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She drops back into her seat with a shocked expression on her face as Angelo opens the door and places our order with one of the soldiers outside.
As he slams it shut behind him, he raises his eyes. “Consider it done.”
“I’ll never get used to this.”
Charlotte shakes her head and I growl, “You’re one of us now. We look after our own.”
She smiles but I see the concern in her eyes as she whispers, “She’ll be ok.”
“What are you, a doctor now?” I grin to remove the bite from my words, and she shrugs. “I’ve studied first aid and am quite the fan of hospital drama. She’ll pull through, just you see.”
We all fall silent as we pray for the same thing. To get Winter back and lose her so quickly just isn’t a fucking option. Of course she’ll make it. She has to.
* * *
It must betwo hours later the doctor pays us a visit and his blank expression gives nothing away as he says wearily, “Is one of you her husband?”
Angelo steps forward. “I’m her brother.”
The doctor nods. “She’s stable but unresponsive. She suffered a head trauma, but there is nothing on the scan telling us we need to operate. To be safe, we have placed her in an induced coma to give her brain time to function properly. We should know more in a few days.”
“Will she be ok?”
Angelo asks the question we all need the answer to and, as always, the doctor gives nothing away.
“There is no obvious damage. As I said, we will monitor her.”
“I want to see her?”
Angelo’s tone doesn’t give the doctor many options and with a sigh, he nods. “Of course, only you, though.”
I jump up. “Not happening. We all go.”
I fix the doctor with my most fearsome expression and he swallows hard. “Maybe in this case we’ll bend the rules a little.”
He sighs. “Follow me.”
We walk behind him, and I swear my heart is thumping because I’m not sure if I can hold my shit together. Angelo looks destroyed and Charlotte anxious and as we head toward the ICU, I die a thousand times inside.
The doctor stops outside a room and a huge window gives us a view inside and we see the frail body of the woman we have ached to bring back to us wired up to frightening machines, looking like an angel hovering between heaven and earth.
Angelo glances at me and for a moment we share the same emotion. I understand exactly what he is going through right now, and I can tell he thinks the same. The doctor cuts through the emotion and says wearily, “You must gown up and scrub up if you want to go inside. One at a time though, the room is too small for a party.”
He pales as two dark stares fix on him and he stutters, “Well, anyway, I should be um, heading back. Leave your details at reception and we’ll keep you informed of any changes.”
He scurries off, and Charlotte shakes her head as she watches him go. “You could have thanked him. That was awfully rude, you know. The poor man, I didn’t know where to look. I was so embarrassed.”
She sighs and says quickly, “Well, what are you waiting for, scrub up boys, Winter’s waiting.”
CHAPTER9
ALESSANDRO
Almost as soon as Angelo heads inside the room, Ivan appears looking like the savage he is.
His rough expression falls on his wife, who runs into his open arms and as his strong tattooed ones fold around her, I envy him. He has secured her future with him. Nothing will ever tear them apart and they have one another. My gaze flicks inside the room and my heart twists when I see Angelo smooth the hair away from his sister’s eyes as he raises her hand to his lips. It’s such a gentle act of brotherly love that hits me hard. If I am in hell, he is right beside me because we are facing the unknown and I don’t think either of us can deal with that.
Ivan steps closer and growls, “Fucking bastard.”
