CHAPTER XL
L iam was dead.
He was really gone, and the heavy guilt was crushing me.
Liam was the first person I connected with when I first moved to Chicago, and he soon became my best friend. None of this would have happened if he hadn’t come into my life. I felt as though danger was always nearby, and that death trailed behind those I cared about the most.
Nico held me tightly in his arms. His comforting and familiar scent wrapped around us, providing me with a brief respite from the grief.
He carried me from the car, each step bringing me closer to safety. The unmistakable scent of hospital disinfectants filled the air as we entered through the sliding glass doors.
We made our way through the corridors and into the elevator. When it chimed, he stepped out and continued down the hallway, passing by the chatter of nurses and the ringing call lights until we entered a room that silenced them.
He gently set me down on the edge of the bed. As I looked down, I saw the blood coating my hands, and the tears broke free once more. My shoulders trembled as I felt the pain and heartache from losing Liam.
I heard running water, and suddenly, Nico was there, kneeling before me.
He cupped my chin and lifted my gaze to meet his.
With a soft smile, he began to wash away the remnants of Liam’s blood with a warm rag.
I savored the soothing touch and his kindness, but then memories flooded back of what I had done to the man who harmed Liam and me.
“I killed a man,” I whispered, my eyes locked on Nico’s.
Something flickered in his gaze—respect? Pride?
“You had to do what you needed to,” he said.
“I’m a murderer,” I said, my voice cracking.
“No, you were just surviving.”
But deep down, I knew the truth. Murder was murder. I had taken a life and felt no flicker of remorse. What did that say about me?
He cupped my cheeks, his eyes fixed on me. He leaned in, pressing his lips to mine. The kiss lingered on a fragile connection that seemed to stretch time before he finally pulled away.
“I’m so relieved you’re okay,” he admitted, his voice thick with emotion. “I was so fucking scared you’d been taken or… or worse, were dead.”
It felt like I was dead, my death caused by sadness and grief.
The door opened, and the same doctor who cared for me the last time I was in the hospital walked in. The doctor washed her hands and stood in front of me.
“Hi, Gigi. I’m sorry we have to meet again under these circumstances.”
I didn’t say anything, but my lip trembled.
She checked me over.
“Can you swallow?” the doctor asked.
I gave a nod. “It hurts,” I croaked.
She nodded in understanding. “I recommend using an ice pack on the area for ten to twenty minutes at a time. It’s safe to take anti-inflammatory medications such as Ibuprofen. If your symptoms worsen, come back to the ER immediately,” she said sternly.
Once the doctor left, Nico punched the cabinet and put a hole in it.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He continued to punch it.
“Nico, stop,” I tried to say, but it hurt to speak.
He planted his hands on the sink, gripping it tight. When he glanced over his shoulder, his eyes landed on my neck and face. I could only imagine what I looked like.
Pushing himself away from the sink, he walked over to me and gently cupped my face in his hands. His thumbs grazed my cheeks in a slow, deliberate movement. Bending down, he gently lowered his forehead until it rested against mine. I could smell the whiskey on his breath.
“I’m sorry. So fucking sorry,” he said over and over again.
I wrapped my hands around his neck and held him close until we kissed passionately. Then I pulled away and hugged him, and he buried his head in my neck.
There was a knock at the door. “Yeah,” Nico said in a gruff tone.
I looked up to see my father in the doorway.
“Liam’s alive and in surgery.”
NICO
We sat outside the surgery room, Gigi asleep and nestled against me. After the shit that went down today, I wasn’t about to let her out of my sight.
Liam had been in surgery for over two hours, leaving us on edge and exhausted. I’d tried to coax Gigi into eating something, but she stubbornly refused, clearly too worried about her best friend. Meanwhile, Dante paced the room like a caged lion.
Alphonse sat beside us, holding one of Gigi’s tiny hands in his. Time crawled until the hospital doors swung open and the doctor stepped out.
“Liam is going to be just fine,” the doctor assured us.
“Thank fuck,” Dante exhaled, his shoulders visibly loosening. “Can I see him?”
“The nurse will come and get you shortly,” the doctor replied, clasping Dante’s shoulder before disappearing inside the surgery room.
“I have to give Malik an update,” Dante remarked, pulling his phone from his pocket.
Gigi stirred in my lap, her eyes flickering open. “Hey, baby,” I whispered, kissing the tip of her nose.
She responded with a sleepy smile that melted my heart.
“Liam’s out of surgery, and he’s going to be okay,” I told her, watching the relief wash over her face.
She slipped off my lap and approached Dante, throwing her arms around him. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured.
“For what?” He pulled back, his brows knitted.
“He’s hurt because of me. If he never?—”
“Stop it,” he interrupted softly. “This isn’t your fault.”
“He saved my life,” she cried, and in a heartbeat, he enveloped her in another fierce hug.
A nurse stepped out of the surgery room and approached us. “Are you Liam’s family?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m his father,” Dante answered.
“You can see him now. Please follow me.”
Gigi turned to me, her eyes searching my face, and offered a small, supportive smile. It’s as if she could sense my doubt creeping in about my hesitation about her being out of my sight, even for just a brief moment.
Dante met my eyes. “She’ll be safe with me and the two guards. We’re good,” he insisted.
With a reluctant nod, I let her go, knowing she needed this moment just as much as I needed to be there for her through it all.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked down to see a FaceTime call from Luca lighting up the screen. I glanced at Alphonse as we stood up and stepped away from the group just enough to get a little privacy while my protective instincts kept me close to my angel.
“Luca,” I greeted when I pressed the green button, watching my girl walk into the room to see Liam.
“Hey. I found something.”
“Talk to me.”
“I checked the security cameras. Whoever did it managed to disable the cameras during the attack. Once they came back on, I saw something disturbing.”
“Show me,” I demanded.
Luca turned the phone toward the monitor showing the security footage.
“Luca, can you zoom in?” Alphonse asked.
He did as asked, and what I saw turned my blood cold. A man dressed in all black with a plastic mask and a baseball cap waved at the camera. He fucking waved and then skipped through the woods.
“Who the hell is that?” I asked.
Luca turned the phone back to him. “I don’t know. Do you think it could be the Puppet Master?”
“Fuck no,” Alphonse snapped. “Did you see the way he was bouncing on his feet? Like some damn kid on a sugar high. He’s probably in his early twenties.”
Then Alphonse’s phone rang, and he stepped away.
“How the hell did they get on the property?”
“I don’t know, but whoever he is, the fucker is smart and tech-savvy. If he is working with someone else, that means we’re dealing with another psychopath.”
Great. Something else to deal with.
“We need to find them and kill them, Luca. Sick and tired of these fucking games.”
He nodded. “I know. How’s the kid?”
“He’s going to make it.”
“Thank fuck,” Luca muttered. “And how’s our girl?” He smirked.
I narrowed my eyes. “She’s not our girl.” If I could reach out and rip that smug look on his face, I would.
“How’s everyone there?” I asked.
“Good, considering. The kids are freaked out, but they’re sleeping in the same room as Mya and Aurelio. Matteo is stationed outside their room.”
Not that I expected anything less from him.
“How many men did we lose?”
“Four. The others put up a good fight. We counted three dead men with masks.”
“Is the place back on lockdown?” I asked.
“Yeah. Enzo and his team are here, so we’re good. We’ve got men closing in on the parameters. I’m going to see if I can find anything else on the camera that could lead us to where this guy went.”
“Alright. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.” He hung up, and the screen went black.
I leaned back and rubbed my hands down my face.
Alphonse returned to stand beside me.
“Don’t you have an empire to run?” I asked him.
He huffed a laugh. “I can run it from anywhere. And I have good men I trust watching things over until we kill this fucker.”
My phone rang again. When I answered, it was a text message with a photo. I stopped breathing. The attached photo showed Gigi sitting beside Liam’s bed and a message below: I am everywhere. She is never safe as long as I’m alive. Oh, and Nico, I hope you like my present.
Alphonse looked over my shoulder at my phone and cursed, and we both sprinted toward Liam’s room. We busted inside and started looking for the camera.
“What’s going on?” Dante asked, standing up.
“There’s a fucking camera in here,” I growled, still searching in all the small spaces that a camera could be.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dante hissed.
I looked helplessly, but then I stopped as I got closer to the TV mounted on the wall and noticed something small and out of place.
My fingers closed around a small rectangular lens, the size of a quarter, nestled underneath the TV.
I ripped the camera out and tossed it to Alphonse.
He brought it to the bathroom and ran water over it.
“Is the hospital secure?” Dante asked but a commotion in the hall stopped me from answering.
I turned to Gigi and pointed at her. “Don’t fucking move.”
She gave me a look that said she understood.
A popping sound came from the hall followed by people screaming.
The doors to the room bust open, and two of my guards come rushing in. “We’re under attack!”