Page 101 of The One Night Match

“You’re awake,” he says.

I nod and carefully shift to sit up. “Where’s Cruz?”

“He very begrudgingly had to go take care of a little business.”

I frown, but none of the resentment I expect comes. Part of the reason I never wanted to be a Mafia wife was because I couldn’t stand the idea of always coming last, but there isn’t a single part of me that thinks Cruz would leave me unless he absolutely had to.

“You don’t have to stay if you’d rather go home with Lexi,” I say.

His brows raise. “What makes you think I’d want to do that?”

I roll my eyes. “I hate to break this to you, bud, but I knew the moment I saw the two of you together that you were obsessed with her. It’s super obvious.”

He huffs, but doesn’t reply immediately, to the point I think he might not at all. “She’s too good for me.”

I shake my head. “Men,” I mutter. “Look, Colten. I know we don’t know each other very well, and you can ignore everything I’m about to say if you want, but I think you need to hear this. If you would treat her right and put her first, if you would fight for her and protect her, if you would burn down the world for her and show up every day for her, then you deserve her.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Isn’t it?” I raise a brow.

Colten shakes his head, but before he gets a chance to respond, Cruz strides in wearing a crisp black suit with his hair perfectly styled. How does he look so hot when he just jumped into a freezing cold ravine to save me?

I’m sure I look like death warmed over.

“You’re awake.” His body visibly relaxes at the sight of my eyes open, and I don’t even try to smother the smile that tugs at my lips. “How are you feeling?”

“Better now you’re here, but I’m okay. Sore and exhausted, but okay.”

He drops the box under his arm onto the rolling table before leaning over the bed and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”

“It’s fine, Cruz,” I assure him. “You’re here now.”

Colten says a quiet goodbye before heading out the door, probably off to follow Lexi and Mary back to the house.

“What happened to Monica?” I ask.

He scrubs a hand down his face. “We haven’t decided how to handle her betrayal yet. She’s not technically part of the De Luca organization, which means we can’t hand down the same punishment we would if, say, Colten did what she did, but I’m also not confident I want her to keep breathing.”

“What about Dennis and Vernon?”

“We got them. We’ll talk about it later, but everything is going to be better now. I promise.”

The inquisitive part of me wants to ask questions, to find out everything that’s happened since he left the house the morning I was taken, but right now I’m happy to just be with my husband.

“What’s in the box?”

A grin appears on his face, and he quickly passes it to me with too much mischief in his eyes.

I unfold the cardboard and peek inside, but nothing could have prepared me for what I’m staring down at.

“Cruz, why am I holding a box of hands?”

“One from everyone who played a part in your being hurt.”

A giggle falls from my mouth, and once it starts, I can’t stop.

Because I spent so many years thinking I didn’t want this life, but who doesn’t want a morally gray man to gift you the hands of anyone who wrongs you?