Page 76 of Stolen Vows
Then the man restraining me chuckles low and deep, his arm slipping to give him access to my breast. He squeezes, pinching my nipple between two fingers, and sighs. “No, we don’t fucking have it. Would’ve pawned it already if we did, but some bitch took off with it before we had a chance. So we just used Frankie as the gopher to get you both into compromising positions here.”
Nodding, I move the knife down, gripping the handle tightly in my fist. “Okay then. That’s all I needed to know.”
The pervert’s too busy pawing at me to notice when I knock free from his hold. I spin quickly, using the momentum from my fear and shock and my hope for the future, swinging the knife up and lodging the blade as deep into the side of his neck as I can get it.
Right in his carotid artery.
Blood spurts from the wound immediately, splattering across my face. I blink and yank the knife out, before driving it into the same spot, harder this time.
Surprise knots his features, and it stuns me how much he looks like Leo—the same sculpted cheekbones and hair the color of the night sky. Even their eyes are similar, though this man’s gaze appears to lack any sort of passion or excitement. The dark irises are just empty as he reaches up, gasping as he tries to withdraw the knife.
A cramp forms in my stomach when I realize this must be a relative. But when he falls to his knees, paling within seconds, I turn and look at my husband, and the pain stops.
Relative or not, he deserves what he got.
“What the—” The remaining assailant, fuming, darts in my direction, wielding that baseball bat over his head.
I scramble backward, tripping over the corpse-to-be, and land on my shoulder. Excruciating agony splits me in half, and I let out a little sob, curling onto my side as I mentally prepare for a blow.
It doesn’t come.
Instead, a third and final gunshot whips against the otherwise silent air, and the stranger crumples right before my eyes. I have no clue where it came from, as the world around me grows fuzzy.
I roll onto my back as Leo drags himself to me, his face still smeared with blood and only one eye swollen. He’s dry heaving as he reaches for me with one of those beautiful hands.
“Fuck me, Stella. Baby, I am so sorry. This is all my fault. I never should’ve come here.”
I shake my head, and he wipes my face with several noticeably broken fingers. “You’re hurt?—”
“So are you.” His words have a bite to them, and I wonder if it’s from the pain or from everything else. “Christ, I thought I was gonna fucking lose you.”
My eyes drift closed. “I saved your ass.”
“That you did.” A pause, and my head feels like it’s floating. Leo’s voice gets farther away. “Stella, baby, you’ve got to stay with me. You’re likely concussed.”
“I’ll stay with you.” I hear myself speaking, but my mouth isn’t moving. My eyes aren’t opening.
He squeezes my hip. “Holding you to that.”
And then darkness overtakes me.
28
STELLA
Iwake up to an irritating beeping noise right next to my head.
It’s steady, or maybe that’s the pulse rattling in my skull as I focus on my surroundings. Bright white light filters past my eyelids first, and I notice the scratchy blanket I’m tucked beneath, then the oxygen monitor on my right hand and the IV hooked to my forearm, leading up to the beeping machine.
My entire body feels like it was stretched to its limits and thrown from the very top of a mountain.
Or a tower, I suppose.
Flexing my fingers, I encounter something soft and shift to see Leo’s head resting on the bed next to my leg. His eyes are closed, one purple and badly swollen, twitching in REM. I slowly run my hand through his black hair, admiring the luxurious feel of it under my fingertips.
There’s a large bandage over his right eyebrow, and the index and middle fingers on his dominant hand are held together in a splint, confirming my previous suspicions.
I don’t care about that right now, though. My heart is full as I look at him, noting the casual rise and fall of his chest, reminding me that he’s alive.
