2. Cristian
I stare up at Il Padrone as he barks orders and tries to get the scene under his control. Under normal circumstances, having another Boss take over in my territory would piss me off, and have me reaching for my gun, but in this case, I’m grateful someone is stepping up to the plate.
Allesandro squats down next to me and reaches for my face, turning my head around to him. I try to smile, but the fucking smoke inhalation forces me to cough instead. Carter helps me sit up a little until the spell passes, and then I collapse back onto the ground.
“Thank you, Amico Mio,” I say hoarsely. “Thank you for coming.”
“Do not thank me,” Allesandro says harshly. “You’d do the same for me. Non avevo intenzione di lasciare che ti portassero via da me, Dolce Cuore.”
Before I can respond to that, Doc’s voice can be heard over the fray. “One fucking evening,” he bitches. “I leave for one evening and you fuckers can’t keep yourselves together in that time.”
I’d laugh if it wasn’t for another cough making my entire body shake. We need to move. The sirens we’ve been hearing seem right on top of us now, and some of my tension eases knowing the fire will hopefully be out soon.
Allesandro moves to the side, and Soren kneels beside me. He checks me over for burns before getting Carter to sit me up again. “We have no fucking supplies on us,” he growls, as he sets one hand on my chest, the other reaching for my wrist.
“Roman?” I ask.
“Doc’s looking him over now.”
The fire trucks pulling into the driveway drown out his words, and I almost curse at them for their shitty timing.
Allesandro leaves my side to talk to the firefighters, and I crack a smile at my friend…my heart, while my soul holds my hand and comforts me as Soren continues his assessment.
Allesandro strides back over. “We need to move. Now. Some of my people will stay behind to supplement yours, but they’re going to try to transfer you to a hospital, and?—”
“No,” Soren and I both protest.
We get a nod and a small smile to that, as Allesandro agrees, “I’d rather not have our doctors go toe-to-toe again so soon. Let’s move.”
Carter and Allesandro carefully help me up, but I stumble. A coughing attack has me leaning over, and I brace myself against my husband for a moment while I catch my breath.
“Fucking smoke,” I croak out.
I’m guided over to the ridiculous Martelli vehicle, but as we walk, I stop beside Doc as he's directing James and Ignacio on how to move Roman. Tennant stands close, with Jude and Hollis at his side, and I meet my friend’s icy eyes, giving a small shake of my head at the way he’s frowning at the man who is helping Doc with my son.
“How is he?”
“Better than he should be,” Doc says carefully. “I suspect multiple fractures. There’s a lot of cuts and glass everywhere, and who knows what the fuck else. I wish I had one of my ambulances, but we’ll deal with it. There’s enough room in our car for me to lay him out and work on him.”
I shudder, relief and fear running through me at the same time. With some gentle prodding, I’m escorted to the Martelli car, even though we still have quite a few working ones of our own—reason number one being that the garage was detached from the house, despite everyone’s bitching.
Allesandro, Lio, Carter, Marcus, Soren, and I all get into the car. Allesandro looks at Lio, and the boy squirms. “Benjamin is going to ride with Leandro and Jude, while Tennant, Hollis, and Ignacio go with Doc and Roman.”
“I’m surprised Benjamin didn’t try to barge his way into the same car as Tennant,” Marcus muses.
“He’s not an idiot. He might not like Roman, but he knows if something happens to him, it’ll hurt Ten, and that’s the last thing he wants,” Carter argues.
“Plus,” I interject, “I wouldn’t want to be in the same car as Ignacio and Tennant.”
Allesandro gets a smug look on his face, and dread fills me. After the comments he made at the end of the meeting…I have a feeling, whatever the Martellis have been up to the last few days, it will not be on Tennant’s list of what he finds acceptable for his “Topolino.”
The drive to Martelli mansion is tense, with Soren poking me every so often and texting updates to James. Thankfully, he also gives updates on Roman, and with each one, my heart skips a beat.
So far, the prognosis is…multiple broken bones in his leg and arm, shrapnel lodged in his side, many contusions, and glass embedded into his skin. By some grace of a higher power, the chandelier missed his head, though we still have to worry about the fall he took.
“Do you and Roman have the same blood type, Boss?” Soren asks without looking up from his phone.
“Yes… Why? What’s happened?”
“Nothing,” the younger man assures me, looking at me with his bright blue eyes. “He’s still stable. Well, as stable as he’s going to be right now. But he’s losing a lot of blood, so we’re going to need to set you up for a blood transfusion, if Dr. Ranlen doesn’t have what we need.”
“She’s worked very hard to get her offices up to the standards your Doc holds,” Allesandro says carefully.
“Good,” the nurse replies. “But we still need to be prepared. We’ve already called our contact and told him to be on standby should we need another pair of hands.”
Fucking hell, I hope not. The last thing I need is Doc, Dr. Ranlen, and Dr. Aidan Murry in the same place. I am way too tired for this shit.
Meeting Allesandro’s eyes across the limo, I take comfort in the burning need to kill and get revenge that I can see reflected in his cold blue gaze.
Even as Carter takes my hand in his, and Allesandro holds his Boy close, he doesn’t take his eyes off me.
A wealth of emotion passes between us in one glance, and some of my fear eases, knowing that even if I fall, someone strong enough to shoulder my burdens will be there to catch me.