21. Matteo
Matteo
Breaking glass had me sitting bolt upright in bed. Thick air filled my lungs, and I began to cough violently.
What the fuck?
Blinking my eyes, I couldn’t seem to clear them of the fog.
“Matteo.” The muffled voice calling my name belonged to Enzo.
That’s when my brain came back online and I began to process what was happening.
It wasn’t the haze of sleep clouding my vision. It was smoke.
My cousin’s hand landed on my arm and yanked hard enough to pull me from the mattress. “We need to get out of here. The house is on fire.”
Automatically, I reached for Summer. When I came up empty, I remembered that she’d returned to her room.
Wrenching out of Enzo’s hold, I rushed toward the secret door, but an arm banded around my waist, holding me back.
I thrashed wildly, frantic in my need to get to the woman I’d confessed to falling in love with mere hours ago. “Summer!”
Enzo grunted with the effort necessary to drag me away. “Rico got her and the girls out.”
Relief rolled through me with enough force to knock me to my knees.
“Get up. We gotta go!” Urgency colored those words.
Standing, I followed my cousin to the window he’d broken through. A ladder had been propped against the brick exterior of the house, providing us with a means of escape.
The minute my feet touched the ground, I took off running, my bare soles pounding across frozen ground, toward where I saw the flashing lights of emergency services parked in my driveway.
Firefighters were working to combat the flames, but the high-powered spray of water from their hoses didn’t appear to be making much of an impact.
The house would be a total loss, but I didn’t care. My loved ones were more valuable than any material possessions.
Cast in shades of alternating red and blue, Bianca came into view, still dressed in her pajamas. Beside her stood Teresa, holding a bundle of blankets with Serafina’s head peeking out from above them.
My heart dropped to my stomach. Where was Summer?
Huffing and puffing from my mad dash across the lawn, I bent over with my hands on my knees when I reached my daughters.
“Summer.” The single word came out on a panting gasp as I straightened.
Enzo skidded to a stop beside me. “She was right here with the girls. I swear.”
I spread my arms wide. “I don’t fucking see her. Do you?”
Teresa shifted uncomfortably, and my sharp gaze honed in on her.
“Speak,” I barked.
“Miss Reynolds asked me to hold Miss Serafina, and then she disappeared,” my housekeeper explained.
“Disappeared . . .”
There was more to this; I could feel it in my gut. Summer wouldn’t leave the girls in the middle of a crisis without good reason.
I dropped to a knee before Bianca, my hands roaming over her tiny frame, almost as if I needed proof that she was safe. “Do you know where Summer went?”
With a nod, my daughter lifted an arm to point toward the open door of the house, which looked like the gateway to Hell, with the blazing inferno visible inside.
“Cookie.” That single word shifted my world on its axis.
Son of a bitch. She’d gone back into the house for the cat.
I was moving without conscious thought, racing toward the burning structure. There were dozens of rooms split between three floors. The odds of Summer locating what was undoubtedly a scared animal were almost nonexistent. Her rescue efforts were essentially a suicide mission.
Voices shouted from behind me, warning of the danger that lay ahead. But unless they planned to physically restrain me, nothing was going to keep me from going in to retrieve Summer.
The minute I crossed the threshold, a wall of heat hit me square in the face, and my exposed skin practically sizzled. Thick smoke in the acrid air forced me to drop to my knees as I began my search.
I lost track of time as I methodically moved from room to room, the struggle to stay conscious a constant battle.
Each inhale had glass shards slicing through the lining of my lungs, my gritty eyes stung with every blink, and my mouth tasted like I’d consumed the contents of an ashtray.
But none of that mattered because Summer was somewhere inside this house.
And I needed to find her and drag her ass to safety, kicking and screaming, if need be.
We could always buy another cat. Summer couldn’t be replaced.
Crawling into the library, I finally spotted her. But the relief at discovering her location was short-lived because she was unconscious, trapped beneath a collapsed ceiling beam. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a ball of fur curled up beside her.
The smoke in this room was even thicker, so I dropped to my belly, pulling myself forward using only my arms.
When I finally reached her limp body, I placed an ear beside her mouth, checking to see if she was breathing.
My eyes slid shut when the faintest rush of air fanned the side of my face.
She was alive. But she wouldn’t stay that way for much longer if I didn’t get her out of here ASAP.
The ceiling beam lying across the back of her legs was on fire, and I winced, noting the damage done to her flawless skin. I rose to my knees, and a burst of inhuman strength surged through my veins, allowing me to lift the heavy piece of wood before tossing it aside.
When I hooked my arms beneath her armpits and began dragging her from the room, she roused enough to let out a weak moan.
“Stay with me, Summer,” I begged, the desperation in my voice making it sound almost unrecognizable to my ears.
Hacking so violently her chest rattled, she rasped, “C-cook-kie.”
Fuck. She’d almost gotten herself killed for that damn cat. But I knew if she learned I’d left it behind in favor of saving her, there would be hell to pay.
So that’s how I found myself reaching out to snatch up the pet and tuck it inside Summer’s shirt before hauling them both out of there.
After what felt like forever, we finally reached the foyer, where several firefighters were hosing down the charred remains of the entryway. One of them shouted over his shoulder when he saw us, and more heavily geared rescue personnel rushed inside.
“Help her,” I croaked, windpipe raw.
Summer was hefted into the arms of one fireman and rushed out the door, while another assisted me in getting to my feet.
Hobbling on weak legs, I made it outside just in time to see Summer lying flat on a gurney that was lifted into the back of an ambulance before the doors slammed shut, obscuring her from view.
I stumbled in my haste to reach her before they took her away, but I wasn’t quick enough. Sirens pierced the still of the night, the emergency vehicle tearing down the driveway before turning the corner.
“Whoa, easy there.” The man at my side gripped my shoulder.
“Take me to her,” I demanded, my voice sounding rough, like I’d smoked a pack of cigarettes every day for a decade.
“We need to get you checked out,” he protested.
I made a feeble attempt at shrugging him off. “I’m fine.”
“With how long you were inside, you’ve suffered a fair amount of smoke inhalation. At the very least, you need oxygen.”
He didn’t fucking get it! Summer was the very air I breathed. There wasn’t any medical intervention that could replicate the pure oxygen she injected into my lungs by simply existing.
“I’ve got this,” Enzo interjected, speaking to the firefighter keeping me upright. My cousin placed both hands on my face. “You got her out. You did that.”
“She’s hurt.” That admission rolled up a throat lined with razor blades.
“She’s in good hands. Let the medics check you over, and we can follow behind her.”
I couldn’t shake the memories of rushing to the hospital less than a year ago, only to receive the most devastating news a person could get.
“What if—” I swallowed roughly. “What if when I get there . . .” The end of that sentence hung in the air, the words too terrifying to even utter aloud.
“Don’t think like that.”
How could I not when I’d already lost one partner due to a tragic accident?
His brown eyes, which matched mine, softened. “Come on. Bet we can convince them to treat you while using those fancy sirens to get you to Summer even faster.”
I let him urge me toward the waiting ambulance. “The girls?”
“Safe and sound and staying warm in the back of one of the SUVs. They’ve been cleared by the EMTs. Rico’s going to take them and Teresa to the penthouse.”
Good. Knowing they were being well cared for allowed my mind to be fully focused on Summer.
I only prayed I hadn’t gotten to her too late. Not sure I would survive it if that were the case.
“What do you mean, I can’t see her?” My fist came down on the reception desk, making my frustration known.
The woman sitting behind it didn’t even flinch. “Are you family?”
“Well, no,” I confessed, agitated beyond measure.
“Then, I’m sorry, sir, but my hands are tied. It’s hospital policy that only immediate family members are allowed to accompany patients into triage. That means parents, siblings, spouses, and children.”
I scoffed. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
“I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“Matteo Bellini. That ring a bell? My family—our businesses—have donated entire wings inside this hospital.”
She folded both hands atop the desk. “While I thank you for your generosity, no amount of money is getting you past those doors.” She jerked her chin in the direction of the automated double doors that required badge access to gain entry.
“So, I’d suggest you take a seat before I’m forced to call security to have you removed. ”
A huff of disbelief flew past my lips, and I turned to Enzo at my side. “Can you believe this bullshit?”
He simply shrugged. “Rules are rules.”
I made sure to clip his shoulder when I turned to park my ass in one of the ugliest upholstered chairs I’d ever seen. “Rules don’t apply to me.”
“Would seem in this case, they do.” Enzo dropped onto the seat beside me.