Page 205 of A Second Dawn

I want to tell him Tiero nearly didn’t make it, that we almost lost him twice, but what good would that do? It would only increase Mateo’s worry for his brother. Those two are close. He’s the only one Tiero fully trusts.

Mateo must be beside himself, and it nags at my conscience that I didn’t think to call him. I ought to be more inclusive. He’s going to be my family too.

I fill him in on what the doctor told me, trying to keep it factual. I don’t want Mateo to feel more helpless than he probably already does.

“If anything changes, I’ll call you right away,” I tell him. “Tiero is strong. He’ll pull through this.” I wish I could believe my own words.

“He will,” Mateo replies. Is he putting on a brave front like I am?

I want to ask him if he worked out who’s trying to kill Tiero and me, but I refrain with Antonio standing only a few feet away and listening to every word. It’s a conversation for another time.

“How are you holding up, Ella?” Mateo asks.

I let out a long breath. “Hanging in there,” I say, already on the brink of tears again.

Don’t ask me this. Don’t ask me how I feel. It only makes it worse.

“I’ll talk to you soon,” I whisper. “And Mateo, please be careful. It would kill Tiero if anything happened to you.”

“I will,” he promises.

I hang up and hand the phone back to Antonio with a curt nod. Just like Claudette and Aiden, he’s staying close by, watching over me through the window into this room.

I give my friends a long hug, soaking in their unwavering support, and return to Tiero’s side.

Standing beside the bed, I watch his chest rise and fall. I brush his hair back from his forehead, the strands soft between my fingertips. Only this morning I was clawing at it when he went down on me.

The memory makes the lump in my throat grow so big, it’s painful. It might as well have been a different lifetime.

Do monumental life-changing moments happen to everyone?

I’ve had so many in the last few years I’ve lost count.

God, if you can hear me, please let this be the last one… I need a break. I’m not sure how much more I can take.

I sit back down in the chair and lift Tiero’s hand into mine, intertwining our fingers and kissing each one.

“Come back to me, my love. Please.”

Having talked to Mateo reminded me of what’s always been most important to me. Family. It’s what matters most.

Tiero is my family now. He’s my fiancé, and Iwillmarry him.

Leaving his side is not an option, consequences be damned.

I know what Claudette and Aiden want me to do, but I can’t just up and go, knowing his enemies are closing in.

Will that put me in danger? Yes. But if I have to die, then so be it. At least I’d die by his side.

Crap, that thought is depressing. I need to think of something more positive.

Tiero is alive… so there’s hope.

“Claudette said everything will work out in the end, but it wouldn’t be a walk in the park,” I softly tell my man.

And this here sure isn’t… unless the park is a treacherous marsh, with sinkholes, quicksand and alligators keen to make us their next meal.

“So we will get through this. Even if Claudette is only right eighty percent of the time, we will not fall into the other twenty percent.”