31. Let Her Go
CHAPTER 31
LET HER GO
M arco
Merda ! My heart lurches up my throat as gunshots ricochet across the dancefloor. Screams and cries fill the air, but all my focus is on Jia. Her eyes are wide as she stares at me, her mouth curved into a capital O . Then both our gazes drift lower, to the blood blossoming across the pristine white lace of her gown.
“Jia!” I shout and pull her into my arms. She glances up at me, two midnight spheres wide with fear. Cazzo , why did I ever let her go? Lifting her up, I cradle her slender form against my chest. Deep crimson blooms across her torso, and panic claws at my heart. “I’ve got you, spitfire. You’re going to be fine.”
Shots crackle in the air as our bodyguards spring into action, absolute chaos ensuing. The wedding guests are running, trampling over one another to reach the exit. Nico races toward us with Maisy, Jimmy at his heels. My brother’s right-hand man holds a gun in each hand, his expression savage.
“Fuck,” Nico hisses as his wild gaze lands on us.
“Oh my golly, is she okay?” Maisy’s bright-green eyes go impossibly wide.
“Of course she’s not okay, Mais,” I growl. “She’s been shot.”
Nico steals the handkerchief from my pocket and presses it to the wound.
Merda , why didn’t I think of that?
Jia’s pale lids flutter, and paralyzing fear constricts my ribcage. “Jia, stay with me. Keep your eyes open.” Fuck! If I hadn’t been so busy screwing around, I would have had time to find out who shot at me yesterday. Now, Jia had paid the price for my failing.
I’ll find the assholes behind this and kill them all. No one hurts my wife. I’ll burn Manhattan to the ground if that’s what it takes.
All the cries blur around me, the manic pounding of my heart drowning out everything else.
“Marco!” Nico’s shout jerks me from my downward spiral. He’s standing in front of my face, waving his phone. “Dr. Pacetti will meet us at your penthouse in five.”
“No, fuck that. I’m taking her to the hospital.”
“Are you out of your mind? You know I cannot let you do that.”
“My wife was shot at our wedding, bastardo ! You don’t think that’s going to make the front-page news either way? I won’t risk her safety to keep Gemini Corp out of the public eye.”
Maisy sneaks in beside me and whispers, “I’ll call the ambulance. Go out the back.”
My throat tightens, and I’m about a second away from kissing my twin’s girlfriend full on the lips. Instead, I muster a quick, “Thank you,” before darting toward the door of the grand ballroom.
Nico shouts behind me, but his voice is drowned out by the pandemonium. As I race through the crowd with my palm pressing the handkerchief to the wound, barreling over Red Dragons and Four Seas alike, it occurs to me I should find Jia’s grandfather. If anything happens to him, she’ll be devastated…
But I can’t stop to look for him now.
I resolve to send Jimmy a message to find the old man as soon as Jia is safe. Speeding down the hallway of the hotel, I ignore the warm blood coating my sleeves and my sticky fingers. Jia will be fine. She must be. Pushing through another set of doors, I run into a wall of black suits. One of the men I immediately recognize: Max, my brother’s driver. The big guy dips his head, and I exhale sharply.
“Come on, I’ll escort you both safely outside.” Signaling at the other men to stay put, he moves into step beside me, and a hint of relief slows the manic thundering of my pulse.
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“Just following orders, Mr. Rossi.”
“My brother?”
He nods.
The hint of a smile tugs at my lips despite the fear. Nico might be an asshole most of the time, but even he understands. Maybe more than I do. I glance down at Jia and my damned heart crumbles. Blood soaks the front of her beautiful gown. Squeezing my eyes closed, dark memories of the past rush to the surface.
Vacant eyes staring into the night sky.
Cool, frosty skin beneath my cheek as I hold her icy body to mine.
Isa…
“No,” I grit out. “I won’t lose you, spitfire.”
The wail of the ambulance echoes at a distance before we reach the back alley of the Waldorf. Max shoves the double doors open and I sprint out into the dim alley. The brilliant blue and red lights light up the narrow passageway an instant later.
The rest happens in a blur, my mind too plagued with fear to process any of it.
“Sir, you have to let her go.” A paramedic glares at me, but my arms only tighten around Jia. “I can’t help the woman until you release her.”
“She’s my wife,” I mumble.
“Fine, sir. Now hand me your wife so I can help her.”
Another paramedic appears beside me, this one a female. Her hand squeezes my upper arm as if attempting to pry Jia from my unyielding hold. “Come on, sir. We need to tend to that wound.”
The male gets in my face again as he paws at Jia. “Do you want her to die?”
Die. Die. Die .
The word ping-pongs across my skull. Slowly, I shake my head.
“Then give her to me. You can ride with us in the ambulance to the hospital.”
I attempt to do as I’m told, but I’ve lost all control of my bodily functions. I’m numb.
“Come on, boss, let me help you.” Max pries Jia free of my death grip, and I watch, frozen, as he hands her over to the paramedic. Everything moves so incredibly slowly now—the sirens, the shouts—everything muffled, as if I were underwater.
I’m drowning.
Suffocating in fear and guilt.
Jia is hauled onto the stretcher and then loaded into the back of the ambulance. The paramedics are shouting instructions, numbers, and vitals that I can’t understand.
The female EMT sticks her head out of the back of the truck and ticks her chin at me. “Get in now if you want to come with us.”
I stand there unmoving, my soles rooted to the cement for an endless moment.
“Boss! Hey, boss!” Max grips me by the shoulders and gives me a good shake. “You have to go now.”
I blink quickly, and my head dips as I try to spur my legs into action. Max gives me a little push, and my feet finally move. The lady paramedic holds out her hand, and I grab on, then she hauls me into the back and the doors slam behind us.
The steady hiss of oxygen and intermittent beeping from the heart monitor has my own blood pressure skyrocketing. I pace the small hospital room, pissed off as all hell that they haven’t moved us to the suite I’d requested yet.
Tugging at my bowtie which still hangs loose around my collar, I finally rip it free. Over the past few hours, I’ve shed bits and pieces of my tux. Jia’s gown is in tatters, but I asked the paramedics to save the remains. I know how much her grandmother’s dress means to her, and with her sewing skills, I have no doubt Jia could return it to its former glory one day.
If only she would wake up.
She lies so still, enveloped in an oversized robe. Yéye had insisted upon the thick terry cloth as opposed to the typical hospital gown. My granddaughter is always cold, Mr. Rossi . Something you should learn about your new wife . If she survives…
The surgeon said the surgery went well. The entire bullet was removed and no fragments had splintered off. The damned projectile had been only inches from her heart. I’d spent all night racking my brain, attempting to figure out who the fuck was behind this so I could tear their spine out through their throat, then stomp all over their disemboweled remains.
Jia had been the target. There was no doubt about it; that is unless the shooter was just totally incompetent. I stood within a foot from her when she was hit. Plus, I’d been shot at the day before, so clearly someone wanted us both out of the picture.
It had to be the same shooter, right?
“How is she?” Nico’s voice jerks me from the jumble of my inner thoughts. And also, cazzo , how had I not heard him come in? He hands me a bouquet of bright flowers in a pretty vase, and all I can think is that they’re not jasmine. Jia and her light, floral scent invades my nostrils. Even my memories of her natural perfume are so damned vivid.
I glance over my shoulder at Max stationed outside the hospital room door. At least someone was on guard.
“The same,” I mumble.
My brother and his girlfriend had come by last night with Mr. Guo to check on Jia once Nico had done damage control. The tabloids had already gotten wind of the fiasco, and rumors were flying.
I try to care, but at the moment I couldn’t give a shit. All I care about is seeing those dark eyes alive with light again. Even if they are filled with rage.
“When does the doctor expect her to wake?”
“She should have woken up by now…”
Nico’s chin dips and he inches closer, squeezing my shoulder. “Love sucks, huh, fratello ?”
“Love?” I blurt, massaging the void in my chest.
He points to Jia then me. “Isn’t that what this is?”
I shake my head, a rueful smile curling the corners of my lips. It’s been so long since I felt it, I wasn’t sure I’d recognize the feeling even if it smacked me in the face. “I don’t know,” I finally mumble.
“It sure looks like it to me.”
“Because now that you have Maisy, you’re the love expert?”
He shrugs. “It does change your view on things. ”
“Did you punish your girlfriend for disobeying you and calling the ambulance for me last night?”
His grin twists into a scowl. “No…”
“My, my, you really have changed, Nico.” I slap my brother on the shoulder as I pass him, resuming my pacing.
“Marco…” That voice sends me spinning on my heel, the delicate female timbre already possessing a straight line to my heart.