Page 129 of The Sexy Billionaire

“There will be others, but there’s only one you,” she tells her as she tries to control her emotions, and Smith wraps his arm around her for support.

Paige then looks around the room and clocks Luca, Lilly, and Natalia. “Your arm?” She asks my sister.

“I know, I was lucky,” Natalia answers.

Paige touches herself to see if she has any injuries. “No broken bones, you were lucky. They think because you hit your head first and were unconscious that your body relaxed and didn’t tense up. You have a lot of bruising. It looks like you’ve gone a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson,” I tell her.

“Have I been asleep for long?” she asks, a frown etching deeply on her forehead.

“Three days,” I tell her.

“Miss Johnson, you’re awake,” the doctor states, interrupting us.

“Looks like I am.”

“I’m going to have to ask you all to give us five if that is okay?” the doctor asks. “Your friends and family haven’t left your side the entire time.” He winks at Paige.

We usher ourselves out of the room as more medical staff come.

She’s alive.

39

PAIGE

“It’s good to be back in New York.” I groan as I roll over and snuggle into Gio’s side.

It’s been a month since the accident and this man hasn’t left me for a minute. I know he never left my side in the hospital either. I don’t know if I will ever tell him, but I heard every little thing he whispered to me while I lay there lifeless, the many promises and prayers he asked for to make me come back to him. The wedding he has planned, how many babies he wants us to have, the house he wants them to grow up in, and everything he wants in the future with me. And I want it all, too. Maybe not the five kids, three might be enough. The reason it took me so long to come back to him was because I was hanging out with Lucia in some sort of limbo.

“Why the hell are you here? You’re early,” Lucia asks as she sips on her champagne glass.

“There was an accident.”

She rolls her eyes as if annoyed by that bit of information. “Hmm, I need to talk to someone about that,” she says. “They said you need to wait here for a bit before going back, there’s a queue.”

“A queue?”

“Yes,” she answers sternly as if it all makes sense.

“So, I’m not dead?”

“No, my sweetheart, it’s not your time,” she explains.

That’s good to know, I think. “What do I do now?”

“You wait.”

“Wait?”

“Yes. I know your generation doesn’t have patience for things, but you have to wait,” she snips at me.

“Why did you leave me?” I blurt out.

Her brows raise on her face. “It was my time.”

I rub the tears away from my eyes. “But I wanted more time with you.”

Lucia’s face softens. “I wish I had more time with you, too, but it wasn’t so.”