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I haven't taken a breath since.
"Sir, you can't go back there!" The nurse at the desk finds her courage too late to slow me down.
I shoot her a look so venomous it silences her again.
"His wife is here," Domani lies as he and Mattia flank me, their presence a silent threat to anyone else who tries to challenge me. They were with me when I got the call. I'm not sure if they're to support me or to contain me. I don't care.
I don't give a fuck about protocol or permission, either. The rules don't mean a goddamn thing to me right now.
Karina is here, hurt and alone. Every second I waste with bullshit is another second she spends afraid. That's intolerable to me.
The area beyond the door is chaotic. Nurses and doctors flow this way and that down cramped, stark white corridors. Medical equipment is tucked into corners, waiting to be grabbed. I ignore it all, fear clawing at my insides as I hurry toward the room holding the only thing that matters to me.
I don't knock. I don't announce myself.
The door swings open, and my heart shatters into a million jagged pieces.
She looks so fucking small and broken in the bed. Scratches and bruises mar her perfect skin. A bandage covers her forehead, hiding God only knows what sort of damage. Dried blood streaks her face.
Something primal rises in me as I stare at her, a dark wave of rage threatening to wash away all reason. She shouldn't be here. Not her. Not like this.
If I find the motherfucker who hit her, I'm going to kill him.
She lifts her gaze as if sensing me. Those gray eyes that have haunted my every waking moment now swim with pain. The sight claws at my heart.
"Coda." Her bottom lip quivers, and tears spill over.
I feel every single one like a knife in my fucking heart.
"Karina," I breathe, closing the distance between us. The monster inside me claws at its chains, desperate to break free and kill in her name. I battle it back, ruthlessly slamming the doors of its cage. Right now, she needs me, and that's what matters.
"Coda," she whimpers again.
"Shh," I whisper, reaching out as gently as possible to lift her out of the bed and into my arms. "You're safe now, angioletta. I'm here."
She clings to me, her fingers wrapped in the fabric of my jacket as if she intends to anchor us together. "I'm sorry, Coda. I-I s-shouldn't have gone. He was s-so m-mean. I just w-wanted to get away. I was d-driving too f-fast to stop." Her words are muffled against my chest, but I understand enough.
She was at her father's. My blood turns to ice. "You were trying to get away from your father, cara? That's what caused the accident?"
Mattia and Domani shift restlessly.
"Cazzo," Mattia mutters. He knows me well enough to know this isn't going to endear the bastard to me.
Karina nods, trembling in my arms. "We got into an a-argument. H-he called me…" She trails off, but I don't need to hear it. Cold fury settles over me. That motherfucker had the audacity to call her names? His own daughter? He's the reason she's in this bed right now? The reason I could have lost her today?
"W-whore," she finally whispers.
The word rips through the room like a bullet, hitting me right in the heart. And I fucking bleed.
He called her a whore. The fiery little angel who lights up the dark. He had the nerve to twist his lips and call her anything other than perfect?
He's crossed a line no man should ever cross.
"Listen to me, Karina," I say, my voice deadly quiet as I hold her to my chest, rage pounding through me with every jolt of my heart. "He'll never speak to you that way again."
I meet Mattia's gaze over her head. He simply nods, already knowing that my decision is made and nothing anyone says will change my mind now.
Her father had no mercy for her; I'll have none for him.
