Chapter 21 #2
Matteo shouts again, this time something about needing medico.
A doctor? I break into a sprint, running straight for their raised voices with Enzo close behind me.
Turning the corner into the dining room, I'm thrust into a room full of men I don’t recognize.
All of their eyes land on me, their expressions grave and discerning.
“Vanessa, please,” Enzo whispers aggressively, but I ignore him.
Matteo is yelling commands at the head of the dining table, while someone lies nearly motionless on the table top. We just had dinner there last night. The most delicious homemade pasta I’ve ever had in my life. And now all I can see are the faces of these men and the severity in Matteo’s eyes.
“Matteo,” I shout, and he looks up for only a moment, wincing at the sound of my voice.
“You shouldn’t be here, Ness. Enzo, get her out of here.” He snaps, but I shake out of Enzo’s hold again.
I push past the man, finally coming to the side of the table.
Sebastian lies in the middle, his white dress shirt completely soaked through with blood.
Two small holes puncture his left side as blood slowly pools beneath him.
His usual olive skin looks pale and peaked, and I feel my heart rate begin to spike.
Rage boils hot and lethal beneath my skin.
My fists clench at my sides, nails digging into the flesh of my palms until the point of pain.
“Who hurt him?” I demand, my voice darker than I’ve ever heard it before.
“Things got a little out of hand. We were supposed to be meeting an associate. A known ally. And evidently, that wasn’t the case.
We were ambushed as soon as he let the security team leave the room.
I barely got him out the door.” Matteo’s explanation is rushed as he applies pressure to the gunshots on Seb’s abdomen.
Sebastian groans in pain, and I grip his hand tightly.
“Where the fuck is the doctor?!” I shout, tears streaming down my face. I don’t let my emotions break free, but I don’t hold them back either.
“Vanessa, I really think we should-” Enzo grips my arm.
Before I know what I’m doing, I reach into the holster still attached to Sebastian’s shoulder and pull out his pistol.
Lining the barrel up with Enzo’s chest, I look him straight in the eyes.
A collective gasp sounds from every man in the room, followed by Matteo cursing.
Enzo releases me, holding his hands up and stepping back.
With one finger on the trigger, one hand holding Sebastian’s, and all eyes on me in this room, I decide now is as great a time as any to make myself perfectly clear to this boys club about where I stand when it comes to their boss.
“I’m going to say this one time where every single one of you can hear me, so feel free to spread it like the vicious little gossips I know you all are.
If any one of you suggests I need to leave this room again, I will put a hole in you to match Sebastian’s.
Ask me to leave his side again, and you will burn for it.
Do we have an understanding?” I raise a brow at Enzo, and he nods once. Matteo laughs softly in the background.
“Something to say, Teo?” I ask, training my gun on him.
“Definitely not, regina mia. This is where you belong.” He dips his head to me, and I lower my gun, setting it on the table next to Sebastian’s side.
An older man enters the room carrying a black doctor’s bag like the one you see in movies.
He couldn’t be more of a cliché if he tried.
He’s wearing a pressed wool suit and a dress shirt with a starched collar, it feels far too formal for such a house call.
His silver hair is neatly parted, and his face carries the calm gravity of someone who has seen far too much to be easily rattled. He must be a regular here.
“Why was he not brought to the medical wing? I cannot treat injuries like this on a dining table, Matteo.” The man scolds Teo, and for the first time he looks as though he’s been put in his place.
“This was as far as we could make it before he lost consciousness. I thought it best to stop the bleeding before going further and call you here.” He clenches a fist at his side.
“Very well. Clear these men out of here. I do not need an audience to perform. You, woman, go to the medical wing and get me a sterile surgical tray, saline, and everything needed to start an IV.” The doctor snaps, and I look around wondering who the fuck he thinks he’s talking to. Surely it’s not me.
Grasping Sebastian’s hand tighter, my other hand flexes around the grip of the pistol. I meet Matteo’s eyes, and even without a word he tells me to grin and bear it. Unfortunately, that’s just not my style.
“Enzo, go,” Matteo commands, and the doctor gives him a stern look.
Enzo leaves without another word to fetch the supplies, and most of the other men clear out of the room as well.
Matteo is uncomfortable around the doctor, which puts me on edge as well.
I’m putting the life of the man I love in the hands of someone I don’t trust. But what choice do I have?
I don’t want to watch him die right before my eyes, so I have to let this man do his work.
Sebastian groans, his eyelids flickering open and shut. He mumbles something completely incoherent, and my heart skitters to a stop in my chest. If I wasn’t sure about my feelings for this man, they are crystal clear now. Seeing him this way is like fucking torture.
“Ness…” he says, his voice strained as he grips my hand tightly.
His jaw clenches tightly, the pain evident in every inch of his body. He’s in agony and there’s nothing I can do about it. I squeeze his hand back, just letting him know I’m here. I don’t know how conscious he really is.
“I’m right here, Seb. I’m not going anywhere.” Tears stream down my face, but I ignore them. There’s no time for my emotions right now. I have to remain strong for him.
The doctor rolls up his sleeves, turning Sebastian onto one side. Every muscle in his body contracts in anguish, but he remains silent, refusing to show weakness in front of his men. I want to cause this doctor the kind of pain he’s causing Sebastian, but right now he’s a necessary evil.
“I don’t think he would be conscious if the bullets hit any major arteries.
The internal damage, however, I cannot tell you the extent until I am able to get him to the medical wing and retrieve the bullet.
Only one of them went all the way through, the other appears to be lodged in his rib, if I had to make an educated guess.
He will lose consciousness again soon, and he will need surgery.
” Panic settles into my bones with every word the doctor speaks.
Enzo comes back into the room with the supplies, and the doctor busies himself with packing Sebastian’s wounds and starting an IV.
Everything moves so fast, yet slow all at once.
All of a sudden, I’m taken back to a memory from when I was a little girl.
Aria took me on a carousel at the park close to our house.
I begged her to take me for a ride. I’d been mesmerized by the beautiful lights and intricately painted ponies.
But once the ride started, I was terrified.
We were standing still while the world around us seemed to move so quickly, and I panicked.
I cried in her arms the entire time until the ride ended.
I feel the exact same way now as I did that day on the carousel.
“Ness, please listen. He’s gonna knock me out. And I need…you to do something…” Sebastian’s eyes lack their usual fire, his voice thready and thin.
“Anything. What is it?” If he asked me to fling myself off the top of this villa right now, I probably would. I can’t imagine a single thing I wouldn’t do for him.
“I need you to go home.” he says, and the earth shakes beneath me.
I can’t imagine a single thing except that.
I stare at his face for a few long moments before I realize he’s not kidding.
Why he would be kidding at this moment, I don’t know.
But why would he be asking me to do something so unthinkable?
I can’t imagine being separated from him.
Even the thought of being in the next room makes me feel ill.
He wants me to be an entire ocean away? I don’t understand.
“I’m sorry, I just hallucinated. What?” I ask when I finally snap out of my stupor and process what he’s asking me to do.
“Leave this place, Vanessa.” He winces, maybe from the pain, maybe from the demand he’s making.
“I can’t just leave you, Sebastian! You can’t ask me to do that!” My voice is shrill, barely less than a screech, but I don’t care. I feel completely panic stricken by his request.
“He’s ready, we need to go now.” The doctor says, and my brows furrow.
Everyone in the room is looking at me like I’m going to blindly obey his command, but I’ve never been the kind to mindlessly follow anyone or anything. Why would I start now?
“Teo,” Seb says, calling him over, and Matteo comes closer.
He whispers to him so closely that only Matteo can hear what he’s saying.
I’m stuck looking back and forth between the men, my hand still wrapped tightly around Sebastian’s, as they decide the fate of my future.
There’s no way I can get on a plane and leave here not knowing if Sebastian will live until tomorrow.
Sure, he’s talking to me right now, but things happen during surgery all the time.
And he told me we were supposed to be in this together.
That I could trust him. Trust him to send me away at the first sign of trouble?
“I’m not fucking leaving! You can’t make me leave you, Sebastian!
You don’t get to do this to me, you fucking bastard!
You don’t get to make me fall in love with you and then send me away!
” I scream, not caring how absolutely insane I look right now.
He looks almost remorseful before he kisses my hand.
“You are not safe here. You have to leave. This will not be the end for us…” he winces, and I know I’m delaying his care, but this feels like an impossible situation.
“We need to go now,” the doctor urges, and I wish I’d put a bullet in him when he came through the door. Through anyone who dares take him away from me.
“Please, Seb. Please don’t do this to me,” I sob, clinging to him for dear life.
“Tu sei la mia anima,” Sebastian says, barely loud enough for me to hear. I should’ve learned more Italian before coming here, should’ve known I’d need it around him.
“Let him go, Ness. They have to take him.” Matteo pries my hand from Sebastian’s, pulling me away from him entirely. Somehow in the shuffle, Enzo manages to take the gun out of my reach as well. That’s probably for the best. The rage I feel right now would definitely end Matteo’s life.
I watch helplessly as a few men move Sebastian onto a hospital bed and rush him from the room. I want to scream. I want to break every fucking bone in Matteo’s body right now because he’s the one holding me back from following Sebastian.
“I hate you,” I tell him, but he doesn’t loosen his grip.
“I can live with that.” He replies.
“I wish it were you on that fucking table,” I know my words are venomous, but I can’t contain them. I hate the feeling burrowing into my chest right now.
“So do I, regina mia. Trust me, so do I.” He holds me up, my body going slack in his grip. The fight in me is draining as Sebastian gets further and further from my reach.