Page 120 of Beauty and the Daddy

"Please, not yet." The nurse tries to push me down, but I shake her off, sobbing so hard my whole body shakes. "It's better if you wait?—"

"Don't tell me to wait!" My voice fractures into something jagged and wild. "I need him—I need?—"

The door slams open, and there's Luca in the doorway, looking like a shadow ripped out of hell.

His clothes are torn, knuckles bloodied, face bruised like he's taken a beating from the devil himself.

His eyes, I can barely see them from how swollen they are.

He looks like the war he just survived.

And the moment his eyes find me, I break.

He stumbles forward, not caring that he's dripping blood across the floor.

Not caring about the nurse calling out his name. His gaze never leaves mine.

"Belle," he breathes, like my name is a prayer.

Then he's beside me, battle-worn hands framing my face like I'm made of spun glass.

His thumbs chase tears I didn't know were falling.

"They wouldn't let me see you," I sob against his palm. "I thought you were dead. I thought?—"

"I'm here." His voice cracks like he's the one who almost died. "I'm right here, and I'm never leaving you again."

The promise hangs between us, fragile as everything we almost lost.

"I'm sorry. I had to clean up and make arrangements."

The weight of those words hangs between us. Arrangements. For his brother's body. Oh God.

"You killed him," I whisper.

His jaw tightens. "Yes."

Just that. No explanation, no justification. He doesn't need to give one. We both know what Declan was going to do.

"Are you okay?" I reach up to touch his bruised face, wincing as the movement pulls at my stitches.

He catches my hand, presses it to his cheek. "Don't worry about me."

"Luca—"

"When that shot went off," he cuts me off, his voice breaking, "and I saw you fall... I thought I lost you."

He looks utterly destroyed, like a man who's seen hell and walked back out.

"You did," I whisper, squeezing his hand. "But I came back."

29

LUCA

I've built an empire on never showing weakness, never asking for what I can take.

But watching Belle's eyes flutter shut again, her blood still staining my shirt, I'm one heartbeat away from begging God, or anyone else who's listening to keep her alive.