Chapter 47 Rico
Rico
My muscles are taunt and stiff as I try to move. The pain reverberates up and down my whole body. My mouth pries open in a silent agonizing scream.
A nauseating churning persists in my stomach until bile burns at the back of my throat threatening to come out.
Something tugs at my hand and through heavy lidded eyes I see an IV hooked to me.
The antiseptic smell of a hospital doesn’t fill my nostrils, but the scent of lilies does.
Imogen.
It’s as if I’ve been injected with a shot of adrenaline.
Despite the pain and the protest of my ribs I sit upwards in the bed in which I recognize isn’t ours but someone else’s.
The familiarity of the room and the fluorescent lighting tells me we’re at Constantine and Carina’s home.
Down by my side curled in a fetal position, soundly sleeping is my wife.
My wife.
My heart skips a beat as I look at her.
Reverently I trace the outline of her face before I lay my hand against her throat. Even in her sleep she recognizes me. She presses closer as her pulse thrums wildly beneath my fingertips.
I feared I would never experience this again.
Emotion suffocates me.
I lick my dry and busted lips. On a croak I call out her name in hopes she’ll wake. I’d give anything to see her sky blue eyes shining with love. “Imogen.”
She stirs slightly. A small smile graces her lips.
“La mia gazzella.” It’s barely above a whisper but I know she hears me.
Her lashes flutter as she wakes from her slumber. Then, with wide eyes she stares at me as if her eyes are deceiving her.
“Rico,” she says breathlessly. Tears shimmer in her eyes, making them shine like precious jewels. “You’re awake.”
I remove my hand from her throat to softly stroke the apple of her cheek. She leans into my touch. “Come here,” I coax softly.
“But you’re injured,” she argues weakly.
“There is no amount of pain greater than you not in my arms. Come here.” With monumental effort I lift my arm and she gingerly tucks in beside me. The warmth of her seeps into me. And everything feels right once more. Nothing is missing.
“I’m so sorry for what happened to you, shadow.”
I press a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t apologize. None of it was your doing. I’ll get my revenge soon and so will you.”
“About that. . .” Her voice falls off with uncertainty. I tip her chin up to read her better. “Revenge won’t be necessary.”
“What happened?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I remember feeling as if death was coming for me. And I heard your voice and couldn’t fathom how the gods could be so cruel.
You promised Kirill something and then everything for me slipped.
” I try not to berate myself as I can’t recall what happened.
I loathe feeling helpless. Even worse, I absolutely despise it when it’s my own mind turning itself against me.
“Kirill helped us escape,” she tells me.
I raise a brow. “At a cost I assume.”
“I promised him Zhen’s location.”
For a moment I believe my ears have deceived me. The very same order I was specifically given to not disobey. The very same piece of information I didn’t divulge out of respect and loyalty for my Don and Donna. A rule I followed even if it had meant my death.
My brain can’t comprehend how Imogen went against it.
Not that I’m not grateful. Of course I am. She fucking saved my life. But my mind is taking the extra time to process how a rule can be broken so easily.
“You’re not saying anything,” she mumbles nervously.
“I’m trying to process how you did it so easily.”
“So, you think I’m a traitor now?” Her voice sounds so incredibly hurt.
“No,” I rush to assure her. “No. It’s just my mind processes differently than yours. I understand why you did it, Imogen. Our lives were at stake. I just wish it was easier for me to break the rule, that's all.”
She frames my face in her hands. “Don’t beat yourself up, please. I knew I was the one who had to do it. So I did. And thankfully everything worked out.”
“I can’t imagine you promising Kirill Zhen’s location worked out smoothly with Constantine. He gave a direct order.”
“Not at first,” she admits. “But Kirill proposed a business deal with Constantine and Carina in exchange for her whereabouts.”
“A deal,” I echo dubiously.
“The gun trade.“
I’m not following. “Why would Kirill propose a business deal? He despises us.”
“Because you did business with Tao knowing the truth. But he also came to my defense.”
I sound like a fucking parrot as I repeat. “Your defense.”
“Constantine and Carina were not happy with me and rightfully so. I betrayed their trust. I understand that. And so when Carina told me the gravity of what I’ve done Kirill came to my aid and proposed a deal.”
My brows scrunch together. “I feel like I’m missing something. Why is Kirill willingly helping you?”
“Because he’s taken a liking to me.”
The primal beast within me roars. I grind down on my molars. “You’re mine, Imogen. You wear my ring. You bear my last name. Your heart and soul belongs to me. No one else.”
She lightly pats my chest. “Believe me, he’s well aware. He sees me as a sister, Rico.”
“I don’t want him to see you as anything,” I rumble.
“Well, sorry to disappoint but I think you’re not going to be able to change the boogeyman’s mind. And he did help us escape.”
“We wouldn’t have been in that predicament in the first place if it wasn’t for him. The bastard,” I grit out.
“True,” she agrees. “But I think Kirill may be a bit misunderstood.”
I scoff. A viscous jealousy towards the Russian has me wanting to hunt him down and kill him. My wife shouldn’t be feeling anything for him at all. “Don’t extend your empathy to him.”
Her lips twitch. “It’s. . .complicated.”
“No, it’s not,” I say adamantly. “Feel nothing towards him. Unless you want me to kill him.” A roll of her eyes tells me she’s not taking this seriously enough. “I mean it.”
“I know you do,” she says easily. “Your jealousy knows no bounds.”
“I am limitless when it comes to you.” This pleases her. “You’re leaving out an important detail.”
“Hmm?”
“Why isn’t our revenge necessary?”
“When I woke I wasn’t in a holding cell.
I was in my bedroom and ma was there.” Her voice begins to tremble and I try my best in holding her tighter to console her.
“He hit her, Rico. Ma kept wanting to save me and pa abused her because of it. I couldn’t forgive him after that and neither could she. ”
“You killed him.”
She nods her head against my chest. “Once you were safe in the vehicle I went back inside to rescue ma. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, leave her behind.
He had her in my room tied up and with her mouth taped shut.
And I just lost it, Rico. Everything I felt.
The betrayal. The Heartbreak. The abuse.
I did it without thinking. And when I realized what I had done after the first shot I emptied the clip in his chest. It was so easy.
Killing him. Killing Sebastian. Killing the soldiers. It was easy, Rico.“
I press a hard kiss to the top of her head.
Bitterness coats my tongue. Because she shouldn’t have had to make the hard choices.
Not only did she experience her first kill which can bring upon a toll to the mind she also killed her father.
A man at one point in her life who she had loved.
Who had shown her affection. All until it was time to make a choice between protecting her or protecting the crime family.
But in the very same breath I can’t help but feel proud of her. My wife did what was necessary. She eliminated the threat. Thought quick with Kirill. Protected me with her life.
She did what a leader was born to do.
“Does this upset you? How easy it was.”
She toys with her fingernails. I hold her hand to comfort her. “No. And maybe it should. I know it should. But I had to protect you. I had to protect ma. It was the only way.”
“I told you that you would save yourself. But saved me, too, Imogen. Long before this. I believe you saved me the moment I met you. And I can never thank you enough for that.”
Tears glisten in her eyes with a watery smile. “You never have to thank me. You just have to keep loving me.”
“I love you, gazzella. In life. In death. Always,” I vow.