“You fucked with me and mine.” I can't respond to Vittoro; I need my phone. I need to get him out of here. He's going to die. Don't die on me, Maddox. Don't leave me.
“Damon’s kept me safe all this time!” Bianca shouts. Her attention is drawn to Maddox, crumpled on the floor in a pool of blood that's expanding around him. He’s so still. Barely breathing. “And Maddox, too. Please, he needs a doctor. Don’t let him die. Not like this.”
Vittoro studies her reaction to Maddox closely. Recognition of new information dawns on his face. “You care about this piece of shit?” he asks her.
“Don’t call him that!” she screeches, and jerks out of my grasp for a moment, intent on charging toward her uncle. I shove her body behind me protectively. No one’s getting another chance to hurt her.
“Come with me, love,” Vittoro lowers his voice. “You belong with us… with your familia.”
She ignores her uncle and tugs on my arm. “We need to get him help, Damon. I’m getting him help,” she breathes out, and reaches into my back pocket for my phone.
“Don’t do that,” Vittoro says. “This needs to be taken care of privately.” He turns to one of his men in the inner circle. “Get Joey Nicoletti and his people over here. Now.”
I don’t need to ask what he means. He just needs help now. I don't care from where. Joey Nicoletti runs Vittoro’s ‘other’ crew, which consists of two teams. One is for cleanup. They’ll take care of the bodies—discreetly—and return the warehouse to its previous condition, as if none of this fighting or killing ever took place. The second team will stabilize and transport Vittoro’s wounded to a private medical clinic where if you pay enough money, you get discretion in return. It’s the kind of place where they won’t ask questions about how all these gunshot wounds came about. They also won’t loop in with the authorities unless the client asks. And in our world, we don’t ask.
I'm nodding my head while the words sink in. He's gonna help him. Thank fuck. I try to shake Maddox, but his body is limp and my hand starts trembling. “Just hold on.” I whisper the words.
While Vittoro’s guy makes the call, he turns back to Bianca. He tilts his head to one side, eyes trained on her hand, which is resting on my wrist. Then his gaze volleys back and forth between Maddox and me. “Bianca? Which one of them do you... who is it that you want?”
“Can we just focus on getting him and the others some help before we run out of time?” she answers dismissively, completely dodging the question.
At that moment, Vittoro refocuses on the bigger picture. Bianca is right on the money. No one in here called for help, but with all the gunfire still ringing out sporadically around the building, anyone in the area could have heard the noise. Cops can show up anytime, and even though Vittoro probably has a few of them on his payroll, he can’t take the chance. Bianca pulls out of my grip again to go to Maddox’s side.
It kills me to see her drop to her knees beside him, her face frozen in fear and horror from all that blood as he lies there face down, and so still. Pulling her to her feet, I move her away from him and settle her down on the floor a few yards away. She doesn’t need to see him in this state. Not now.
“Keep your head down and wait here. I’ll take care of him.”
I gently roll Maddox to his back. Blood gushes from the gunshot on his shoulder.
“Hold on, Maddox,” I tell him. “Just keep fighting.”
Dragging my jacket down my arms, I place it under his head. My shirt comes off next, and I bundle it up and press it against his shoulder wound. He’s completely unresponsive, so much so that I have to lower my head to his face with my ear directly above his nose to figure out if he’s conscious or not. His breathing is faint, but I can’t panic right now.
“I’m not leaving here without you, Bianca,” Vittoro starts up again, now that my attention is on Maddox.
“Then I guess you’re not leaving here,” Bianca sobs.
“Don’t defy me, child,” he demands, stepping toward her again.
“I’m not your child!” she screams, her voice thick with resentment.
I glance up to give Vittoro another warning look and can’t help but feel sorry for the man. There’s no hiding the heartbreak that flashes across his face.
“Get out of here, Vittoro!” I shout. “Give her some space. Please. Look, I’ll make sure she gets in touch with you later, but you’re not helping the situation right now.”
I pull myself to my feet to stop him from getting too close to her. Just as he reaches out his arms to plead his case to her, a faint movement of two figures gets me on alert again. They cover themselves in darkness, but I can see their shadows sneaking up toward us. I don’t know whose side they’re on, but they’re not my men, so they can’t be trusted. Something reflects light off an object at about waist height in the same area. It has to be weapons drawn tight against their side, and they’re pointing right toward us.
“Everybody get down!” I shout the command.
Everything moves so quickly that my voice seems to come out in slow motion. I move to one side, reaching out to shield Bianca as much as I can from this spot. Vittoro begins to turn his head to look back at them. Shoving him to the ground, I turn my body and draw my weapon. He falls hard a few feet from Maddox, safely out of my way. From my position and angle, when I shoot, the bullet hits one of the hidden men somewhere in his midsection. He falls from his spot against the wall. As he stumbles, the force of the blast turns his body, causing him to somehow discharge his weapon into the dark shadow beside him. Both men fall to the ground, revealing more of their faces under the light. The second man grabs the side of his head while the first man clutches his lower chest with one hand. The two writhe around, moaning out in pain as blood drenches their clothes and spread out from under their fingers.
Vittoro lifts his head up and looks around. “Jesus Christ. Are you okay, princess?”
She’s so shaken up, but in her daze, Bianca sucks in short breaths and gives her uncle a weak nod. Vittoro pushes off the ground and crosses the room to the men I just shot and empties his clip into both men.
I don't even react to the sounds of the bullets. All I can do is watch Maddox.
“Tell me he's going to be okay,” Bianca whispers.
I open my mouth to answer her, but I don't know what to say.
“The car's here,” a man shouts out and I finally look away from Maddox.
“Vittoro's voice is low as he tells me, “I can't force her to come with me, but if you ever hurt her, you're dead.”
If I could talk, I'd tell him I never would.
“It's not over,” he says and there's a threat in Vittoro's voice.
I ignore it. I don't give a damn about any of this. Bianca's safe. I have her.
But we both need Maddox. But Maddox...
Chapter 28
Bianca
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sounds of the heart monitor fill the hospital room. I’ve gotten used to it. It’s the only thing I’ve been hearing for the past few hours. But the sound gives me hope. Each beep is like music to my ears. It lets me know that Maddox is still fighting for his life.
I look up from my seat next to the hospital bed, my heart hurting at the sight in front of me as I bite my chapped lower lips. Maddox is lying still on the hard bed, making it look so small under him with wires and tubes attached all over his body, his face unmoving and his eyes closed. Tears roll down my cheeks as those horrible images from nearly twelve hours ago continue to haunt me. I can’t stop seeing them. The level of fear I felt in that moment at the thought of losing him still clings to me, gripping my sore heart like an iron fist. It’s been hours, and I’m still fucking shaking. And the same thoughts keep going through my head over and over, building on the horrible guilt I feel.
One, I almost lost Maddox.
And two, he almost died... because of me.
And the absolute worst thing about it is, he has to make it out alive. I could still lose him.
I can’t believe Mary’s father is the reason all this happened. All because of a debt. He owed the Condottis some money, and he gave up his only daughter to pay it off. I cover my hand with my face, remembering how she laid there dead, right beside her father. I’m sure he had no choice but to bring her. The look of fear in his eyes was just as prominent as the look of hate.
I still blame myself. He shouldn’t have brought her; he shouldn’t have made a deal with them. But if she’d never known me…
I shake my head and wipe away the tears. I have no one else but Maddox and Damon now.
A sob rips from my throat as more tears roll down my face. I shouldn’t have left them like that. I should’ve known that they would find me. All I wanted to do was protect them, but all I ended up doing was leading them into a death trap.
I just wanted so badly for all of this madness to end. But not like this. It can’t end like this.
Swallowing back the huge lump in my throat, I grab hold of Maddox’s hand. It’s cool, not warm like I’d hoped it would be. I can feel his pulse, although it's faint. It gives me little comfort. I’ve been doing this for the past few hours ever since they let us see him, hoping he’d wake up. The doctors said that he had a collapsed lung and severe blunt trauma to his internal organs. They told me he’ll either pull through, or he won’t.
We just have to wait and see if he’ll wake up.
And waiting has been absolute agony.
“Maddox,” I croak, my voice raw from constant sobbing and crying, “if you can hear me, please know that I’m sorry. And if I could take it all back… I would in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t have run away and left you guys to come track me down. I swear I wouldn’t have…” I stop to catch my breath. The lump has grown so large, it’s a struggle to speak, my throat aching. “Please…” I beg, my voice raspy and barely above a whisper. “Please come back to me. Please wake up. I’m begging you! I love you…” The last word comes out in a choked sob and I have to stop so I don’t have a complete breakdown.
Right then, I hear a sound and look up through tearstained eyes to see Damon standing in the doorway looking at me, his eyes filled with sadness and compassion. He looks anxious, as if he’s unsure that he should be here. I know he must have heard everything I said to Maddox. But I don’t care. I know he loves Maddox just as much as I do, but in a different way. Love comes in so many ways. He wants him to get well as much as I do.
I don’t want him to turn away and leave me, so I hold my right hand out to him while still holding Maddox’s with my left.
“I need you both,” I tell him when he looks unsure. “Please. I love the both of you. And I need you so much right now, Damon. I can’t handle this alone.”
The uncertainty remains on Damon’s face. And it hurts me to see it, especially with Maddox lying here close to death. I kind of know why he’s doubting me, maybe thinking I don’t love him for the stunt I pulled, or that I care about Maddox more, but I can’t let him walk out on me. Not here. Not now. I refuse to allow it. I love him, and that’s all that matters. “Sit down!” I yell at him, more in anguish than with fury. I see a nurse in white uniform stop in the hallway behind Damon and cast a curious glance our way. She’s probably thinking I’ve gone mad, but I don’t give a fuck. She doesn’t have any clue what I’m going through right now.
“Don’t you understand?” I half-shout at Damon, overflowing with so many emotions. “I want the both of you!” I inject all the strength I have left in my worn-out voice, wanting Damon to feel the truth.
I love them. So fucking much.
Damon stares at me, and I wonder what’s going through his mind. I feel like I won’t be able to take it if he walks away from me. I swear to God, I’ll literally have a nervous breakdown.
I desperately need Damon, even if he thinks I don’t.
My heart is in my throat as I wait for his response, beating so hard I feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest.
Finally, he speaks. “I understand,” he replies, sending my heart soaring with hope. He walks in slowly and grabs my hand, his eyes on Maddox’s swollen face. There are tears in his eyes, and I know he’s hurting just as much as I am as he gently squeezes my palm. “You can have us both… as long as he makes it.”
Chapter 29
Damon
I should be in that hospital bed.
Not Maddox.
He’s been through enough, but there he is, fighting for his life after hours of emergency surgery that has only served to stabilize him. He’s still in critical condition, and doctors have been noncommittal about his prognosis, leaving us to fear for the worst.
It should be me fighting for my life, I repeat inwardly as I stand there, looking outside as a gust of wind rattles against the window. The sparsely furnished recovery room is stark and depressing, showing its age through the thick layers of white paint. Who the fuck can get better in a place like this?
But there seems to be plenty of guilt going around. Bianca has been sitting in that chair, refusing to rest or relinquish her post at his bedside. Every so often she squeezes his hand, or slightly adjusts the elevation of the back lift, gingerly avoiding the numerous wires and intravenous tubes on his arm.
“Why isn’t he waking up?” Bianca asks me in a small voice I barely register.
I’d like an answer to that question too, but that’s the last thing I’ll say; I don’t want to add to her worry. Turning to face the bed, I try to relax the tense muscles in my face.
“He will.”
“God, this is just…” She stares up at the ceiling, her eyes red and puffy from silent and not so silent tears. “Unbearable.”
I step up beside her chair and stretch an arm across her shoulder. “Maddox is a fighter. If anyone can survive this, it’s him.” I believe it with everything in me. He’s going to make it. I can’t live without him by my side. I don’t want to.
Bianca nuzzles the side of her head into the side of my hip and cranes her neck up. “I think… I think I love him,” she whispers.
The emotion in her words steal the air from my lungs. It kills me to hear her this shaken up about him. And what surprises me more is that I don’t feel a touch of jealousy. I’m actually relieved deep down. I only wish he could be awake to hear how deeply she cares for him after he’s fought tooth and nail against the idea that he deserves love just like the rest of us. “He’ll enjoy hearing you tell him that when he wakes up.”
Bianca pulls her feet up to the seat of the chair and hugs her knees as she returns her gaze to his face. “I love you too, Damon,” she says without looking up at me. “The two of you. You caught me off guard. I can’t say that I saw it coming, because I never would have thought this could happen.”
I’m still gazing down at the top of her head, wondering if I heard what I thought I heard. She reaches her hand up and clasps it over mine at her shoulder.
We fucking love her, too. I damn well know he does, and I sure as fuck do, too.
“If he pulls out of this—” she starts, but I stop her.
“When he pulls out,” I correct her.
“Yes, when... When that happens, I’d like us to try… to be together. I’m not sure how it would work, or if I’m enough for you both, but… I don’t really know what I’m saying, Damon. People don’t tend to stay in my life for long, but I know I want you both. Being with you two makes me feel so alive.”
“Don’t ever leave us again,” I say with finality. That’s all she has to do. If she stays with us, she’s ours. And we’re just as much hers.
Her face softens as she looks up at me. “I won’t.”
Giving her a soft smile, I squeeze her shoulder. She’s our honey bee.
Maddox just needs to wake up. He can’t leave us like this.
We’re meant to be together. The three of us.
Chapter 30
Maddox
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I grit my teeth as my forehead creases, the insistent beep pissing me o
ff even more. Fuck! My body hurts, but my damn head is killing me. My eyes are closed but I can tell I’m in a well-lit room, my body feels so heavy, almost pinned down.
At that thought, my body stiffens. The memories come back to me in slow motion.
My honey bee. Damon.
The adrenaline in my blood rushes through my body, making my heart hammer faster as my eyes shoot open. My hands clench into fists, ready to fight.
I’m numb to the pain as I take a look to my left and right, my lungs refusing to work as my throat closes with anxiety until I lay my eyes on her sleeping form. She's resting peacefully on Damon’s shoulder.
Thank fuck, I can barely breathe as my head falls back against the hard hospital bed. My eyes close tight with a stinging pain and the tightness in my heart won’t go the fuck away. For the first time in a long time, tears prick my eyes.
They’re alive.
Thank fuck, I thought… I tried to fight it so hard. I failed them. I know Damon needed me, and I couldn’t do shit. My sudden movement sends a sharp pain up my side as if to remind me why. It was stupid of me to run out like that. I know better; I acted on impulse.
And it almost got me killed. And worse, I couldn’t be there for them when they needed me.
I take in a staggering breath, remembering the look in their eyes when I fell. Fear. It was the last thing I saw. The look of fear in the eyes of the only two people I ever loved.
“Honey bee, wake up,” the sound of Damon’s voice makes me cover my face with my hands. I don’t want her to see me like this. So weak. I failed her. I failed them both.
“Maddox,” her soft voice says my name reverently and her quick footsteps clack against the hard floor. In a heartbeat, her hand is wrapped around my forearm, her face next to mine and then her lips are on mine as she pulls my hand away.
I can’t even begin to describe what it feels like, the pain in my heart is so overwhelming. It radiates through my chest.
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