34. Mauro
Chapter thirty-four
Mauro
“Please wake up, Mauro.”
The hushed plea floats over me, tugging me from my deep slumber, yanking me from the darkness that encompasses me.
“I need you.”
Those three soft-spoken words awaken my soul, clutching my heart in a tight grasp. My eyelids, though heavy and yearning to stay closed, flutter open. I squint as I come to, the blurry figure before me becoming clearer with each passing second.
Beauty invades my vision as Alina is the only thing my eyes focus on. The brightness from the overhead lights casts a glow around her dark strands, making her appear every part the angel that I don’t deserve.
Am I dreaming?
“Mauro,” she breathes with a heavy trace of relief as tears trail down her cheeks.
Her trembling hands cover one of mine, her grasp tightening.
“You’ve been asleep for so long. I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to wake up.
I thought… I thought I lost you,” she confesses, rolling in her bottom lip.
I turn my hand over, intertwining our fingers and bringing our joined hands to my lips. Her familiar scent immediately brings me comfort.
She’s here.
And she’s alive.
My wife is alive.
I place our joined hands on the center of my chest, and with the tip of my middle finger, I tap twice.
A soft sob escapes her, and I drop her hand, reaching for her face. My palm slides across her tear-soaked skin, cradling her cheek as my thumb wipes away every tear that escapes. She grips my wrist, melting into my hold.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she whispers.
Leaning up, I groan as I’m met by a shooting pain spreading over the right side of my torso, but taking a deep breath, I fight through it.
Nothing will keep me away from her.
My hands frame her face, noting the bruise on her temple outlined by a few bandages. Anger simmers in the pit of my stomach as I think about someone laying a hand on her, but I won’t let that thought consume me. I won’t let it win.
Not when I’m forever grateful that she’s here by my side.
I capture her soft lips in a kiss, savoring every second. Her warmth, her taste, her pulse… It all confirms that this isn’t a dream and that she is, in fact, really here.
Her fingers wrap around my wrists as she lightly pulls back. “You shouldn’t be in this position. You’ll rip a stitch.”
I shake my head.
Every damn stitch in my body could rip, and it wouldn’t matter.
I’d still do everything I can to kiss her.
To feel the warmth of her body.
The beating of her heart.
I press my lips to hers one last time and then, to appease her, I lie back, resting my head against the pillow while keeping my sight on her.
She glances over at the door and then back at me. “I should probably call for Dr. Rose now that you’re up. Or, at least, let your family know. They’ve been worried sick about you, taking shifts to always make sure someone is here. Most of them are probably sleeping in the hallway now.”
I shake my head. Before I get bombarded by my family, I need to talk to her. What happened?
She clutches the side of the bed, her knuckles tightening.
“Vin shot Kazimir the same moment that Kazimir stabbed you. Everything after that is a little fuzzy. All I saw was the blood surrounding you. There was so much blood…” Her words drift off as she appears lost in thought, but she quickly shakes her head.
“Your brothers and cousins got us out of there, bringing you here to Dr. Rose’s clinic. That was three days ago.”
I’ve been here for three days?
My eyes skim over her face, noting the dark bags under her eyes. A clear indication of the little sleep she’s had these past few days.
Have you been here the whole time?
“I…” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve been balancing my time between you and my father, but I… I couldn’t leave your side for more than a few minutes.”
Where did you sleep?
She hooks a thumb over her shoulder. “I used that chair.”
My brows furrow as I see the tiny recliner in the corner of the room with a blanket and pillow on it. Something entirely not suitable for her to be sleeping on.
“Why do you look worried about me when you’re the one who was stabbed?”
Because I am.
“I’m fine,” she says softly, trying to convince me.
But I’m not buying it.
Not for one second, knowing what she’s been through.
Or at least, partially knowing.
I study her for a moment, then ask, What happened to Kazimir?
“He’s alive.” She swallows hard. “Your brothers have him.”
Everything between the Vasilievs and us has been child’s play up until now.
Because once I kill him, the war will officially start.
And I can only hope we all make it through in one piece.
And where’s your father?
“He’s a few rooms down. He’s okay. Just shaken up.”
Her eyes catch with mine, and I hold her stare, watching as her brown irises glisten with so many emotions. Talk to me.
She looks down at the side of the bed where her fingers trace the edge of the mattress.
“About what?” She blinks back tears. “About how I lied to you about what was really in my mother’s will, so you would marry me?
About me never telling you who I was related to?
About my father… About my father having dementia?
” She looks up at me with the saddest pair of eyes I’ve ever seen, and it sends a wild current of pain skipping across my chest. “I lied to you about everything, and because of that, you ended up here.” She shakes her head, dragging her fingers through her hair. “You almost died because of me.”
They were holding your father’s life over you.
She nods, folding her arms around herself as she looks down. “I should have told you. I should have told you everything.”
I grip her elbow to gain her attention. Yes, you should have told me because I love you and would do anything to keep you safe. But I understand why you didn’t. You love your father and were doing everything you could to keep him safe.
She blinks away her tears and nods. “I’ve been so scared.”
I cautiously move, ignoring the agony tearing through my side, so that there’s a small space beside me. Just enough for her.
Come here and let me hold you.
She looks down at the space, but doesn’t move. “You need to see the doctor.”
I need you in my arms more.
Her gaze shifts to the door, and I see the fight in her eyes as she tries to decide what to do. But eventually, she lifts her leg, gently and delicately sliding her body against mine. Her head rests against my shoulder, my arms embracing her against me. “Is this okay?”
I use two fingers to tilt her chin up toward me, pressing my lips to hers as my answer.
We lie here in silence for a moment or two before I hear her take a steady breath, resting her hand directly over my heart.
“My mother and father were soul mates. I think they were so in love with each other, they would have always found their way to one another. But in my grandfather’s eyes, my father was never good enough.
So, he had her married off to the highest bidder, Igor Vasiliev.
My father spent years trying to get her back, but the Russians were too powerful.
Too dangerous. So, one day, he stopped trying, and it nearly broke his heart.
” She pauses, the pad of her index finger sliding back and forth.
“Years later, while my father was on a business trip in Paris, he ran into my mother at the same hotel where she was staying while visiting family. I mean, what were the odds? Of all the cities in the world, Paris was the one that brought them back together. My father said when he saw her, it felt like no time had passed between them. And that his heart… It beat for the first time in years.” The tiniest hint of a smile captures her lips.
“They agreed to meet in Paris whenever they could. Eventually, she became pregnant with me and led Igor to believe that I was his, so that nothing would happen to her or me. But after I was born, she couldn’t keep me away from my father.
She risked her life by taking me and bringing me to him.
Telling him to keep me safe and that one day they might be together again.
But that day never came because when Igor found out I wasn’t his, he had her killed. ”
I slide my hand along her arm, and she looks up at me with fresh tears coating her lashes.
“Igor never learned who my father was or where she took me, but my father wouldn’t risk my safety, so he raised me on the Alarie Estate, knowing Igor would never find me there.
However, my mother had a will that Igor and I were unaware of, which left me a piece of land that had been passed down in my family for generations.
The stipulations of obtaining that land included waiting until I was of age and married.
I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe she thought my husband would keep me safe in case my brothers ever found out.
” She pauses, tapping her finger. “I honestly had no idea about the will or that my father had been in charge of the Alaskan port. Not until Kazimir told me. But I guess it would explain why he made frequent business trips there over the years.”
She goes silent, lost inside her head. Probably processing everything she said aloud for, I’m guessing, the first time.
I clear my throat, and her eyes find mine.
What about your father?