36. Cassio
Itwisted my body as fast as I could trying to shield her with my body. But the sound that tore through the room was deafening and the cry that followed shattered my heart.
Not again. Please, God, not again. I can’t lose her, too.
When I moved away from Francesca, she was on the floor, face twisted with pain. A red stain began to appear on the sleeve of her floral dress. I pressed the wound and she screamed. Someone pulled me back, but I used all my force and elbowed them in the face. A grunt followed and then a second person came at me, and I acted faster this time twisting and grabbing his gun, shooting the man dead in the chest. Then turned around pointing the gun.
All five guards plus Mikail and Grigori had theirs trained on me. Slowly, the fifth guard came into the light and moved toward Mikail where he raised his gun and pressed it to his head.
“Put it down or I’ll shoot,” Umberto said.
I had been acting on pure instinct. My heart hammering against my chest. When I realized it was Umberto, I took a deep sigh. He had been Francesca’s old guard, had worked for Donato a lifetime, but it was clear to whom his loyalty belonged.
All I wanted to do was go to Francesca to know if she was alive… but I wouldn’t dare move now.
Suddenly, I caught movement in the back door, I looked at Umberto and gave a slight nod.
In seconds the room turned into a war zone; shots were fired from all directions but mostly from the back. Umberto killed Mikail with a shot to the head, and I emptied my magazine into Grigori, who barely had time to shoot me. I wished I had more time to torture him, a quick death was not something he deserved. But I’d rather have him dead than walk this earth a second longer.
Before I noticed, the room was filled with my men. Luciano, my enforcer, and all my other loyal soldiers. Vitelli lifted his gun and me and fired, I turned back to find Donato had been ready to kill me.
Vitelli bypassed me and reached Donato who had been grunting and crying on the floor. The bullet had hit his kneecap. He tried to crawl away, but my brother shot him again, and then again. He looked at me asking for permission. I nodded. Right now, I didn’t care how he died, I just cared that he did.
When we secured our surroundings and all the Russians were killed, I dropped to the floor and turned toward Francesca. She was bleeding a lot. The bullet had hit her shoulder, and her face was turning paler by the second.
“Shit,” Vitelli came to stand beside me. He removed his jacket and offered it to me.
I pressed it to her shoulder and looked around the room. “I told you not to come,” I snapped, adrenaline and fear coursing through my veins.
“You’re welcome,” he snapped back. “You made me Capo; the decision was mine to make.”
I wanted to hug him and kill him at the same time, but right now I had something more pressing to deal with. I lifted Francesca in my arms, she cried out.
“I’m so sorry, Principessa,” I begged her forgiveness, as I carried her out of the warehouse.
Her eyes were open, but she was in shock, not responding to me when I spoke.
There were dead men all the way to where I parked my car. I stopped and turned toward Vitelli. “I’ll take care of this. You go take care of her,” he said.
I drove like my life depended on it because it just might. “Open your eyes for me, Principessa,” I ordered.
She did but it was clear she was being pulled under. “It hurts.” Her voice was weak. “I feel so cold.”
“It’s going to be all right, Principessa.” I grabbed her hand and kept my thumb on her pulse, it was becoming fainter by the second. “If you die on me, I swear to God, I’ll never forgive you.”
A tear ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes fluttered.
“Principessa,”I warned. “If you die, I die.” Simple as that.
She closed her eyes and wouldn’t open them again.
I sat by her bedside and looked at all the flowers that I had bought over the last three days. Because when she woke up, I wanted Francesca to be surrounded by her beloved tulips.
My brother and his wife were in the waiting room, where they had made camp since I brought Francesca here. They had barely left my, or her side.
I hadn’t left either, not being able to be separated from her. Parting with Francesca was physically painful. Watching her being taken to the OR had been a test of my patience and self-control. As much as I knew these people were here to help, knowing I wasn’t there to make sure they didn’t screw up was terrifying.
“You should get something to eat,” Marie said as she walked into the room and sat by my side.
In these past three days, I have learned to appreciate her. She had been here every moment, leaving only when Vitelli forced her to.
“I need to be here if she wakes up,” I said and quickly corrected myself. “When.”
Marie placed a hand over Francesca’s forehead and looked at her friend. “Vitelli wants me to go home for a bit, I’ll be here tonight.” I nodded. “He said Luciano is here in case…”
I nodded again not knowing what else to say.
I just wanted my principessa to wake up. I’d give anything to have her with me again. Everything!
When it was only the two of us again, I did something I hadn’t done since I was a boy. I got on my knees and prayed. I promised God that if she woke up, I would make Francesca mine forever and would never give her reason to doubt that I loved her.
I broke up with her once, to protect her. When Bella and my father died, I wanted to follow them. I closed myself off to the world and to all notions of love. I thought I was doing the right thing, but the truth was, I had been afraid. Afraid to love. Afraid to lose. Afraid to feel. So, I pushed Francesca away because she had been the most precious thing in my life. Letting her go was my biggest mistake. I thought it was the right thing but, in the end, it hurt us both.
So, I prayed that I could keep her forever. If God gave her back to me, I would never let her go.
A week later she was still unresponsive. I sat by her side, her cold hand in mine. I had taken to praying every day, but God must have forgotten me.
I stared at her lying on the hospital bed and pulled at my hair. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t lose her. Despair was eating me away in large quantities. I needed Francesca to wake up. I needed her here beside me, and I didn’t care if I was selfish for needing her so much.
“Please, Principessa, please wake up.”
I had just entered the room bringing her a new bouquet of purple tulips; I was placing them on the vase like Francesca liked, two weeks had gone by, slipping through my fingers. That’s when I heard my name.
It came in a soft whisper, and it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard in my life. I turned around and saw Francesca’s big sapphire eyes watching me.
She tried to sit up and I raced toward her. “Hey, slowly.” I helped her. When she was slightly raised up, I watched as she regarded her surroundings. All I wanted to do was kiss her senseless, but I let her adjust first.
“What happened?” I went still.
“What do you remember?”
Francesca frowned and then looked at her shoulder. “They were going to shoot at you.”
After everything happened, I was furious at her, a part of me would always be, but how could I blame her for wanting to save me when I would have done the same to save her?
“Don’t ever do that, Francesca, do you understand?” I took her hand in mine, enjoying the warmth—she had been so cold before. “I know why you did it, but if you had died, I would have followed, so your heroics would have been for shit.”
She smiled weakly. “I can’t live without you.” A single tear fell. “I was so scared.”
God. My heart was breaking. I wiped that tear away and sat closer to her. “It’s all right, Principessa.” I wiped another tear. “We killed Grigori and his operations here in Chicago. The Bratva won’t dare return so soon. You’re safe now.”
I had made sure of it. After that night, I had Vitelli and all my men hunt down the Russians and gave them a choice, either leave my territory or die. I hated not being able to fight beside my men, but Francesca was more important now. She was my family and family always came first—even before the Outfit.
“What about Donato?”
I shook my head. “Dead,” I confessed, and she sighed, visibly relieved.
Francesca looked at her wounded shoulder and then at me. “Will Marco pay for my father’s mistakes?”
I had thought about that. He had known about Donato’s meetings with the Bratva and hadn’t warned me, but he was just a kid and in this I was biased. He was Francesca’s brother.
I shook my head.
Francesca sighed. “Thank you.”
“He’s your brother, I would never harm him,” I confessed. I kissed her nose and she grinned. It was the sweetest sight in the world.
I closed in and kissed her lightly. She tried to deepen the kiss, but I moved back, eliciting a frustrated groan from her which made me chuckle.
“I love you,” I proclaimed. “I want, no, I need you to be mine, forever.”
Her eyes shot wide. “Is this a proposal?”
Fuck that’s not how I planned this, but almost losing her had opened my mind and made me see that everything I needed and wanted had always been right in front of me.
I removed the box from my back pocket and opened it for her. “Four years ago, I broke your heart, and in the process, I lost you. It was the biggest mistake of my life, and I will regret it forever. I know I don’t deserve this, or you, but I am literally begging you. I have lived these past four years in darkness and misery. I am only alive when I am next to you. You make me want to live. You are the very air I breathe, Francesca. Without you I am nothing.”
“Cassio–“
“Wait,” I stopped her. “I need you to know that I always loved you even when I broke things off. I never stopped, and I never will. You are it for me, Francesca. Seeing you in this bed unresponsive, made me realize that if I can’t have you then I don’t want to live anymore.”
“Don’t say that.” Tears snaked down her cheeks.
“It’s the truth, my heart beats only for you.” I confessed.
She reached for my hand, and I offered it to her. “I love you, Cassio, and I forgive you. I have for a while now.”
Those words hit me hard like a baseball bat to the stomach. I had never expected how much they would affect me and how much I needed to hear them.
“I love you.” I stood up “Will you marry me?”
She beamed bright as the sun. “Yes, yes!”
“Thank fuck,” I placed the ring on her finger and kissed her.
“Love you, too,” she mumbled through kisses.
I lay beside her in bed and watched as she inspected the ring, a fat, satisfied smile on her face. The doctor had come earlier and checked on her. Marie and Vitelli were on their way, which meant we had a couple of minutes to ourselves. Francesca lifted her head from my shoulder and looked me in the eye.
“Why are you crying, Principessa?”
“I’m happy, Cassio. I never thought I was going to have this,” she confessed.
“What?” I asked.
Just then Vitelli, Marie and Marco stepped into the room. When they saw her awake and smiling, they entered and began to fuss over her. When Marie saw the ring, she gasped and the two wouldn’t stop smiling. Vitelli came next and he hugged her, too, like a brother would. I saw then in his eyes a promise that he would always protect her. Marco came last, and we all let the two of them talk for a while.
“Congratulations, man.” Vitelli tapped my shoulder. I grinned. “So, marriage…who would have thought.”
I smiled at him. “Not me,” I confessed. “I need to tell you something,” I confessed. “I learned it a few days ago,” I explained.
Vitelli eyed me suspiciously, but I couldn’t stop grinning. “You’re making me nervous,” he teased.
“Francesca is pregnant,” I said happily.
“No fucking shit.” His jaw dropped.
I nodded. The doctor had told me when she came out of surgery two weeks ago. Imagine my surprise when I learned she was with child. My child. Fear had gripped me harder than before, but the doctors assured me the child would be okay, both of them would.
I wanted to desperately tell Francesca.
“Cassio,” Vitelli shook his head. “How, I mean… you, a father, you didn’t even want to marry.” I knew where he was coming from.
“I love her, Vitelli. I want everything with her.”
He chuckled and slapped me on the back. “Well, congratulations then.”
When Marco and Francesca ended their private conversation, we entered the room again, and I sat beside Francesca while she leaned into me, and I held her close.
“I never thought I was going to have this,” she repeated the words from earlier, and as I looked around, I understood.
A family…her own family, one that would love her no matter what.
Vitelli must have heard it because one look from me and he understood what I was silently asking. He escorted everyone out promising they’d be here early tomorrow.
When it was just the two of us, Francesca grabbed my hand. “You’re nervous,” she said, reading me easily.
“I have something to tell you,” I said.
I hadn’t planned on doing this. It was usually the other way around; I didn’t know how to break the news to her. Why was this so nerve wrecking? It was good news, yet I was terrified.
“What is it, Cassio?” She sat up slowly. There was fear in her eyes and that was the last thing I wanted.
I took a deep breath and exhaled. “You’re pregnant.”
Silence.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re with child, Principessa, my child. Our child.” I couldn’t help smiling at the thought that she was pregnant with my kid. Mine.
“H-how?”
“Francesca,” I chuckled. “I think the amount of unprotected sex we had is explanation enough.”
“Oh God.” She dropped her head into her hands.
Why wasn’t she happy?
“Principessa.” I lifted her head, so she was looking at me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant, Cassio,” she said simply.
“Yes.” I agreed.
“I’m not cut out to be a mother,” she pointed out, then her eyes widened. “Cassio, I was shot.” They widened so much I thought her eyeballs would fall from their sockets. “I take heavy medication. I used drugs. GOD.”
“Francesca,” I cupped her cheeks. “Calm down. Our daughter is fine, she’s healthy and safe.”
“D-daughter?”
“Yes. She’s going to be as perfect and as beautiful as you are.” I couldn’t help but smile.
“You’re not angry with me?”
My smile faltered. “Why would I be?”
“We never discussed this.”
I chuckled. “I want it all, Francesca. You, children, a house with a white picket fence. Even that gray rat of yours, as long as you’re by my side.”
She placed a hand over her still flat belly. “I’m pregnant.” She smiled for the first time since I broke the news and then…she cried.
I held her while she did, and I knew those were tears of joy because Francesca wouldn’t stop telling me how her dream had come true, and how happy she was.
Francesca never had a proper family, one that loved her unconditionally. But us, we would always be here for her to love and cherish her as she deserved.
“Your heart is my favorite place to be,” I confessed. “So, take care of it. I love you with all that I have in me.”
“I love you, too, Cassio Moretti, with every fiber in my body. I love you beyond what’s possible.”
That night, I lay beside her with her tucked in my arms while laying a hand on her belly where my daughter was growing. I never wanted or even dreamed of this, but now I couldn’t see my life without them. Suddenly they became everything, and I would protect and love Francesca and my daughter for as long as I lived.
Francesca was always my maddest temptation. The one girl I could never stay away from and could never forget. And now… now she would be forever mine. Forever Mrs. Moretti.
THE END