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“Miss Viviana left a couple hours ago,” one of the housekeepers told me. “She had a few bags with her.”
I raked my hand through my hair and exhaled sharply. Viviana had left, and now she was in grave danger. I quickly raced back down the stairs and to my car. There was only one place I could think of her going, and it was to the Catalanos. She was able to walk away from them the last time, but a lot had happened since then. Marcu Catalano had met his end via a car bombing in their home city, and the remaining two brothers were out for blood. They knew the hit had been orchestrated by me, and she was the most valuable possession I owned. She mentioned having told them she wanted to be with me, and that disloyalty signed her death certificate. They would no longer care about her as a woman they created, but look at her more as the pawn she was in this deadly game.
I sped out of the driveway and was headed back to the Autostrada when another call came in. I answered this one, hoping it would be news on Viviana’s whereabouts. “Where is she?”
“The Ospedale.” She was in the fucking hospital.
“Is she okay?” I didn’t pull over, but I did have to ask. “Which one?”
“Ospedale S. Maria di Loreto Nuovo. And there’s more.”
“What?”
“There’s been an accident. Witness statements on the scene indicate a dark SUV was in pursuit and ran her off the road. Her car hit a tree head-on, but she was able to get out before it burst into flames. She was disoriented and in distress, claims the witness, then taken via ambulance to the ospedale.”
I was truly relieved she had made it out of the vehicle, which meant she had a fighting chance. I then went back to how the accident had happened and growled. A dark SUV was exactly what Luca had just told me the Catalanos were seen in. She was in her own car, and one they would’ve recognized. My worst fears were coming to fruition. I had to get to her now for more than one reason.
“I want you on standby,” I told him, then hung up.
I knew exactly where the hospital was located, but I was going in the opposite direction. I made a U-turn in the center of the street, then sped toward the hospital. I had no idea what type of injuries she might have suffered, but I did know the ones that every Catalano would. In this world, there was little loyalty, and it was something I knew and accepted. Viviana still viewed things through rose-colored glasses. She thought she could just seduce my father and kill him, not realizing she could never walk away afterward. She would’ve been killed by my father’s men, and the same ones now tasked with protecting her life. I would’ve been vilified and likely taken out myself for forgiving her of such a heinous crime.
It was all the reason I had finished what she’d started. I could withstand the backlash, and I had. It made me more powerful. While some on the payroll would still enjoy watching me being taken out, others feared and respected me more now than before. By association, she was also protected, or should’ve been. I would find out who was responsible for letting her leave without some sort of tail, and they would be dealt with in due time. Right now, I had to get to the hospital and see her for myself. Everything else could take a backseat until then.
VIVIANA
I woke up to the incessant beeping of nearby machines, and the obnoxious sounds were making my head throb more than it already did. I could hear voices, but in my grogginess, I couldn’t make out whose voices they were, or what they were saying. A few of them were more prevalent than others, but still not any that I recognized. I lingered in this half-conscious state until finally finding the strength to try opening my eyes. I had to be in a hospital. It was the only thing that made sense. I didn’t want to panic over that. As I tried to raise my lashes, however, at first, they wouldn’t budge. I then focused on the simple task and finally I was able to see that I was in the very place I had suspected.
I didn’t dare try to move as I was already experiencing a bit of lightheadedness as it was. I stared at the ceiling tiles above my head, the white cubes eventually blending from one into another until everything became blurry. The sounds of the nearby medical equipment continued to go off beside me, and I closed my eyes again as I tried to remember what landed me in this place to begin with. As I concentrated the best that I could, I remembered being in my car. I was fleeing from Nazario, but someone was following me.
At first, I had thought it was someone simply fucking with me, but they stayed on my tail. The fear I had felt then came rushing back, and I bit nervously down on my chapped bottom lip. The car had bumped me a time or two before running me off the road. The tree had come into view and my heart rate had sped up. When my sportscar made contact in my recollection, I cried out, then immediately saw a woman and two men come into view.
You’re awake, Miss Spataro,” one of the men said, then softened his voice. “Do you know where you are?”
I nodded, even though it caused a fresh bout of pain and nausea to return. “The hospital.”
“You were in an accident,” the woman said, and I nodded.
“The baby. H-how is the—”
“What baby?” the other man said, and I watched as he grabbed my chart and started to skim through it.
“I’m pregnant,” I managed to get out. My mouth was growing drier by the second and as if the woman could see my struggle, she walked to the sink and filled one of the small cups with water, then handed it to me.
I took a sip and nearly spit it out at the doctor’s next words. “We did a full blood workup on you and the pregnancy test came back negative.”
“N-negative,” I sputtered. There was no way.
The other male doctor took the chart and looked apologetically back at me. “He’s right. The test came back negative. Did a physician previously confirm a pregnancy?”
I quickly tried to remember if the doctor Nazario had called in had been successful, but even with a foggy head, I knew I had outsmarted him and escaped. I hadn’t actually gone to see a doctor yet because the tests had said...
“I took multiple home tests and they confirmed I was pregnant. I’ve also had morning sickness for a few weeks now and—”
“There was something we noticed in your bloodwork,” the other man said.
“What?”
He continued, “You have extremely elevated levels of progesterone which has been known to mimic the early signs of a pregnancy. It—”
