home.

“You were in a coma for six days, and I didn’t take my first real breath until you woke up just now.”

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