Page 82 of His Obsession
Over and over. I hate needing the reminder.
Gia calls on the second day. Sebastian hands me the phone and stays sitting on the edge of the bed like he’s pretending not to listen.
“You look terrible,” Gia says the second the video connects.
She looks terrible too. Her cheek is bruised, a small bandage near her hairline. Her hair is clean but pulled back messily, and she’s wearing sunglasses indoors.
“I was kidnapped,” I say.
“I’m concussed,” she shoots back.
“I’m pregnant. I win.”
She narrows her eyes at me through the sunglasses. “Do not try to make me laugh. It hurts my head.”
My throat tightens, and she sees it immediately.
“No,” she says. “Absolutely not.”
“I called you.”
“And I came because I love you. What happened was not your fault.”
“You got hurt because of me.”
“No, I got hurt because Adrian is a psycho.”
“Gia.”
“Val.” Her voice sharpens. “You are not taking responsibility for the actions of a man who ambushed me from behind. I will fight you, and I have doctor’s orders to rest, so don’t make me waste energy.”
I press my lips together because if I answer too fast, I’ll cry.
She softens just a little. “I’m okay.”
“I thought he’d killed you.”
“I know.” She swallows, and for the first time, she looks as shaken as I feel. “I was scared he’d kill you.”
I cry, ugly and immediate, and she cries too, which makes both of us laugh. Sebastian takes the phone when my hand starts shaking too hard to hold it.
“Rest,” he tells Gia.
“Don’t boss me around, Dracula.”
He almost smiles. “Goodbye, Gia.”
He ends the call before she can insult him again.
On the third day, I finally shower. Sebastian sits outside the bathroom door because I ask him to without actually asking. I leave the door cracked, and he pretends not to notice. The shower is quick and not especially graceful, and I have to sit on the closed toilet for ten minutes afterward in a towel, trying not to pass out.
“You alive in there?” Sebastian asks from the other side of the door.
I laugh once, but it turns into a sob so fast I don’t have time to stop it.
The door opens a few inches. “Valentina?”
“I’m fine.”
