Page 386 of Under Her Skin

Raffaelo, his green eyes heavy and exhausted, nodded. “I know …that’s what gets me …the sheer spite of it. Inca had nothing to do with Ama’s decision to leave Jackson.” He smiled briefly. “Although, Inca did knee him in theballs.”

Bo half-smiled. “Still …deciding to have her killed forthat?”

“Sadly, Jackson is that vengeful and that psychotic. He only went after the women. Idiot thinks they’re the weakersex.”

Bo was incensed. “Yeah? Then come at me, bro, I’ll show youdifferent.”

Inca gave a low moan and they both sat up. Raff leaned over his wife as Bo pressed the button for the nurse. “Inca?Cara mia? I’m here. Please, open your eyes. Wake up, baby. I love you,please…”

He was rambling, and Bo was saddened by the desperation in his voice. The nurse came in and looked at them questioningly. Bo suddenly feltstupid.

“She moaned …we, um, we thought maybe she was wakingup.”

The nurse smiled at her sympathetically. “Let’s hope. Excuse me, sir. I just want to check Mrs.Winter.”

Raff moved, looking discombobulated. “Of course,sorry.”

She patted his arm warmly. “Let’s just hope,” she said again. She took a small flashlight from her pocket and checked Inca’s eyes, then checked the machines keeping her alive, and her blood pressure. “Okay, well, I’ll just get the doctor and we can make adetermination.”

Raffaelo and Bowaited impatiently for the doctor to complete his examination. Raff stared at Inca’s hand. He was sure her fingers had briefly squeezed his as he held them, but he was so dog-tired and grief-stricken that he told himself he might have beenhallucinating.

The doctor stepped back and smiled at them both. “Mrs. Winter does appear to be coming out of hercoma.”

The relief hit Raff like a sledgehammer and he gave a low gasp of release. Bo went to him and held him up. The doctor patted hisshoulder.

“Now, listen, this is very good news—verygood news, but, Mr. Winter, your wife has a long way to go. A long way. Her injuries …remember, we had to remove her kidney and her liver was lacerated. There’s still a high risk of infection. The hysterectomy will have taken a toll too. So, long haul. But this is a great positive step forward.” He smiled kindly at Raff, who couldn’t stop the tears from flooding down his cheeks. “Now, the thing to remember is that it could take days or even weeks, for Inca to emerge fully from the coma. So, be patient. I’ll come back later and run some moretests.”

Bo hugged Raff to her. “This is good news, bro. Good, goodnews.”

Raff nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He smiled at her and extracted himself to go and sit byInca.

“I’ll go call Tommaso,” Bo said softly, “Tell them all the goodnews.”

Raffaelo nodded, his entire focus on Inca now. When they were alone, he leaned over and kissed the side of her mouth, next to the breathing tube. “Amore mia,” he said, his voice breaking. “Please come back to me. I don’t know how to live in a world without you. Fight, Inca, my beautiful Inca. You’ve done this before. Fight. Fight to come back tome.”

He picked up her hand and brought it to his mouth. God, when she awoke …he would have to tell her that she had been targeted yet again by a psychopath and that there had been no good reason, other than malevolence, behind her stabbing. That they’d had to fight to save her life for hours in the operatingtheater.

That the baby she hadn’t known they could have, and that she had been carrying for a month, had been murdered in her womb. Their child. Their only child. They’d told them years ago that she wouldn’t be able to carry a baby to full-term, even if she could conceive it, to begin with. And that now, they would never get the chance to try again. The killer’s knife had sliced through her womb and they had to remove it. Inca would never be pregnantagain.

Mio Dio…Raff closed his eyes and fought against the scream in his throat.Never again. He didn’t care if he had to keep her in a fortress. No one would ever touch her again—never hurt heragain.

And he, Raffaelo, would never fail heragain.

Ama wokein the late evening, as she heard raised voices somewhere in the villa. She pulled a t-shirt and a pair of jeans on and went to find out what was going on. She pushed her way into the kitchen and saw Enda arguing furiously with someone. When she shifted position, she saw him andgasped.

Her father had come to Italy. He saw her and rounded on her, his face a mask of rage. “You. This is your fault. My daughter is abducted and I find out about it on the news? This is your doing, Amalia,and…”

He never finished the sentence, as an incensed and raging Enda punched himout.

Her uncle,her beloved Omar, who had come with Gajendra to Italy, put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. “Your father will calm down, Amalia. Give himtime.”

Exhausted, Ama leaned against him. “I don’t want him here, Omar, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. I just wish …god, Omar. She’s been gone a week. Who knows what horrors he’s putting her through.” She lowered her voice. “Omar …I don’t want Enda to know this, but if Jackson will swap me for her, I’ll do it. I’ll do it rightnow.”

Her uncle looked pained. “Sweetheart, let’s not even consider that as an option yet. Or at all. We’ll get Selima back. I have spoken to Olivier Gallo, and now to your Enda and his friend. Between us, we can cover the globe to find your sister. And wewill.”

Amalia rubbed her eyes. “Dads right about one thing—this is my fault. All of it. Selima, Christina …Inca. God.” She feltsick.

Omar tightened his arm around her and spoke in a low, fierce voice. “This is not your fault. Your father is lashing out because he feels the guilt keenly. The guilt for using his daughters to save his business, when he could have come to me. His pride put you both in harm’s way. He knows that marrying you to Jackson Gallo was the catalyst. He fed Jackson’s obsession and sense ofentitlement.”