“I need to go,” I say for more than one reason.
“You shouldn’t go. She might not make it through the night. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
Fuck, and I’ve made it that much worse.
“I have to go.”
Matteo frowns. “No, you fucking don’t, man. The deal can wait a couple of days.”
I stare into Matteo’s eyes, and he knows it isn’t about the deal. I can’t face myself around Nina. Not when I’ve caused her as much pain as my father. Not when I couldn’t save her from my father before he ever laid a hand on her.
“She’s strong. The strongest. She will survive this and more if she has to.”
Matteo glares at me. “She shouldn’t fucking have to. That wasn’t the plan.”
Matteo and I haven’t always gotten along, but I don’t want to fight now.
“I trust that you will keep her safe.”
“Of course,” Matteo says.
Nina stirs, looking at Matteo. He takes her hand in his, comforting her.
“You saved me,” she croaks out.
Matteo grins. “Of course I saved you. I shouldn’t have ever let you get hurt in the first place. I’m sorry, beautiful.”
Nina gives him a faint smile, and then she begins to fade again. She doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t even know that I’m in the same room as her.
She’s going to hate me.
Forever.
I’ve done something unforgivable.
She’s going to love Matteo.
She thinks he saved her.
I made the right choice in bringing her to Matteo. He might actually be strong enough to save her. He can put an end to this madness. He can put an end to it all.
19
Matteo
She thinks I saved her.
Usually, I would welcome her thinking that. I want her to think of me as her protector. I want her to think I care. I want her to let her guard down.
That’s when I’ll really be able to control her. When she thinks she can trust me.
But I don’t like benefiting from my brother’s mistake.
I look down at the woman in my bed. She’s been sleeping for three days straight.
I wasn’t sure she would even survive the first night. And, as much as my dumb-ass brother thinks he doesn’t care, he does. I don’t know what he was thinking, leaving her alone with me.
If she hadn’t survived the night, he never would have forgiven himself.