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“I know,” I say with a smile.
The door closes and Edoardo is guided away from me. He watches the car I’m in as we drive off in the direction of the police station. And when we get there, I am treated well. They hand me the warm cup of tea that I was promised, and a kind female officer joins me in the room.
“So, I have to admit, I’m having a hard time believing that your father attacked first,” the officer says.
“Why’s that?” I ask, taking a sip of the tea.
“Well, the neighbors report that they saw Mr. Lorenzo arrive with what looked like an army of men onto your father’s property.”
“He has to do that,” I say as I shrug. “The last time he arrived without protection, he was dragged away for a crime he didn’t commit. My father is a dangerous man. Only a fool would approach his home without protection.”
“So, you can confirm that there was no violence until your father got involved?” she asks.
“Absolutely.”
The officer makes a few notes, and seems to cross-check my answer with another page that she has tucked into the back of the folder.
“Right,” she continues. “And tell me, there was a woman found underneath one of the beds in the guest house. Was she also a captive in the house?”
I shake my head. “No, that’s Doctor Sharp. My father had her sent to check on me and the baby.”
“The baby?” the officer asks as she searches frantically through her documents, her face going pale.
“Not born yet,” I say as I place my hand on my stomach. “I’m pregnant. The doctor was prescribing me vitamins when the attack started, so I told her to hide. I didn’t want her hit by a stray bullet.”
The officer glances down at my stomach. “I see, I didn’t realize you were expecting,” she says.
“It isn’t exactly common knowledge at the moment,” I say quietly. “Things have gotten a little out of control.”
The officer does an exaggerated nod. “I suppose all of this has been very stressful for you and the baby.”
“This entire event has been an overly-dramatic domestic dispute,” I explain. “My father isn’t exactly happy about the pregnancy, or the identity of the father, let’s put it that way. Edoardo has been trying to help me.”
I take some more sips of my tea and it warms me up from the inside out. I am suddenly aware of how tired my body is. As the adrenaline wears off I can feel that I have been through too much. My shoulders are tight and my feet are burning.
“Aria, this is a little more than just a domestic dispute,” the officer says with a sarcastic smile.
“Wasn’t there that woman who chopped up her husband a while ago?” I say. “I heard about her on the news. She did it because he had come home drunk and she’d been fed up. I remember the news saying that he died over a domestic dispute. So, if that can be labeled as a domestic dispute, then so can this.”
I am too tired and I am losing patience for this entire process. Every word I say is written down and cross checked with another piece of paper. It is tedious, and what should take only a few seconds, takes minutes.
“We just have a few more questions for you,” the officer says as she taps her pen on the table.
I am aware that she is speaking, because I can see her mouth moving. But suddenly, everything around me is a little blurry and I can’t hear so well. My head feels too light and the lamps that hang above my head seem as if they’ve just become brighter.
I do my best to focus on the officer in front of me but I can’t seem to keep my vision on her. Then, the edges of what I can see darken and the officer looks as if she is sitting at the very end of the long, dark tunnel.
“I don’t feel so good,” I whisper.
What happens next, I am not entirely sure. I am aware of a cold sensation on the side of my face, and I can hear what sounds like shouting in the distance. Then, everything is pitch, dark black. It’s all too much for me to handle, and now that it is over, I feel the effects.
When I open my eyes again, I see the bright lights of a hospital room. My body is stiff and I have no idea how much time has passed. I can hear the beeping of hospital machines all around me. I am warm, too warm.
My focus comes back and I am immediately panicked. I sit upright and look around before looking at my body.
“It’s okay, you’re okay,” I hear Edoardo whisper as he wraps his arms around me.
“I don’t care about me,” I say in a panicked voice, barely louder than a whisper. “Is the baby okay?”
