I knew it was the best I was going to get. Hell, it was more than I deserved.
“Thank you both.”
With that, I turned and headed toward Georgia’s room. I opened the door slowly, stepping into the low-lit space. Georgia was in bed, resting quietly. I went over to her and looked down at her face. There was a large bruise on her temple where Johnny had struck her. She looked beautiful in spite of it, and the fact that she’d be fine, that we’d gotten through this in one piece, was no small thing to celebrate.
She opened her eyes slowly, a small smile forming on her lips.
“Hey.”
I took her hand, clasping it in mine.
“Hey.”
“The girls,” she said, her voice weak. “They’re OK?”
“They’re good. Just talked to Haley a little bit ago. If they were shaken up by what happened, they’re over it now.”
“Tough little ladies,” she said.
“That’s right. They must get it from you.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Hey, you’re the one who rushed that jerk with a door for a shield like some kind of freaking Achilles-wannabe. And that was after you smashed the door open with your shoulder. How is that, by the way?”
“Bruised but fine. And don’t sell yourself short when it comes to tough stuff. You put a knife in the guy.”
“Hey, you know what they say about mama bears.”
I squeezed her hand once more before letting it go.
“Speaking of that prick, what happened to him?”
I chuckled. “Talked to a detective at the local PD. Turned out that once they got him good and locked up, he started asking what he could do, who he could send up the river so that he could get out and into Witness Protection.”
“So… who is he going to talk about? You have to remember that I’m still in the dark about this old life of yours.”
“He’s the second-in-command to Nico, the man who I used to work for.” My face fell. “There’s so much that I haven’t told you, so much that I’ve kept hidden. I don’t know if you’ll be able to forgive me when you learn the truth.”
She formed her mouth into a flat line. “There’s only one way to find out. You tell me the truth and let me decide.”
“You ready to hear all of this?”
“Yeah. Lay it on me, Achilles.”
I took a deep breath and began.
I told her everything. I started from my childhood, how my father was a criminal working for Nico, the Godfather of the Night. From there, I explained how I was set to follow in his footsteps until Nico and my father decided that my intellect would be best used elsewhere. I told her about med school, how I worked part time as Nico’s personal doctor.
When it was all over, silence fell.
“That explains the yacht,” she said with a laugh. “I know there are rich doctors out there, but not that rich.”
Although Ididhave quite a bit of money through savings and investments, I decided that all of that could wait until later.
“I’m sorry that I kept all of this from you. In my defense, it’s not like we had a normal courtship or anything like that.”
“Very true. We met, and then the next time we saw each other you were delivering my babies, our babies.”
“I’m in this,” I said. “I’m so damned glad that we’re back in each other’s lives, and I’m so eager to raise those beautiful little girls together.”