Page 64 of The Billionaire and the Nanny

“You should be with her,” said Tia, turning her head restlessly.

Her eyes looked glassy and dull.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” I asked, rubbing soft circles over her hand. She shook her head slightly.

I was scared to touch her anywhere else lest I make her injuries worse.

“You should be with your family,” repeated Tia.

“You are my family, honey. You can’t escape us so easily,” I teased, with a smile.

Tia didn’t smile back.

She stared at me with those glassy eyes and looked like she was far away.

“Hey, hey, come back to me, Cleopatra,” I said sharply, pushing down on my panic.

I couldn’t lose her now. Not after we’d made it through hell.

She turned her face away and refused to look at me. Before I could speak to her again, we were at the hospital, and from then on, it was a blur of doctors and nurses who pushed me out of the way as they rushed her to the ER. Marcus stood outside her bay with me, as we waited for a word from her doctor. Commissioner North joined us with the news that they had busted all of Monani’s men, who had confessed to their involvement in the kidnapping as soon as they heard that their boss was dead. They were all going to jail for a very long time.

It was almost an hour by the time a doctor came out to speak to us.

“Are you next of kin?” she asked.

“Tia is my fiancée,” I lied.

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief, but she didn’t argue the point.

“Miss Monani is stable, and her internal injuries don’t seem too extensive. We’re keeping her under observation in intensive care for the night, and if she’s fine, we will move her to the ward tomorrow,” she said.

My shoulder slumped in relief and Marcus clapped me on the back.

“Can I see her tonight?”

“Just for five minutes,” said the doctor, gesturing to Tia’s bay with a thin smile.

I ran past her and came to an abrupt halt when I saw all the tubes sticking out of her. My poor baby.

She opened her good eye slowly as if she sensed my presence and squinted up at me.

“I’m sorry, Tia. If I hadn’t shot out the tire of the car, this wouldn’t have happened,” I whispered.

“Don’t be sorry, Leo. This is what I deserve,” she murmured.

I frowned at her, not believing what I’d just heard.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ I roared.

The doctor came bustling in immediately.

“Out! Get out before I call security! Yelling at my patient like that,” she said furiously, almost snorting fire like a dragon.

When I turned back to look at Tia one last time, her eyes were closed, but tears were streaming down her face.

CHAPTER 31

TIA

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