I stayed next to Roman’s side for the better part of what was left of the night until dawn had broken. His breathing stayed the same throughout the time I had sat next to him, shallow and slow.

The feelings in my chest continued to bubble and wreak havoc on my mental state. On one hand, I was happy that Roman was safe and in protective company. On the other, I wanted to hit him for not being careful during his mission.

It was cruel of me to want to want to do that in his current state, so I got up for a little while and took a long solemn walk around the hospital and the outside grounds, of course, accompanied by some security.

Marcus and Ed had stationed some of the agents outside of the hospital building and even directly outside Roman’s room in an attempt to keep him safe while he healed. I was both glad and angry at this arrangement.

It was a great frustration to me knowing there was nothing I could really do for Roman while he seemed to be doing so much for so many people.

To my shocking surprise, when I re-entered Roman’s room, I was greeted with the sight of him speaking somewhat slowly to the doctor. I froze immediately as I saw his gorgeous blue eyes wide and open again.

Roman stopped talking to the doctor when he heard the door to his room open. His eyes landed on me.

A wide, brilliant smile was cast my way. For a long moment, I was frozen in time.It was like something had shifted then and it wasn’t me staring at Roman who had been stuck in a hospital bed with a bullet wound to his chest. It was just Hannah and Roman, two people who had fallen in love at the most disastrous time and place in their lives.

There he was, bandaged and bruised stuck in a hospital bed, yet he still continued to take the breath out of me whenever he looked at me. The doctor seemed to notice his pause in speech and turned around to greet me as well.

"Your husband seems well and stable, Ma’am. You have a fighter on your hands," the doctor told me as he finalized his assessments and checked something off of from his clipboard. He tapped my shoulder lightly as he walked by, which urged me to move forward.

Involuntarily, the corners of my lips pushed themselves down as I walked closer to Roman’s outstretched hands. My eyes began welling up with unshed tears I didn’t even know I still had in me.

"My husband..." I whispered as I was grabbed by the hands and pulled into Roman’s crushing embrace. "My husband..." A choked sob left me as I cried into his shoulder and gripped his hospital clothing tight in my fist, "You are a cruel man Roman Thaddeus. How dare you play with my heart like that."

A deep, rumbling chuckle left my husband’s throat. I felt it in the way his chest shook beneath my hands.

"I’m the one who got shot, so why does it feel like I’m being scolded a?" Roman turned his head from my neck and pulled my head out of his own to look at me in my eyes.

"You are not being scolded," I told him as he continued to hold me close. "How could I scold a man who had just gotten shot? That would be cruel. I’ll wait until you’re better to do the scolding."

I could barely make out his features through the blurriness of my own eyes, but why did it seem like he had some tears in his eyes too?

Releasing the grip he had on my arms, I moved my hands up to grab his face and press my forehead against his head. I wanted to relish this moment. I needed to know he was really here with me awake and well.

"You’re so stupid," I whispered loudly to him as I shook my head and tried to rid my eyes of the tears that were heavily falling from my eyes. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"You’re absolutely right." Roman agreed with me.

"You shouldn’t have gone to that stupid auction," I told him sternly.

He nodded his head. "I agree."

"And you better heal fast so that you can come back home to me." I looked up at him in his eyes and saw something like an unrivaled adoration there. I hoped, despite my chastising words, he knew I felt the same.

"And you better–" I began speaking again but he cut me off.

"Hannah, just shut up and kiss me already, please."

Staring at him with wide eyes, I waited for him to move. When he didn’t, I realized it was him who was waiting for me to do something. I closed the space between our bodies, careful not to hurt him where he had been shot, and gently pressed my lips to his.

A gasp left me when he tried pulling me closer, but I only laughed and pushed him away after a few more moments of kissing him.

"Calm down," I told him softly as I planted two kisses on either corner of his mouth. "You’re still injured. You have to take care of yourself a lot more now than before."

"Will you help me?" he asked quietly. I nodded before placing kisses on his cheeks.

"Always." I remembered the promise I had made to myself earlier, and agreed as quickly as I could.

I had sworn to both myself and Roman that he wouldn’t have to carry the burdens of this entire situation on his own shoulders, alonem anymore.

I was going to help him the best I could, and, where I couldn’t, I was going to support him the rest of the way. That was what he deserved, and I would be damned if I let the man who had taken a bullet for such a noble cause have anything less than that.

We were interrupted by a knock on the door. The sliding sound of it opening told us someone had come inside. Slowly and reluctantly, we moved away from each other to pay attention to the person who had just come in, and I gave Roman one last kiss on the cheek as I stared down at him.

A few seconds later, Marcus’ face showed up from around the small corner. He moved to stand at the foot of Roman’s bed. When I began to rise to move away from Roman, he only gripped my waist tighter and made sure I didn’t move.

A blush would have made its way to my face if not for the grim look Marcus was wearing, and I mentally prepared myself for whatever it was he was going to tell us.

"How’s your injury?" Roman asked the man in front of him.Marcus looked a lot better than Roman did, seeing as he had only been shot in the arm. But he still sported a pale face and dark circles beneath his eyes.

It seemed like this case took a lot out of everyone who was involved in it.

"Better than yours," Marcus replied. "How are your internal organs?"

Roman gave a toothy grin before responding, "Staying internal. It takes more than a bullet to the gut to stop me from wanting to screw those guys over. What happened?"

I placed my hands over Roman’s hands, which were wrapped around my waist, and gave it a light squeeze as Marcus began to tell us the news that had him looking like someone just died.

"Bernard made bail," Marcus said.

A shaky breath left my lips.

"His family figured out he was in jail and paid his bail. As of right now, Bernard is a free man."

I could see the distaste in Marcus’ eyes as he told us the news about what had happened. "I’m so sorry Hannah," he told me, but I only shook my head in return. "That bastard deserves to rot in hell for what he’s done to you and all those other girls."

"It’s okay," I told the man in front of me. "We just have to find some more evidence on him, right? Something that’s concrete. Something that will put him away for a long time."

The room was silent for a few moments as we all pondered over my words. Something good enough to put a man like Bernard away for a long time wasn’t going to be easy to come by. We would have to catch him right in the middle of an illegal act. With what had happened already, it would be hard.

Bernard wasn’t a stupid man. He was going to take every precaution in the book to ensure he never went back to prison.

"If we could catch him once, we can catch him again," I told the men who had been harboring a look of forlorn on their faces. "All we need is for him to slip up."