Episode Six
“ S he’s in recovery. It was touch and go, but for now, she’s stable.” The doctor’s words crash through me.
Matilda is okay. She’s going to be okay.
I can’t say I’ve ever felt fear in my life before today. Not real fear. The kind of fear that pulls the ground out from beneath you. The kind of fear that cripples you completely. Being told that your fiancée took a bullet to the chest, that’s the kind of thing that destroys you.
I’ve done my best to keep my shit together. For her sake. When her father came in here blaming me, when his fist connected with my jaw, I kept my anger in check. Matilda would never forgive me if I retaliated against her family. Besides, Romeo wasn’t completely wrong.
The shooter might have been aiming to hurt him, mixed up with some political bullshit. But she’s mine. I should have protected her better.
“Where is she?” I ask the doctor. I need to see her with my own fucking eyes. I need to see her chest rise and fall with each breath she takes.
“She’s in recovery. Still asleep. Only two people can come back at a time,” he replies, looking around at the crowd that’s appeared. All Valentinos.
I need to see her, but so do her parents. So, again, I show the fucking restraint of a damn saint. “You two go first. I’ll wait,” I tell them.
Romeo gives me a nod of acknowledgement, while Livvy wraps her arms around me. “She’s okay. She’s going to be okay,” she whispers into my ear.
“I know,” I tell her, returning the gesture and internally smiling at the glare I receive from her husband. My future father-in-law.
I pull away and watch Matilda’s parents follow the doctor through the double doors. Every fiber in my being wants to push them aside and make a run for her room, the need to see her tugging me forward. Instead of doing just that, I pull my phone from my pocket and send Rafe a message.
ME:
Find out everything you can on the Doley family. Ice time.
The last part is code for: I want the fucker strung up and kept alive.
That’s right. I know the guy’s name. Romeo didn’t hide his screen as well as he thought he did. I know he’s got people out there already looking for the fucker responsible for shooting Tilly, but I want to make sure we get to him first. The asshole hired someone to shoot my fucking fiancée. I plan on making him feel just a little bit of what I’m feeling right now. And that’s pure fucking agony. Okay, maybe I want him to feel all of it. But I don’t think that’s possible.
“You holding up okay?” my younger brother asks while stepping up next to me.
“I’ve been better,” I grunt, scrolling through the contact list on my phone for John, the family fixer.
He’s the guy you go to when you want shit done cleanly. Getting rid of a politician isn’t as easy as killing a low-life criminal. Doyle is a public figure. Someone people will know is missing. We have to be smarter about the way we eradicate him.
“You can go back. She’s asking for you.” When I peer up again, I find Romeo standing in front of me.
There’s a lot I want to say to him, but judging by the look in his eyes, I don’t need to. He’s beating himself up enough over this, as he fucking should be. His bullshit job got Tilly shot. That’s not something I’ll ever forget or forgive.
Without another word to the man who’s gonna be my family soon enough, I walk down the hall, stopping at the nurse’s station, where I’m directed to Tilly’s room. As I push through the door, my heart fucking stops and my eyes burn. I’m not a fucking crier. But right now, seeing myfiancée laid out in a hospital bed, all kinds of wires and shit connected to her body and her face sickly pale…
Fuck, it’s the worst kind of pain I could ever imagine.
“Antonio.” Tilly’s voice breaks me from my inner turmoil.
“Matilda, you scared the fuck out of me.” I school my features, trying my hardest not to show just how stressed I am. “Don’t ever do that again.” I lean down and kiss her forehead.
“Yeah, I’ll do my best not to get shot next time,” Tilly says, her words dripping with sarcasm.
“It’s not funny. I’m so sorry. I should have been there.”
“This isn’t your fault, Antonio. And I’m okay,” she says.
“I’m going to give you two a minute. I’ll be just outside the door, baby.” Livvy glances my way and I see the tears she’s holding back as she leaves the room.
“Are you okay?” Tilly asks me.
“Pretty sure I should be asking you that. How are you?”
“They have me doped up pretty good. I feel… nothing.” She smiles and then it fades. “But if I were in your shoes, I’d be a mess. If I had to get that call, Antonio… well, I just can’t imagine.”
“I’m going to and the fucking asshole who set this all in motion, Tilly.”
“I know,” she says. “You know, if anything happens to me, I want you to be okay. My only thought was that you wouldn’t be okay. I need you to be okay, Antonio.” She’s rambling. And I know it’s probably the drugs.
“Matilda Valentino, there isn’t a world I would ever be okay in without you. Don’t ask me for the impossible,” I tell her.
Tilly smiles. “You love me. Like a lot, huh,” she says.
“I love you a whole fucking lot.” I lean in and press my lips to hers.
“Mmm, I love you too. So much. I think I love you more than chocolate, Antonio, and I really love chocolate.” Tilly pauses to look at me for a second. “Do you love chocolate too?” Before I can answer her, she adds, “We should have a chocolate wedding cake. And chocolate food.”
“We can have whatever you want at the wedding,” I tell her.
“I want to marry you at our wedding.”
“I fucking hope so.” I chuckle.
“Are you going to marry me at our wedding, Antonio?” Yup, definitely the drugs.
“I’m counting down the hours until I get to call you my wife, Matilda.”
“Oh, good. Antonio?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re really hot.”
“Thanks?” I grin as Matilda’s eyes close.
I sit here, holding her hand and watching her sleep. Thanking God for not taking her from me.
Livvy walks back into the room and pulls a chair up to the opposite side of the bed. “How long has she been asleep?” she asks.
“Not long. How are you holding up?”
“My daughter was shot in the chest over fucking politics… As you can imagine, I’ve been better,” she deadpans.
“Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“I know that you’re probably already looking for the person, but I need you to do something for me, Antonio…”
“What?”
“If you find him before my husband does, I need you to let him help you deal with the problem,” she says. “He needs it.”
I want to tell her that he can fuck right o#. That if it weren’t for his bullshit job, Matilda wouldn’t be in this bed in the first place. One look at my fiancée, though, and I know that I need to work with her family on this.
“Okay,” I agree. “I’ve got some things to see to. Are you going to stay with her?”
“Yes.”
“Can you call me if she wakes up? I’ll come back.” I kiss Matilda once more, straighten up, and button my suit jacket.
Livvy nods before glancing at her daughter again. “I’ll call you.”
I walk back out into the waiting room and catch all the expectant stares shooting my way. My brother dips his chin, letting me know our guys have the fucker. I point to Romeo. “You’re coming with me,” I tell him as I walk out of the hospital.
I don’t turn around to see if he’s following me. I don’t give a fuck if he is. I might have told Livvy that I’d work with him on this, but I’m not going to force him to do it. He either follows me or he doesn’t.
By the time I reach the parking lot, three Valentinos step up next to me. “You know, just because you got him first, doesn’t mean you’re better,” Theo grunts.
“Pretty sure it does, actually,” I tell him, eyeing Romeo and Dante as I jump into the car.