Ruin Her

“How is your woman?” Raphael asked.

“She’s fine. Sleeping. The bullet went through. The one in her arm had to be removed, but the doctor already had her asleep when he went searching for it.”

They were silent. The bodies of the cartel were already removed. No one was left alive, but they knew their mark. Romeo had already told him to be ready for them to retaliate. He had no problems with that. In fact, he wouldn’t wait for retaliation. They had shot at his woman and for that, he couldn’t forgive them.

“Isabella was killed,” Raphael said. “They had no other daughter. So they’re pissed.”

“What about your slave girl?” Antonio asked. He kept his voice down.

Raphael sighed. “I’ve had to take care of her. She was stabbed by one of the enemy. My father wouldn’t dream of wasting valuable resources on no one, and so I’ve had to take care of her. Don’t tell my father.”

“Raphael, you do know your father will arrange another marriage, don’t you? This is only a temporary setback.”

“I know. Until then, I can at least take care of her and not let her die and be taken out like she’s nothing more than trash.”

Antonio knew it was pointless to warn his friend. When Raphael had his mind on something, there was no stopping him.

When everything was back in order, and he’d consulted with Romeo on the next course of action, he went in search of his woman.

She lay in the bed where he left her, her arm bandaged up, moaning as she started to wake.

After closing the door, he advanced toward the bed, smiling down at her. “Hey there, beautiful,” he said.

“I don’t feel beautiful. I hurt all over.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, reached out for some pain pills, and let her have two. The doctor had left some along with a prescription for the pain when and if she needed it. From the look in her eyes, she needed it. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and the guy has repeatedly gone back and forth. It really does hurt.”

He stroked her hair back. “I can’t believe you came back for me.”

“Of course I’d come back to you. I love you.” She rested her head against his hand. “I will always come back for you.”

“You were pissed and scared when you found out who I was.”

“Of course. You lied to me and I’ve been around a lot of people who like to lie and cheat, and steal, Antonio. It’s not a lot of fun, believe me. It sucks. I didn’t like the feeling you were taking me for a fool.”

“Never. I would never hurt you in that way, Ellie. At first, we were only having a bit of fun, but I liked how you didn’t treat me differently. You weren’t afraid of me, and I found that very addictive.”

“I’m an addictive kind of girl.” She closed her eyes. “I may say and do things that sound completely wrong. I hope you know that.”

“I do. Don’t worry. I have every intention of taking care of you. Of loving you. I’ll keep you protected.”

“Like tonight?” she asked.

“Tonight was a fluke. They will never take us by surprise again, of that I can promise you. I vow to keep you forever safe.”

“I do like the sound of that.”

He reached for her hand and looked at the ring he’d slid onto her finger. Without waiting for her approval, he took it off.

“Antonio, what are you doing? You’re not getting out of this now. We’re going to be married.”

He silenced her with a kiss. “Shut up, and let me do this properly.”

“You want to propose properly?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Shut up.”

“I will. This is me shutting up.” She locked her lips together and pretended to throw away the key.

Rolling his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Ellie, for the longest time, I didn’t think I was capable of love. In all truth, I didn’t think I was capable of anything. I know I liked to party, fuck, kill, and it was my life. It was what I was good at. Then you came along. You didn’t see me, but I saw you. I fell for you then because you took a chance with me. You have given me a reason to live. To want to fight back. To want to come home. There’s no place I want to be if you’re not in it. From now on, if we’re ever in a shootout again, you will do as you’re told and leave. I want to grow old with you, have lots of babies, and the only way to do that is if you listen to reason.”

“Well, this is going to be one of those proposals I won’t ever forget. You wouldn’t be in any romance movie, though. It’s a little out there.”