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“I just finished eating my pizza and this dude comes up to the table. Asked if I minded him sitting with me. I thought it a little weird as there were other empty seats, so I got up. The fucker grabbed my arm, started pulling me out of the cafeteria. I screamed and he ran off.” Her chest heaves as she sucks in air. “I was scared so I hid in the restroom. I tried to call you but my phone was out of juice…”
Sefi leaps up and hugs Camila. “Thank God you’re alright.”
“Yes, thank God.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be in any danger. I should have gone with you…”
“And left Sefi?” Camila pushes the curls from her face.
“There’s an armed guard at the door,” I remind her.
Camila gives an impatient huff. “I wasn’t gonna say anything until Alessio pulls through, but I can’t keep quiet any longer.” She takes a step back and folds her arms. “Sefi is coming home with me. It’s really not safe for her here. Not safe for me either…”
Sefi presses her lips together, then opens them. She appears conflicted, and I don’t blame her. “I can stay in the apartment,” she says.
Camila bounces her gaze from me to Sefi and back to me again. “What kind of life is that?”
“We’re all tired and emotional.” I lower my chin. “Let’s try and get some sleep and we can talk about it in the morning.”
A nurse arrives with pillows and blankets. We spread them out on the hard chairs. Camila curls up in the corner of the room. Sefi and I contrive a makeshift bed in the center.
I kiss her sweet lips. “Goodnight, tesoro.”
“Goodnight, amore,” she sighs.
Jesus, what a fucking clusterfuck.
How will Alessio and I manage without our beautiful angel?
And, if I lose them both, I will lose everything.Chapter Thirty-FiveAlessioI crank my eyes open. Agony worse than any I’ve felt in my life before stabs in the middle of my chest and near my stomach. I groan, and a hazy figure declares that she’s giving me something for the pain.
I’m tired… I just want to sleep, and so I do, spiraling back into the cocoon of darkness.
I don’t know how long I sleep, but a voice, maybe the same female voice I heard earlier, echoes from my left-hand side. “Wake up, Commissario.”
I’m in bed, I realize, but this bed feels different to the one at home, and there’s a steady beeping sound in my ear.
I squint at the middle-aged woman hovering in my periphery.
A doctor!
Cazzo, I’m in the fucking hospital…
“Wh... wh... what happened?” I shut my eyes.
My mind is groggy.
Sefi. Where’s Sefi? Fuck, I failed to rescue her…
“You were shot. Twice.” The doctor speaks into my ear. “The first bullet hit a rib and lodged itself a centimeter from your heart. Your lung partially collapsed. The second bullet grazed your liver. If your girlfriend hadn’t staunched the bleeding you wouldn’t have made it.”
My girlfriend?!
Sefi?!
“Is she alright?” The question exits my mouth slowly, as if I’ve dragged it from the recesses of my subconscious.
“Signorina Martinez hasn’t been harmed. She and Signor Lorrer are here in the hospital.” The doctor’s tone is measured. “As soon as we’ve checked you over, I’ll inform them that you’ve pulled through.”
“Pulled through?”
I’m feeling woozy. Maybe I didn’t hear her right?
“You’ve had a narrow escape, Commissario. Last night, you went into cardiac arrest. Almost certainly caused by the trauma to your body and all the blood you lost.”
“Jesus...”
My thoughts freeze as my baffled brain attempts to piece together what the doctor said.
“We acted fast.” She leans in and her gaze is determined. “Your heart started again almost immediately. There shouldn’t be any long-term effects.”
“Grazie…” What else can I say?
Seems I’ve been in good hands.
I feel myself being prodded and probed by the doctor and a couple of other medics. I glance down while they are working on me. Fuck, there’s a tube coming out of my chest and another draining fluid from below my diaphragm. But at least the pain has gone, replaced by a floating sensation as I drift on a morphine high.
I close my eyes… I’m falling into that place without dreams again, lulled by the painkillers and the beeping machine behind my bed.
Then, I hear familiar voices, and my heart fills with joy.
The two people I love most in the world are saying my name.
I blink, and their faces loom into my field of vision. They pull up chairs, bend and brush kisses to my lips. I breathe in the aroma of Marco’s musky maleness and Sefi’s feminine scent. They truly are Yin and Yang and I love them more than words can say. “Ciao,” I whisper, a lone tear running down my cheek.
“Thank God you’re alright, tesoro.” Marco kisses me again, his salty tears splashing into my mouth. “How are you feeling?”
