Chapter 20 #2
I glanced at Jackson, at the weariness on his face, at the hard set of his jaw as he stared out the windshield.
I thought about Meredith in the hospital, pregnant and facing complications.
I thought about my mother, still unaware of everything that had happened.
I thought about the gun I'd fired and the life I'd taken.
Nothing would be the same after this. I'd crossed a line I could never uncross. I'd taken a life to save another, and that knowledge would live in me forever, changing me in ways I couldn't yet understand.
As we drove toward the hospital and whatever waited for us there, I knew one thing with absolute certainty. Everything was going to change.
We pulled into the hospital parking lot just as Roman's phone rang. He answered, and whatever he heard made his face go pale.
"Leo's ordering blood in," Roman said, already driving toward the entrance. "She needs a transfusion. They've run out of it."
My heart stuttered in my chest. I knew that type without even having to ask, the one I always donated where I could because it was the first one to run out.
The type that was a universal donor type but could receive the same.
"O negative, right?" I asked, already unbuckling my seatbelt with trembling fingers.
Roman nodded, his expression grim. I didn't wait for anyone's permission. "That's me. I'll donate."
No one argued. Jackson turned in his seat, but I was already out the door as the car came to a stop by the entrance.
The warm afternoon air hit my face as I rushed toward the emergency entrance. Would this be enough to save her? Would this somehow make up for my deception? Would this help me pay for the crime I'd committed last night? The life I'd stolen?
"Elena!" Ivy rushed after me, snatching my hand as I entered the hospital and looked around, unsure where to go. My attire had a few people slowing to look at me.
Thankfully, Roman and Jackson were right behind, and I vaguely wondered if they'd left the car parked right there at the entrance.
Roman called for help, and then everything moved with the controlled chaos only hospitals possess.
A nurse in blue scrubs took Jackson one way for his own injuries, while I was rushed down another corridor, the fluorescent lights blurring above me like stars streaking past. The antiseptic smell burned my nostrils, grounding me in the reality of what was happening.
"This way," a technician said, guiding me with a hand on my elbow. "We need to type and cross-match you first, even though you know your blood type."
"Whatever you need to do," I said, rolling up my sleeve, feeling silly in my dressing gown with bare feet. "Just hurry."
As we rounded a corner, I saw him. Grayson Donati.
My half-brother. He stood with his back against the wall, his designer suit rumpled, his face pale and drawn.
He looked like he was barely holding it together.
He looked at me like he didn't know what to make of me, which was fair, since he had no idea who I really was.
Beside him stood a man that made me want to shrink into myself. A man with a hardened jaw and a posture that made me believe he was someone powerful, especially in that dark suit. There was just something about him that screamed danger.
He glanced my way, those piercing blue eyes boring into me, before he fished his phone from his pocket and accepted a call. I watched as he turned and strode away, leaving me with a feeling like I'd just stared into the jaws of a lion and walked away unscathed.
I'd recognized him from my google searches.
Leonardo Donati, the terrifying man himself.
A woman in scrubs approached me, snapping me from my anxiety riddled thoughts, extending her hand. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and despite the late hour, her makeup was flawless. "I'm Sofia. I'll be taking your blood. You're sure about this?"
"Yes," I said without hesitation. "If it helps her, take it."
Sofia glanced at Grayson, something unspoken passing between them. "The odds of her having the same blood type..."
"Miraculous," he murmured, his green eyes—so like Meredith's—studying me with new interest. He nodded at me, a small smile touching his lips. "Thank you."
He turned back to Sofia, folding his arms as his jaw clenched, his smile falling. "I should be in there with her."
"They need to work without you and Leo fussing over her," Sofia said firmly, her tone suggesting this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation.
"That's why Leo can't be in there either.
He's already terrorized half the nursing staff.
" She turned her attention back to me. "Let's get you ready. "
I nodded. "Of course."
Sofia led me to a small room with a reclining chair.
As she prepared the equipment, I stared at the ceiling, trying to process everything.
I'd come here to learn about them and find out the truth about my father.
Now I was giving my blood to save Meredith—the sister who seemingly had no idea I existed.
"This will pinch," Sofia warned before inserting the needle.
I barely felt it. Physical pain seemed distant compared to the emotional turmoil raging inside me.
"You work with Meredith, right? A new employee?" Sofia asked conversationally as my blood began flowing into the collection bag.
"Yes," I said, careful not to reveal too much. "In accounting." Had Jackson or Roman told them the truth? Of what I'd told them? Did they know anything yet?
"She mentioned you. Said you seemed like a good new employee with a bright future." Sofia's eyes never left the equipment, but I could feel her assessment.
I swallowed hard. "I didn't know that."
"There's a lot you probably don't know," Sofia said, her tone neutral but her meaning clear. She knew something wasn't right about me.
Roman entered before I could respond, carrying a bag of fast food and a Starbucks cup. "Jackson asked me to check on you and your friend and have some food brought in. Got her that drink she was talking about."
"Thank you," I said, genuinely touched by the thoughtfulness despite the circumstances.
Another man I didn't recognize appeared behind Roman, handing him a duffel bag, which Roman offered to me. "Some clothes from your apartment. We have a team there assisting the Malatesta cleanup crew with the... mess that was left behind."
The mess. The body. I swallowed hard, suddenly unsure if I ever wanted to go back to that apartment. The place where a man had died trying to stop Alfeo. The place where my life had exploded in my face.
"That's... thoughtful," I managed.
"It's what we do," Roman said simply. "Take care of our own."
But I wasn't their own. I was an impostor. A liar. An outsider. Just a bastard child trying to save her dying mother.
We were all silent for some time while Sofia finished drawing my blood, and then she pressed a cotton ball to the crook of my arm. "Hold this. Drink plenty of fluids, and no alcohol for twenty-four hours."
"Will it be enough?" I asked. "My blood?"
"It's a start," she said. "They're bringing in more from the blood bank, but having a direct donor helps. We'll get this right to her."
After she bandaged my arm, I was free to go. I felt slightly lightheaded as I stood, but managed to keep my balance.
"You should rest," Sofia advised. "There's a waiting room down the hall."
I nodded my thanks and made my way there, my steps slow and measured. The waiting room was nearly empty surprisingly, save for a few anxious looking people and my best friend.
Ivy was slurping her Vanilla Frappuccino with the enthusiasm of someone who'd been wandering the desert for days. Her dyed red hair was a mess, and her makeup had smudged under her eyes, giving her a raccoon-like appearance. A burger wrapper beside her was the only evidence that she'd had food.
"How do you feel?" she asked, eyeing me with concern as I sank into the chair beside her.
"Tired," I admitted, leaning my head back against the wall. "But hopefully it'll be enough. Grayson looked horribly worried."
"Of course he did. That's his sister in there." Ivy lowered her voice. "Your sister too."
I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about that right now. "Half-sister."
"Still blood," Ivy pointed out, then winced at her own choice of words. "Sorry. Bad phrasing."
We sat in silence for a while. The kind that only exists in hospitals—thick with waiting and what-ifs. The muted beeping of distant machines, the squeak of nurses' shoes on linoleum, the occasional announcement over the PA system—all of it created a soundtrack to our vigil.
One I'd grown too accustomed to, but I still hated it.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" I asked softly.
Ivy shrugged, eyes on the hallway. "She has to be. From what I've seen of Leo Donati, he wouldn't accept any other outcome."
I thought about the man I'd glimpsed earlier—tall, imposing, with a face carved from stone and eyes that promised violence to anyone who threatened what was his. I believed Ivy was right. Leo Donati would move heaven and earth to keep Meredith alive.
"Do you think they know?" I added, the question that had been burning in my mind since we arrived. "About me?"
Ivy's eyes met mine, serious for once. "If they did, we wouldn't be sitting here calmly drinking Frappuccinos. We'd be getting interrogated somewhere I think."
Before I could respond to that cheerful assessment, Jackson returned. He moved slowly, favoring his leg, but he was upright. His face was pale, but his eyes found mine instantly, and a smile played at his lips.
He looked like hell. But he was alive. That was all that mattered right now.