Chapter Twenty-Four
Evelina Bianchi
The sound of machines greeted me first.
Then, the dull throb of my chest and face.
I heard someone shift from across the room, and I expected to open my eyes and find Zeke sitting in his room. Or maybe mine. What I didn’t expect was a hospital.
But when I saw it, everything returned at once, and I tried to sit up.
Zeke shook his head and pressed my shoulder, keeping me down and in bed when all I wanted was to fling my legs over the side of the bed and sit up. Though judging by the aches that seemed to span across my entire body, I wasn’t sure I would even be capable of doing that right now.
I breathed in a crisper, purer air that I attributed to the tube wrapped around my face.
“I think I missed a few things,” I whispered, my voice raspy and throat sore.
Zeke’s concern didn’t leave his face, but he did force a chuckle. “Talk about an understatement.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking over every visible part of his body. He had slightly discolored bruises across both of his wrists and a few shallow cuts on his face. The nastiest injury appeared to be a bruise budding beneath his right eye, but it didn’t look half as bad as it could have been. “What happened? Did they feed you? Did they torture you for almost two days before we found you?”
“Evelina,” he whispered, shaking his head and running his knuckles gently over my face. “How could you possibly be concerned about me after what you went through?”
“I wasn’t held captive for days on end,” I nearly shouted, wincing as pain lanced through my throat.
“I was ready to give my life if it meant keeping them away from you,” he told me. “Why did you have to do that, Evelina? Why couldn’t you let me do this for you? You have done everything for a family I didn’t know I had. You gave everything to bring our daughter into this world with no help, and that was because of me. Don’t you finally deserve peace?”
Oh, he sounded pissed. His voice remained quiet, but his words felt like a physical blow.
“Don’t you deserve peace?” I asked. “You’ve spent your entire life feeling like you meant nothing—like you were one moment away from becoming a monster. Maybe now—”
“I would have become a monster,” he whispered.
My voice faded out, and my brows furrowed. He continued.
“I always thought it would happen naturally. I thought I would grow into him with age, but that’s not the case. I love you too much to become that, and I realized it when Alonzo and Clide had me tied to the chair, trying to figure out a way to contact you. I realized in that moment that if something happened to you—if they got to you somehow—I would become worse than my father. I would destroy the world and all the innocent people who got in my way to keep you safe.” He cleared his throat, clearly becoming choked up at the thought. “I realized that with you and our daughter, I will always be a better version of myself.”
“You won’t have to worry about that ever again,” I promised.
“Don’t let me become that,” he begged. “Evelina, please never do this again. Never risk your life like that.”
His biggest fear had always been becoming like his father. And if something happened to me, his two biggest fears would come true. I hadn’t realized what saving him could mean. A tear fell from my eye as I leaned into his hand and nodded.
“I’m sorry for putting you through that,” I whispered.
“God, don’t apologize. You’re the one lying in a hospital bed. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
I closed my eyes and allowed a few tears to fall. Was it possible this was over after I killed Clide Newton? I knew my father was still out there, but he no longer had a reason to hunt for me.
“I don’t know if I want to ask any more questions,” I admitted. “But I need to know what happened after I… killed him.”
“Don’t tell me you feel guilty.”
I shook my head immediately. I didn’t. I knew what he would have done to me had I fallen into his hands. It would have been much worse than the quick death I had dealt him. If anything, I wished it would have taken longer for him to die. I wanted him to feel my long-suffering while running from him. The fear.
“Not at all.”
“Good.” He settled gently on the side of my bed, not taking his hand off my skin. “It’s been a few days. Jaimie got checked out by Giovanni’s personal doctor, but I brought you here. Your lung collapsed. You have four broken ribs, and one of them pierced your lung, but they didn’t think you needed surgery. You have some severe bruises, and they took a look at where the bullet grazed your arm to make sure it wasn’t infected. As long as you take things easy and take your antibiotic, you are going to be fine.”
“I’m more concerned about everyone else,” I told him.
He straightened, pulling his lip ring between his teeth. “Clide is dead, and Giovanni… well, he’s not happy about how this turned out. He wanted a phone call as soon as you woke up. Jaimie is back to her usual duties. Alonzo is pissed, but we haven’t heard anything from him. All of our reports are secondhand.”
“Have you spoken to Giovanni yet?”
He shook his head. “I had more pressing matters on my mind.”
“Call him. Then, this can finally be over,” I told him.
The thought of continuing running and hiding had my chest constricting. It was finally time to get my daughter back and have a life outside of my father. Though I didn’t doubt he would want revenge, he wouldn’t have enough resources to both fight Giovanni and hunt for me.
Zeke pulled out his phone, and within seconds, Giovanni was on the line.
“Is she awake?”
“Yes.”
Did Zeke sound pissed off?
“Is she on speaker?”
Zeke grumbled his response, and Giovanni’s voice sharpened.
“Before I decide what I plan to do moving forward, Ms. Evelina, I would like to hear your rendition of events.”
Zeke spoke. “She doesn’t need to relay anything to you. You’re the one who put her in the fucking position to begin with. You could have easily moved her far away and helped her, but you were too concerned with your own interests.”
“Zeke,” I whispered, shaking my head. He ground his teeth as I tried and failed to lean forward. I must have audibly groaned because Zeke moved forward and pressed the bed’s incline button to raise me up a bit.
And then I told Giovanni Rissi everything. I spared no details. From the moment I was taken and held in a cement room all the way to the moment I pulled the trigger and killed Clide Newton, I told him all of it. I left out a few choice details about Zeke and me—most notably, the relationship that had grown between us. But I didn’t leave out all the emotions involved in my journey and the dangers I experienced.
I didn’t expect him to care. I knew how careless the mafia boss types were, but he needed to know.
When I stopped speaking, he responded immediately. “I’m sorry you had to go through all those trials and tribulations, Evelina. I sincerely am. Rest assured, I have a dozen guards surrounding your sister and daughter at all times to ensure their safety.”
Nothing else mattered more to me, and I gave a small smile, though he couldn’t see it. “Thank you, Mr. Rissi.”
“I have a few things I want to discuss with you,” he said. “First and foremost: now that Clide Newton is out of the picture, assisting you is no longer a risk.”
“But it was whenever she actually needed help?” Zeke blurted.
“We have gone through this, Coleman. If I put my neck out for her, I would be losing substantial assets—enough that we would be susceptible to a gruesome takedown from Alonzo Bianchi. I will not go into details about how it would have played out, but rest assured, it was not an easy decision. I’m trying to help in whatever way I can.”
I placed a hand on Zeke’s arm, and he closed his mouth.
“Now, Evelina. I plan to book you and Beatrice a plane ticket to wherever you want to go alongside a few trusted guards who can help you settle into a new life. I will arrange childcare, and I would be happy to pull strings and get you a job in your preferred field. I just need a location.”
It was too good to be true. The ability to get out of New York City—to get away from my father. It was the one thing I had been trying to accomplish for years, and to have the opportunity at my fingertips felt surreal.
But things were different now.
So different.
I looked over at Zeke and knew that if I took him away from here, he would lose everything he had worked to build. If I moved anywhere else, he wouldn’t have a crime syndicate to back him, and he wouldn’t have the fear that his name evoked.
Beyond that, I had family here. Aria was free of my father, and Beatrice could have an aunt. I had been too scared to tell her the truth before, but it was a support system I’d never had. I had never allowed myself to hope for a support system with my father in the picture.
I could run the way I always had in the past. I could hide and keep every bit of myself concealed from the outside world.
Or I could live .
I could stop letting my father dictate every decision I made.
“I think I would rather stay,” I admitted. “New York is my home, and you plan to have my father handled soon, correct?”
“That is the goal, yes.” He exhaled. “Your sister would have my head if I let you and little Beatrice out of my protection with Alonzo still on the streets. I insist I keep you under guard, at least until the threat is entirely neutralized. I am extending the same to Aria.”
“I can accept that.”
“Now, for the elephant in the room,” Giovanni said. “You killed a business partner of mine, and it will cause some backlash, especially now that I am supporting you. But I believe I will be able to weave the narrative well enough to keep me from backlash. Moreover, Clide Newton was becoming progressively more erratic and unpredictable. While his death isn’t ideal, it is for the best. I have no punishment planned for either you or Zeke. Given what you experienced, I would like to consider us even.”
It was something I had not considered. With Giovanni’s connections to Newton, the appropriate response would be blood-for-blood. It was the way of the Italian mob.
Giovanni’s forgiveness shocked me.
Zeke stared at me with an intensity I chose to ignore as Giovanni offered a few more words and some information regarding where I would be staying and what else he could do to help me. I was only half paying attention as I thanked him again and ended the call.
The second it ended, Zeke spoke. “Why aren’t you leaving?”
I really only had one answer. There were a lot of things I could have said. There were a million small thoughts that had gone into the decision. But we both knew the primary reason.
“You.”
His lips were on mine in an instant, and the contact scorched through me as he leaned over me. He took care not to jostle any part of my body as he gently pulled the oxygen tubes from my nose. He deepened the kiss, wrapping a hand around the back of my neck and drawing my head forward just an inch.
I sent my tongue flicking across his lip ring, and he groaned as he pulled away, his jaw ticking.
“When you’re healed, I will show you what I want to do with you.” He positioned the oxygen back below my nose and hooked the tubes over my ears. “It gives us something to look forward to as we settle down with our daughter.”
The reminder had the smile on my face spreading.
Finally, I would have my daughter.
And despite never allowing myself to dream for more, I had somehow gotten it.
I finally had a family .