Then, Now, Forever (Heartbeat #2)

by Teodora Kostova

  “Oh, look at that! I got a two for one offer without even trying!” He laughed and Gia knew for a fact that if she ever got free, she’d punch him, kick him, scratch his eyes out, and wouldn’t stop till one of them was dead.

  Francesco turned the iPad fully towards Gia again, just as a car screeched to a halt in front of Lisa and Beppe. Beppe turned, and an instant later pushed Lisa away from him so forcefully she stumbled backwards to the ground. That was when Gia clearly heard four gunshots.

  No! No, no, no, no.... Beppe!

  The car sped away and the camera focused on Beppe, lying in the street, motionless, a pool of blood starting to form around him.

  “Noooo, please, noooo...” Gia screamed and fought against the restraints, ignoring the pain that shot through her wrists. “Please... tell me he’s not dead. Please.” She continued to fight and cry, not even knowing who she was talking to. The room blurred around her, Francesco and his men disappeared and all that remained was the image of Beppe lying in the street in his own blood.

  Gia thrashed and fought, but it was all in vain. The restraints remained tight, keeping her locked in her own nightmare. Completely exhausted and unable to speak or think, Gia collapsed, allowing blackness to envelop her once more.

  A terrible smell brought Gia back to reality. She jerked fully awake, disoriented. Where was she? Her eyes focused on Francesco in front of her, closing the lid of a small bottle and giving it to one of his goons. With a whoosh all memories of where she was and what had happened slammed into her brain. Pain and fear turned to agonizing fury.

  “Beppe!” she yelled, pulling at her restraints with all she had.

  “Enough!” Francesco yelled right in her face. “He’s dead. And it’s all your fault.” His lips spread into his nasty grin. “I’m going to let you go because frankly you’re starting to bore me.” Francesco sat on the chair across from her, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and fixed Gia with his cold, murderous stare. “As you can see, and I hope appreciate, you’re completely unharmed. Other than the slight redness on your wrists. I wanted it this way – couldn’t have you running to the police and giving them any reason to believe any of your accusations. Here’s what’s going to happen when I cut your restraints – you’re going to pick up your bag and head out the door. Where you go from there – I don’t give a fuck. What I do know is, you’re not going to go to the police. I don’t want you running around, spreading rumours about me.”

  “Rumours? You just had someone killed, you sick motherfucker!” Gia yelled at Francesco, unable and unwilling to control her anger.

  “Interrupt me again and I’ll reconsider my plan. My boys over there would love to play with you.” Gia went completely rigid as she chanced a look at Francesco's lackeys. She shivered at the vile grins on their faces, like hungry pitbulls just waiting for their master’s command. “Your friend, the girl, I think you’ve mentioned her before – Lisa, was it? Your hero fiancé managed to push her out of the way so she’s fine. However, that can very easily change, Gianna. Now that you’ve seen what I’m capable of, I would strongly advise you to do exactly as I tell you unless you want someone else’s death on your hands.”

  Gia felt momentary relief that Lisa was OK, but it was quickly pushed away by Francesco's threat. She had no choice but to agree to the bastard’s terms.

  “You haven’t seen me since the night we broke up. Beppe’s death is an unexplained incident, one I’m sure the police will feel obligated to investigate. But there will be nothing to find. Frankly, I don’t care what you tell them when they come asking, as long as you don’t mention me – match your story with your friend Lisa's. Feed them whatever bullshit you want.”

  Tears streamed down Gia’s face as she realised what a sick, manipulative asshole Francesco was. He’d planned this so carefully that she had no way of ever getting justice for Beppe’s death.

  Francesco stood, took a small knife from the desk and cut through the rope. Gia remained on the chair, not daring to move in case he changed his mind and attacked her while still holding the knife.

  “Giuseppe Orsino is dead and you’ll have to live with that knowledge for the rest of your life. That’s the only reason I’m not going to kill you – living will be a far greater punishment for you,” he said and took her bag from behind the desk, tossing it at her feet. “Go!” he roared. Gia grabbed her bag and ran.

  Making her way swiftly, she realised she was in some kind of an office building, with rows of doors along the corridor. Gia ran past all the doors, not stopping until she reached the one marked ‘emergency exit’ with huge green letters. She pushed on the rail that opened the door and the cold air of the outside world welcomed her. It was getting dark and it was freezing – how long had she been out the second time? It was still mid-afternoon when Beppe...

  No! He’s not dead!

  Gia tried to convince herself and shivered, realising she was wearing only her jumper. She didn’t know what had happened to her coat and scarf – they were probably still in there with Francesco and he’d surely dispose of them.

  Looking around, she needed to find clues as to where she was. It was an empty parking lot and there was a gate leading to the street. She ran towards it and relief flooded her when she saw the moving cars along the street.

  Gia held her hand out to call for a taxi, and in a few minutes one pulled up to the curb. She jumped inside and told the driver Beppe’s address, trying to remain calm.

  Please, let him be alive. Please.

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  Gia scrambled out of the taxi the moment it stopped in front of Beppe’s building. There was yellow police tape around the spot where Beppe had been shot. Gia barely managed to put one leg in front of the other. She made her way into the lobby, trying to seem calm, just a touch worried about the police tape, even though she could feel her stomach turning and was only barely suppressing the urge to throw up. She remembered what she’d seen on the iPad’s screen and black spots started playing in her vision. She took a few deep breaths to calm down – after all she couldn't let the concierge know she’d seen everything. According to Francesco's instructions she was supposed to play dumb.

  “Miss Selvaggio! My God!” the concierge exclaimed as he saw her and ran towards her, his face twisted in concern. “I was praying you’d show up soon. Something terrible has happened to Mr. Orsino”

  “Beppe? What happened?” Gia felt as though she were going to break down any moment.

  “Someone shot him, Miss Selvaggio. Right outside.”

  “Oh my God!” Gia brought a trembling hand to her mouth and started crying. For the first time since it had happened, Gia allowed herself to cry and grieve with no other emotion messing with her head. The concierge – Gia couldn’t remember his name even if she tried – put and arm around her shoulders and led her to a chair. As she sat down, he gave her a tissue and stood awkwardly next to her.

  “Tell me everything, please,” Gia said when she calmed down enough to speak.

  “I didn’t see what happened – my colleague Bruno was on shift, but he had to go home because he was very distressed after what happened. I was called to take over his shift. But from what he managed to tell me, Mr. Orsino ran outside looking for something when your friend Miss Elliot joined him and soon after that someone started shooting at them from a car. The moment the car sped away, Bruno ran outside and saw Mr. Orsino on the ground, bleeding. He checked his pulse and it was still there, barely. He started giving him CPR while Miss Elliot, who’s fine by the way, called an ambulance. They arrived a few minutes later and took Mr. Orsino to the hospital. I have no idea if he made it there, he’d lost a lot of blood.” The concierge choked on the last words, clearly shaken by what had happened.

  “Which hospital?”

  Gia rushed to the hospital and headed straight for the reception desk.

  “I’m looking for Giuseppe Orsino,” she said and she must have looked quite frantic because the receptionist looked her up
and down for a few moments before she said,

  “Are you family?”

  “Yes, I’m his fiancé. Tell me he’s here, please. Tell me he’s alive.” Gia felt tears starting to well up in her eyes. The receptionist’s eyes softened before she spoke again.

  “Just barely. He’s in surgery. Leave your details on this form and take a seat over there. The doctor will find you when he’s out of surgery.” Relief flooded Gia as she nodded, filled out the form quickly and headed for the waiting area.

  He’s alive. He’ll make it, I know he will.

  He has to.

  Lisa was curled up in a chair in the waiting area, her right wrist was bandaged and she was sporting a severe looking bruise on her forearm. Gia immediately went to her friend, drawing her into a fierce hug as they both cried.

  “Are you OK?” asked Gia, eyeing Lisa’s arm with concern.

  “Yeah, it’s nothing, a little scrape,” Lisa waved her off as she wiped at her eyes with a tissue she held in her hand. She took another one for Gia out of her pocket.

  “I tried calling you, but it kept going to voice mail. What happened to you?” Lisa whispered, clearly aware something was going on.

  “We can’t talk here,” Gia said casting a look around to indicate the many people around them. “Let’s wait for the doctor, I don’t want to leave here and miss any update on Beppe. I’ll tell you everything after that, OK?”

  Lisa nodded and rested her head on Gia’s shoulder. Gia put her arm around her friend’s shoulders and they waited, as silent prayers for Beppe filled her head.

  “Miss Selvaggio?” a strong, male voice said from somewhere close to her. “Miss Selvaggio,” the voice repeated, louder this time. Gia forced her eyes to open and the moment she saw the doctor’s white coat, she remembered where she was.

  “I’m doctor Leverone. I operated on your fiancé, Mr. Orsino.”

  “How is he doctor?” Gia jumped upright and got a bit dizzy from the sudden movement and lack of food. She hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours. Lisa joined her and they both anxiously waited for the doctor’s next words.

  “At the moment he’s stable,” the doctor said and Gia felt her knees go weak with relief. “He lost a lot of blood, so we needed to give him a transfusion. We are treating him for a collapsed lung. And we had to put a pacemaker in his heart.”

  Gia’s hand flew to her mouth and she felt as though the world tilted off it’s axis. The next thing she was aware of were Lisa’s hands around her as she caught her before she fell and helped her back onto the chair.

  “I’m not going to lie to you, Miss Selvaggio. The next forty eight hours will be critical. We’ll watch him closely and do everything we can so that he pulls through.”

  “Can I see him?” Gia asked and the doctor must have seen the desperation in her eyes, because after thinking for a few seconds he said,

  “For five minutes.”

  “Thank you!”

  Gia followed the doctor into the Intensive Care Unit and her heart almost beat out of her chest when he opened the door to Beppe’s room.

  “Five minutes. I’ll wait here,” the doctor said and closed the door behind Gia.

  Beppe was lying on the bed, hooked to so many tubes and machines. Gia was at once taken back to when she’d last seen him in a hospital bed, unconscious and fighting for his life. She’d been so scared that the man she loved would be taken from her then. She was even more afraid now.

  No. Beppe is stronger than this. I have to show him that I’m here, that he has to fight to survive, for us.

  Gia pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. She took Beppe's hand gently in her own. It was cold and dry to the touch. His face looked thin and devoid of the usual emotion and animation.

  “I’m here, Beppe. I’m safe. I know you can hear me, baby, and I want you to know that I’m all right. You have to get better so that we can get married and do everything else we planned. OK?” Her voice hitched, but determined not to cry in front of him, Gia blinked rapidly and swallowed repeatedly until she gathered her composure. “I love you, Beppe. Please don’t leave me.” Gia smoothed his hair off his forehead and leaned in to place a soft kiss on his cheek.

  How was it possible that she’d done this twice in her lifetime? Life was a heartless bitch sometimes.

  Just then the door opened and the doctor gestured that her time was up. Squeezing Beppe’s hand one last time, Gia turned and left the room.

  “Thank you for allowing me to see him. I’ll be in the waiting area, please let me know if there’s any change.”

  “Look, you won’t be able to see him again until he’s out of ICU and there’s no point in waiting here. We’ll call you the moment there’s any news.”

  Gia started shaking her head before the doctor had even finished speaking.

  “Miss Selvaggio, listen to me,” the doctor squeezed her upper arms lightly. “You won’t be any good to him when he wakes up if you’re too exhausted to stand upright. Go home, get some rest and we’ll call you if there’s any change. When we move him to the recovery unit, you can stay with him all you like, OK?”

  Gia nodded. The doctor was right – she was too drained to be of any help here, but it didn’t feel right to just go home and leave Beppe, alone. The struggle between grief, exhaustion and fear must have shown on her face, because the doctor took a prescription pad out of his pocket, wrote something and gave Gia the slip.

  “Here. This will help you sleep, I can see how difficult this is for you.” Gia nodded and on autopilot took the prescription and stuffed it in her jeans’ pocket. “I’m not comfortable letting you go home alone. Was that your friend in the waiting room? Can she take you home and stay with you?”

  “Yeah, she will. Thank you doctor, please call me the moment there’s any change.”

  The doctor assured her they’d call her. He escorted Gia back to the waiting area, where Lisa wrapped an arm around her shoulders and took her home.

  Gia woke up in her own bed to the sound of a soft, feminine voice calling her name. She opened her eyes to find Lisa sitting next to her on the bed, trying to wake her up.

  “Did the hospital call? Is he OK?” Gia sat upright too abruptly and her head started to pound again.

  “No, honey, they haven’t called yet which means he’s OK. But there’s something else – two detectives came in, about an hour ago. They wanted to talk to you, but I told them the doctor had prescribed something very strong for the shock. I said you were drugged out of your mind and sleeping.”

  “Fuck!” Gia buried her hand in her hair, trying to make it stop pounding. “Did they talk to you?”

  “Yeah. I told them what we agreed to yesterday.”

  Last night, they had discussed what to tell the police after Gia told Lisa the truth about what had happened. They came to a decision to keep it simple – they were supposed to meet for coffee but Gia was running late and by the time she arrived, Lisa had left. They couldn’t get in touch because Gia’s phone was dead. Gia had decided to go shopping since she was already out and about, but didn’t buy anything – in case they wanted to see a receipt. Lisa on the other hand, had decided to go to Beppe’s place and look for Gia. When she'd arrived, she saw Beppe out front. She’d approached him, and suddenly, someone had started shooting at them. Beppe had pushed her away and taken all the shots, while Lisa had sustained only a few bruises from the fall.

  “Thanks, Lisa. I know you have to lie to the police because of me and I’m really sorry...” Gia began.

  “Stop it, Gia. None of this is your fault. We’re lying because of that sick bastard Francesco, not because of you.”

  Gia nodded. She wanted Francesco to go to jail for what he’d done, but she knew that would never happen. It didn't matter. At the moment, the only thing that mattered was Beppe getting well. Still, Gia couldn't shake the feeling that even though she’d done everything he’d wanted, Francesco wouldn’t just let them be. She wasn't about to spend her life scared and constantly expecting to
be ambushed. She needed to do something about the bastard because she’d die before she let him harm Beppe again.

  ******

  Lisa walked into the ‘Giuseppe Mazzini’ medical centre about half an hour after she left Gia in Beppe’s apartment. Their apartment. Lisa had to get used to the idea that her friends were engaged. She still hadn’t seen them happy together – the first time she’d seen Beppe after they got back from London, he’d been shot right in front of her. God, she had been utterly terrified! Lisa remembered the panic when Beppe had pushed her away from him. The gunshots, Beppe falling, the blood...

  Lisa started shaking again just thinking about it. She needed to pull herself together before she went in to see Gino. She didn't want him to see her so distressed. She should have waited until she had calmed down, or at least until her arm had healed. But she couldn't wait – she needed to see Gino. Lisa needed to feel him breathing, touch him to make sure he was all right. He might not be speaking to her or even looking at her, but at least he was alive.

  Lisa greeted the receptionist sitting behind the expensive desk, and signed her name in the visitors’ book before heading up the stairs to room 256. When she walked in and saw Gino in his wheelchair at his usual place near the window, Lisa sighed with relief. She took off her jacket and placed it on the sofa along with her bag. The room looked as immaculate as ever – the bed was perfectly made, all surfaces were dust and clutter free, the small cushions on the brown leather sofas were plumped and carefully arranged to match the curtains, carpet and the room’s red, brown and green colour scheme. Lisa fought the sudden urge to jump on the bed until the perfect cover was crumpled or to run around the room and make it as messy as possible.