I take it from her, still feeling groggy. I chew some of the chips and swallow gratefully, my mouth feeling like it’s filled with cotton balls. “My…wife,” I say slowly.
The nurse nods. “We’ll be wheeling you two into the same room soon enough. You just lay back and rest.”
But I push myself upright instead of obeying. “I need to see her right now. She…she’s carrying our baby. Damian…” My words are a jumble of mismatched fears and thoughts. I’ve never felt this way in my life. It’s like sheer terror has seized me up entirely.
“I’ll talk to the doctor,” she says, grabbing my chart and walking away from me.
I drift in and out of consciousness. An indeterminate amount of time passes before I wake up again.
I smell Elizabeth before I see her. It’s the scent of violets and salt and just…just Elizabeth. I can’t explain it any more than that. I know she’s here. I know that she’s near me. “Lizzy,” I whisper, slowly opening my eyes.
Her hand clasps around mine. She squeezes it once. “I’m right here, Cain.” I turn my head and see that someone has rolled our two gurneys next to one another. A tear rolls down her cheek. “I thought you were dead.”
“I thought I was dead, too.” I try to reach over to her face but pain stops me in my tracks. “How is the baby?”
She nods quickly. “Just fine. Everything is fine. I just have some broken ribs from when you jumped on me.”
“I couldn’t get on top of you fast enough.” I pause and smile at her. “I guess it’s a force of habit. You know, since I jump you any time I possibly can.”
She rolls her eyes. “Jokes already.” We sit in silence just staring at each other. I’m drinking in the lines and curves of her face. I didn’t think I’d ever see them again. “Cain, what happened at the cemetery?”
“Your guess is nearly as good as mine,” I say, trying to think back. “I called the feds.”
She gasps. “What?”
I pause. “Well, I called Flea. I knew they had a tap on the line and that they’d take whatever I said as gospel. I told them about Damian. I thought I could use the files he wanted as a bargaining chip.”
“What files?”
I explain to her all about sneaking away at Damian’s house, how I’d transferred the file and erased his own. About how it was our only way out of perpetually being on the run.
“Cain?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you didn’t kill Damian. I thought you might. But I don’t want you killing anyone ever again.”
I don’t know how to respond to this, so I just rub her hand instead.
She takes a deep breath and winces. “Ouch.”
“You alright?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how we’re getting out of any of this alive, to be honest. I’m not liking our odds or luck considering how the last few months have gone.” She chuckles a little and I join in. She looks down at my feet concealed under the blanket. “Cain.”
“What?” I ask her.
“Move your toes.”
I furrow my brow and do what she tells me to do, still staring at her beautiful, perfect face. “There you go,” I say.
“You’re joking,” she replies with a dark laugh.
“Joking about what?”
“Cain, your toes didn’t move.”
I look down at my feet and try again.
She’s right.
They don’t move at all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ELIZABETH
I hit the button for the nurse and the doctor shows up instead.
“I was waiting until Cain was awake,” he says, interrupting me before I can even speak. “He had some damage to his spine. But it’s relatively minor.”
“Relatively minor? I can’t move my fucking feet,” Cain says, his voice shaking.
“I assure you, the odds of you walking again are very good, especially with physical therapy.”
Cain squeezes my hand tightly and I think this time it’s out of fear and anger.
The door opens again before the doctor can keep talking.
“Cain Maggiano. Elizabeth Romano?” There are two men in suits holding up badges. I can’t tell what agency they’re with, but I don’t really need to know. I know why they’re here. My heart beats rapidly and I hear the monitor connected to me increase its beeping.
“You know why we’re here.”
I look at Cain, panicking. His face is steely and he’s not making eye contact with me. “I got you who you wanted and what you wanted. I think we’re done here, don’t you?”
I can’t believe he’s talking to the feds like this.
The doctor looks confused. “I’ll leave the four of you alone.” He mutters these parting words and exits.
“You did get us who we wanted,” the man on the right says. His face is shiny with sweat and he has an enormous belly. I’m kind of surprised they sent a man like this to possibly kill us both. “Getting Damian Lewis to us in a country that has extradition? In possession of illegal firearms? Along with what we think is eighty percent of his team? Yeah. You did good, kid.”
I don’t think anyone’s ever called Cain kid in his entire adult life. I glance at him again. He still looks pensive and unconvinced.
“I got you a hell of a lot more than that. I’d say we’re even. You have the files?”
The fat man nods. “We have the files.” He glances at his partner, who is silent. He’s the Teller to the fat guy’s Penn. I half expect him to start miming right here in the hospital room. The thought of that almost leads me to be overcome with giggles.
I suppress them as Cain squeezes my hand in warning. I can’t help it. I’m exhausted and high on pain meds.
“So we’re even.” Cain repeats this. “And I want you to let Flea go.”
“Harris Garvey, known as Flea, has been untraceable as of about a week ago,” the agent says. “We won’t be going after him either.”
I look from Cain to both of the agents and then back again. “Either? So that means you’re letting us go free?”
The agent nods. “We’ll be putting you both in witness protection, if that’s what you want.”
Cain looks at me with a small smile. “I’m not sure that’ll be entirely necessary. I was thinking we might move pretty far away from the United States.”
I blink at him. “Seriously?”
Cain nods. “If that’s what you want. I figured you might-“
I surprise him by leaning over to kiss him, bandages and broken ribs be damned. The pain is excruciating but the taste of his sweet lips is all I need to soothe my wounds. “Of course. Anywhere with you.”
The agent clears his throat. “If you two are finished, I think we’ll be going.”
“Hold on,” I say. “I want my sister over with us. Can you get her here?”
The agent glances at his partner. “Maria Romano disappeared with Flea about a month ago, as far as we can tell.”
“That sneaky little fucker,” Cain says.
That proclamation brings the giggles out in full force. The agent sighs while he waits for me to finish. Cain joins in.
“Ouch, ouch,” I say, grabbing my sides. “You’re telling me my sister left her husband and ran away with Flea?”
The agent flips through a small notebook. “It would appear that way. She had contact with him in early December. I think he was trying to get her to safety. He had her files pulled up on his last known terminal. Then she went off the grid.”
I raise an arm in the air in celebration. “She finally got away from her dick of a husband.”
Cain speaks. “I assume my accounts will be unfrozen soon?”
The agent nods. “Yes.”
“And Damian?”
The silent agent finally speaks. “He had an accident on the way back to the States. He is deceased.”
I bite my lip. An accident. More like they killed him so he couldn’t worm his way out with an all-star attorney.
/> “Can’t say I’m sad to see him go,” Cain says slowly.
The fat agent speaks again. “We never, ever want to hear from either of you again. In any capacity.” He holds out his hand and Cain shakes it. “I suggest a rapid and thorough change of career, Mr. Maggiano. I don’t want to hear from you through private contracting. If I so much as smell you in the air, this agreement is completely off the table. Understood?”
Cain looks at me with love in his eyes. My chest flutters. “I think we’ve both had just about enough adventure for the next lifetime.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ELIZABETH
ONE YEAR LATER
“You’re not going to make me stand with the pigs, are you? At the wedding?” Maria shifts her weight as she looks at herself in the mirror.
I roll my eyes. “You are so, so picky.” I sip from my mug of tea and wrap my sweater closer to my chest.
“This house you bought is basically falling over,” Maria says. “But I do have to say your taste in bridesmaid dresses has improved dramatically.”
I smile at her. She’s wearing a white silk dress with a crocheted overlay. “I found it in a vintage shop in Munich with Cain. Well, he actually found it.” I grin at the memory. I glance over at the electronic baby monitor to see Samson asleep in his dark room.
“He has better taste in dresses than in houses, then.” Maria starts to strip, her own emerald engagement ring glinting in the dim house lights. Flea proposed to her a few months ago.
“It’s an old stone barn. What do you expect?” I stand up to stoke the bedroom fireplace. Sleet falls outside the window on this grey day.
The sound of hammering echoes down the hallway and I groan. “Cain,” I say. I tiptoe down the rug-covered hallway and into the grand living room. “Cain!”
My shirtless husband spins the wheels of his chair around. He’s sweating while steam is coming out of my mouth. “Sorry,” he says. “But I really want to get the main living space done before the wedding next week.”
“It’s not a wedding. It’s a vow renewal ceremony,” I remind him.
He rolls over to me, his jeans hung low on his perfect body. My eyes follow the fuzzy trail of hair connecting his navel to his…well. It’s my favorite place on his body by far. I straddle him as he wraps his hands around my sides. The wheelchair squeaks a little as I rest my knees next to him. He tips my head up and our lips meet.
“Mm,” he says. “I wish your sister would leave so we could fuck in here.”
I glance around the living room while he gets busy kissing the side of my neck. “You are a horndog, Cain Maggiano.”
“I’m your horndog, though. And tell me to stop, then.”
I don’t tell him to stop. His hands find their way under my massive sweater to my slightly round belly, still fat from giving birth months ago.
“I think we should have another baby,” he whispers in my ear. “Maybe I can put twins in you.”
I slap him on the shoulder and push him away gently. “Stop it. You do not want another baby already.”
He smiles at me. “Do I joke about shit like that? I think you know me better than that.”
I shake my head and can’t help my face breaking into a smile. “Alright,” I say. “I’ll think about it.” Cain rolls back to pick up his hammer.
“I’ll be quiet about it,” he insists at the look of warning on my face.
“Good, because it took Samson forever to fall asleep with his aunt in the house. You know how excited he gets when she comes over.”
I walk over to the back wall of the living room. Outside of our window is a rolling expanse of green hills. Cain put in a series of French doors so this wall is essentially half made of glass. It lets in so much light on grey days along with the four skylights above me. The vaulted ceilings of this old barn conversion have huge wooden beams holding back white plasterwork.
This place was a literal pigsty when we bought it almost a year ago. I never thought I’d live in Scotland, but we’d found the place from our hospital beds. Cain took the words of the agent to heart. He wasn’t going to be an assassin anymore.
He wanted to be a sheep farmer. So he is now, with a lot of help from me and a few people he hired from nearby farms.
I hear Cain straining to lift something. I turn around and see him half out of his chair.
“Let me do that!” I say to him.
He holds up a hand. “It’s fine. I’ve got it.”
“You missed your physical therapy appointment last week,” I say to him.
He shakes his head. “I don’t need physical therapy. I exercise here. I’m renovating a damn barn with my own two hands.”
“And the hands of the neighbors,” I add unhelpfully.
“Thanks for the reminder that I can’t do everything on my own,” he retorts.
I run my hands through his hair. “Stop it. You can do important things. We’d never eat around here if it were left up to me. You cook every meal. And you’re the only one who can get Samson to fall asleep.”
“Because he thinks he’s in a stroller when I wheel him around,” Cain replies. He leans back in his chair. “I just thought I’d get better sooner. That’s all.”
I reach down and kiss him. “I love you exactly the way you are.” I climb back onto his lap and he moans as I reach into his jeans to stroke his cock. “I don’t care that my sister is here, either.”
As if she were lying in wait, Maria appears. “Ew, stop it, you two.”
She walks over to our drop cloth-covered sofa and plops down, now wearing sweatpants and her winter coat. “Is the fireplace still not ready to be used? This place is like a freezer.”
“You could always drive back to your hotel,” Cain replies. “I bet Flea misses you.”
Maria bites her lip and blushes. “He likes his alone time, I think.”
“Right,” Cain says skeptically. “The guy loves you so much he sold his apartment in New York City to live with you down in London. I highly doubt he values being away from you. He changed his whole life for you.”
She flips her brunette hair over her shoulder. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She puts her hand on her stomach. “I forgot to tell you – we’re having a baby.”
I shriek and jump off Cain’s lap. “Way to bury the lede! How could you not have told me sooner?”
Cain starts applauding. “I didn’t think Flea had it in him.”
“Oh, stop it,” I say to him, embracing my sister. “That is so exciting! Do you know what you’re having?”
“A tech genius. I think it’s a girl,” Cain says, rolling over to us to give Maria a hug. “And never, ever forget that I was right about Samson.”
“How could I? You never let me forget,” I say to him with a laugh.
“I think it’s important to keep my woman in line,” Cain says sarcastically.
Maria cackles. “Like any man could keep my sister in any kind of line.”
Maria leaves before dinnertime. That night, Cain makes shepherd’s pie for both of us. I bring Samson into the kitchen. He’s asleep in his stroller, the only way he’ll be put down anymore. Cain was right about the wheelchair being soothing for him because it mimics his stroller.
Cain pours us both a glass of wine. “To our real wedding happening in the dead of a Scottish winter.”
I laugh. “To both of us being crazy enough to buy this house.” I glance around the kitchen at the shiny copper range hood, worn wooden cabinets, and tile countertops. It’s functional, but it’s not renovated. Not yet.
Cain takes a sip and then leans forward to kiss me. “I love you,” he whispers. Then he reaches down to brush Samson’s dark hair out of his eyes. Samson sighs contentedly at his father’s touch.
We dig into the delicious food set before us.
“So, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” I say to Cain. “I applied to the university in Edinburgh. I could start classes in a few weeks if I wanted.”
Cain raises his eyebrows in s
urprise. “I’ve been pushing you to do that for months,” he says. “What finally made you do it?”
I shrug. “I think I’m finally okay with leaving Samson. I mean, I know he’s obviously safe with you. I just thought I’d miss him too much.” I pause. “That’s why I didn’t want to have a baby so soon.”
Cain reaches out his hands and strokes the sides of my face. “You’ll be even fucking sexier when you’re a scientist.”
I blush. “So you’re okay with waiting to have a baby?”
“I want whatever you want, Lizzy. Of course I’m okay with it.”
We finish our meal in happy silence. As he clears the table, stacking the plates on his lap, I ask him the question that’s been irking me for months. “Do you miss it?”
Cain shuts off the tap. “Miss what?”
“You know. Being a super-assassin.”
Cain laughs. “No, I don’t miss it.”
“Not even a little? Because I think I would miss at least some parts of it.”
Cain wheels his way back over to me and lifts me out of my chair with only his arms. I perch on his lap. “I get to be with both of you every day. I would never miss this for the entire fucking world.”
We kiss and embrace each other. “Meet me in the bedroom,” I say to him.
He doesn’t object.
I get Samson into his crib and grab the baby monitor, shedding my clothes as I walk down the hallway. The cold air makes my nipples rock hard, so by the time I’m ready for Cain, I’m really ready for Cain.
He’s lit candles in the bedroom and he’s naked and laid flat on the bed.
I walk over to him and get on my hands and knees. I crawl across the mattress. Cain moans.
“Hurry up!”
I take my time. I shed kisses up his thighs. He’s rock hard and ready for me. I wrap my lips around his length, drinking him in. He grabs my hanging breasts with his hands and pulls at my nipples.
“You’re so fucking sexy, Lizzy,” he whispers. “I wish I could stand up and fuck you from behind.”
“We can get close to that,” I say with a sexy smile. I turn around and lift myself onto him, my ass bouncing in the air as I slide up and down him.
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