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“We’ve got it from here!” The doctors hauled Alessio’s lifeless body onto a gurney and rushed through the entrance. The doctors and nurses were speaking rapidly in Italian. I tried to keep up with them, but then I felt Marco’s hold pulling me back.
I struggled against him. “I need to stay with Alessio.”
“We have to let the doctors do their job now.” His voice was flat and full of defeat.
“But...what if...”
“Don’t even say it, don’t even think it,” Marco whispered as he pulled me into his embrace, and I let the hot, heavy tears pour out of me.
CHAPTER 33
CATE
Marco, Juliana, and I all waited nervously in the waiting room. Juliana and I sat together while Marco paced furiously up and down the room and demanded I tell him again exactly what had happened and what Dmitri had said.
“At least that fucker is dead now,” said Marco about Dmitri. “If he wasn’t, I would be torturing him to death in the most painful way possible after what he’s done to my brother.”
We sat and waited for what felt like an eternity.
Everyone was distracted, and this was the perfect opportunity for me to slip away again.
Except that I didn’t want to anymore.
I’d thought that getting away from Alessio would make me feel safer. But nothing could have been further from the truth. How scared I’d been with Dmitri had been in complete contrast with how Alessio had made me feel over the last few weeks—cared for, protected, cherished, and loved.
He had given me the security and love I’d been yearning for all these years since my mom and brother had died.
I’d spent years telling myself that it was the Mafia world which was responsible for all my problems and that all Made Men were the same—violent and brutal.
But Alessio had shown me a different side and a different sort of man—the sort I had fallen deeply for.
I could either keep running from the pain of my past, or I could try to heal those wounds with the love of a man who would do anything for me, including risking his own life.
He had put his life on the line for me. And now, if I wanted to be with him, I would have to trust him with my life and let him in and let him help me heal—that is, if he ever forgave me for betraying his love by running away from. Oh God, I had made a complete mess of everything.
After a few hours, Marco said, “Juliana, you should go home to the villa. The stress isn’t good for your pregnancy and your blood pressure is already too high.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know if Alessio is going to be alright. Going home is not going to stop me from worrying.” The stubborn tone of her voice made it clear that she wasn’t leaving.
Eventually, the doctor who operated on Alessio came out to speak to us. I could see he was nervous around Marco—he knew exactly who Marco was and what he would do to him if he let Alessio die.
ALESSIO
My head felt fuzzy and the black in front of my eyes started to lighten. My mouth felt as dry as a desert and there was a dull ache in my abdomen. I tried to groan, but my throat was too dry to even manage that. Maybe I should just go back to sleep, I thought.
“He’s awake.” I heard a stranger’s voice. “He’s regained consciousness.”
Regained consciousness? That must mean I had blacked out or something. I fought the drowsy feeling overcoming me and forced my eyes open.
“It’s okay. You’re in a hospital.” A man dressed in scrubs was standing at my side. “How are you feeling?”
I tried to speak but only managed a croak. He held a cup of water to me, and I drank gratefully from the straw.
The water helped to revive my senses, and I looked past the doctor to see Marco standing with Cate. “You look like shit, Capo,” I said in a low, husky voice.
“We must match then,” Marco grinned. But I could tell in that grin was also a huge amount of relief.
“We had to operate to remove the bullet and repair the internal damage,” the doctor continued. “You’re lucky they got you here when they did because you wouldn’t have survived much longer given the extent of internal damage and the amount of blood loss you suffered.”
