Then I’m all over her. I gently kiss her cheeks, her forehead, and then her lips as I wipe away the tears. “It’s okay baby. You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Wait. So is he …” She pauses.
“Dead,” Antonio offers. “And we’ll track down all of his associates. They’re all scrambling now. We cut the head off the snake and everyone is already rushing to make deals with the feds since their ring leader can’t protect them anymore. This is over now, Amelia. I promise you that.”
Amelia takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She really is exhausted and needs her rest. I give her one final kiss on the forehead, and stand to leave, but she squeezes my hand. “Does this mean you’re going to take me out on a real date now Evan Cooper?” She smiles as she lazily reopens her eyes.
I bite down on my smile while I look at her father and brother. “You’re lucky I have more respect for the men in this room. If not, I would forgo asking for their blessing and ask you to marry me right now, Little Miss Amelia.”
Her dad sports a surprised smile while Antonio rolls his eyes, although I can tell he’s holding back a smirk.
“And Mami. Don’t forget to ask for her blessing also,” she whispers as she seemingly falls asleep.
“Don’t worry, baby. I got that covered too,” I whisper back to her.
44
Amelia
Apparently,almost dying really takes a toll on your body. Luckily, I had Evan by my side the whole time I was in the hospital. My dad was able to pull some strings and managed to get him access to my room. I moved out of the ICU after a day and a half, and into a normal room. Which meant every single person I know was visiting me around the clock.
Poor Nikki clung onto me the longest. She was the one who found the guards knocked out and the sinister flowers sprawled all over my apartment. And to add insult to injury, her and Justin had broken up moments before I was taken. I was sad to hear, but happy to talk about another subject besidesJulian Valentine.
His drug ring came crashing down after his death. Police were given a warrant to his home after he kidnapped me, and had enough evidence to arrest most of the people involved in his enterprise.
It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m finally allowed to leave the hospital. My incision doesn’t hurt much since I’m on pain meds, but walking is another story. I wobble more than walk, but I’ll take that over being bed bound.
Somehow, Evan convinced both my dad and Antonio that I’d be better off recovering with him. I’m pretty sure he hired an around the clock nurse for me, so that seems to have done the trick.
Although my dad really didn’t have to go into detail about the medical repercussions of havingsexual intercoursebefore I’m fully healed.
Thanks, Dad.
Teddy picks us up at the hospital, and is holding a bouquet of flowers for me. I shudder at the memory of Julian’s bouquets. Evan notices and takes the flowers for me. “She's more of a balloons and chocolates kind of girl now, Teddy.” Evan smiles tightly.
Teddy looks mortified. The details of Julian’s terror have been all over the news, but he must have forgotten that little nugget.
“Oh, I’m so sorry—”
I stop him. “Thank you, Teddy. I’m not going to start hating flowers now because of one little ol’ psychopath.” I chuckle. “But in the meantime, just buy me a slice of pizza. I’ll appreciate it more.” I wink at him as I take the flowers back from Evan.
We settle into the car, and Evan can barely sit still.
“I’m fine Evan. Why are you freaking out over there?” I ask, grabbing his hand.
He kisses the back of my hand and smiles. “Just excited about your Christmas present.” He smirks and kisses my hand again.
“Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I was a bit too busy not dying to get you a gift. Does that make me a bad girlfriend?” I tease.
“All you have to do is accept my gift, and we’ll call it even.” He bites down on his smile, then looks out the window.
Oh God.
Is Evan proposing to me right now?!
I mean, absolutely yes. I want to spend the rest of my life with this man. But is this really happening right now?!
I take a few breaths to calm myself, and then notice that we’ve arrived at our destination. But it’s not Evan’s apartment building.
