Chapter 3
Chapter Three
The second I saw the glint of a silver barrel catching in the streetlight above the car, I jumped on Daniella.
Pushing her body behind mine and then to the ground.
The sound of a gun firing once fills my ears before the screams of the surrounding crowd and the spinning of rubber as the car speeds off replace it.
And then the searing, burning pain hits me. I somehow managed to catch a fucking bullet in my abdomen. Fuck. I look down at an ashen Daniella.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I ask her, not moving my body from covering hers.
“Wh-what just happened?”
“Someone just tried to fucking shoot you,” I grit out between clenched teeth.
Who the fuck would try to take out this woman? She’s not even from here.
Ignoring the searing pain tearing through my abdomen, I keep my focus on her. “Are you hurt, Dani?” I repeat.
She shakes her head. “Are you?”
“A little,” I groan. “I’ll be fine.” I roll off her and stand, hissing in pain as I hold out a hand to help her up.
“What the hell, CJ?” Daniella screams as she jumps to her feet. Her top is dangerously close to falling down over her breasts, not that I would call that tiny scrap of fabric she’s tied around her a top.
Shrugging out of my jacket, I go to wrap it around her shoulders, only to have her swat my hand away.
“You’re bleeding. Shit, what happened? Oh my god, you were shot. Shit, CJ, you’ve been shot!” Her wide, scared eyes meet mine.
“Yeah, I’m aware.”
“We need to get you to a hospital, or an ambulance. Shit, what do I do?” she asks.
“No. I’ll be fine,” I grunt. “I need to get to Alfie’s.”
“Alfie’s? You’ve been shot, CJ, and you want to go to your cousin’s house? What the hell is wrong with you!”
“Dani, my car is with the valet. I need you to drive,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “You need a bloody hospital, CJ. Not to go visit your cousin.”
I smile. It’s hard to take her seriously when she’s yelling at me in that damn cute-as-fuck Australian accent. “Come on, I’ll be fine. It’s just a little hole.”
Reaching out, I tug her top up to cover her breasts more, since she’s not going to put on my coat. Drape my arm over her shoulder and lead her towards the valet stand.
Minutes later, my car is in front of me. Taking the keys from the valet, I hand them to Daniella and then climb into the passenger seat as I pull my phone from my pocket.
Daniella gets behind the wheel. “You do realize I’ve never actually driven on the wrong side of the road before. There better be a doctor waiting for you at Alfie’s.” She gives me a look as she starts the engine.
“You’ll be fine. Just focus on the road and try not to scratch my car, darling,” I tell her.
“You’re currently bleeding all over your car and you’re worried about me scratching it?” she grumbles while pulling out onto the street.
“I’m not worried about my car. I’m worried about the contents within it,” I say before I can think better of what I’m admitting. “Just drive, Dani.” I punch Alfie’s address into the GPS and then tap Sammie J’s number on my phone.
“Where the fuck are you?” my cousin answers.
“On my way to Alfie’s. I took a bullet.”
“You what? Where?”
“Stomach. I’m fine.”
“You driving yourself?” Sammie J asks.
“No, Daniella is with me.”
There’s a moment of silence before he speaks again. “She okay?”
“Yeah. I think you’re going to have to run the errand with someone else, though. I might have to sit this one out.”
Sammie J’s laugh comes through the phone’s speaker. “Yeah, okay. I’ll meet you at Alfie’s.” And then he cuts the call.
The entire drive to my cousin’s place is quiet. Daniella keeps looking over at me, right until we pull up to the gate and I tell her the code to enter.
I can feel the energy draining from my body with the more blood I lose. Daniella helps me inside the house, moments before my cousins are parking out front.
“Alfie, get out here! Now!” Daniella yells through the house as we enter the foyer, while I’m doing my best not to put too much of my weight on her. “Where the hell is he?” She looks to me before yelling out again. “Hurry up!”
Alfie groans as he jogs down the stairs, a pissed-off expression on his face. That is until his eyes fall on mine. Hudson, Sammie J, Aiden, and Elias all walk into the room behind Alfie.
“Fuck, you look like shit,” Elias says.
I fall to the ground, lying on my back. Unable to stay upright any longer. “And still look better than you, asshole.” I laugh, regretting it instantly when pain shoots through my abdomen.
“Where’s the doc?” Alfie turns to Hudson as he holds something onto my wound, pressing down fucking hard while attempting to stop the blood flow.
“On his way. Another three minutes,” Hudson says.
“Fuck. What the fuck happened?” Alfie yells at Daniella, who is standing over me with tears streaming down her face. Why the fuck is she crying?
“I… He jumped in front of me,” she explains.
“Of course he fucking did. Fucking idiot,” Alfie grunts, pressing down harder on my wound. Asshole.
“Worth it,” I tell him through gritted teeth. I would catch any amount of bullets if it meant they didn’t hit her. I keep this fact to myself, though. Because I can’t forget exactly who she is.
“Where is the doctor?” Daniella asks. “This is taking too long.”
“He’ll be here,” I assure her. “You need to relax, sweetheart. It’s as if you’ve never seen a bullet wound before, which I know for a fact you have.”
“It’s different when the one with a hole in them is…” She stops herself and turns away from me. “I swear to god, Alfie, if he dies, I will kill you.”
“Careful there, Daniella. You sound like you actually care.” This comes from Elias, who isn’t shy about sending an icy glare in Daniella’s direction.
“Elias, leave her alone.” My words are dripping with an unspoken warning. I might hate her. I might give her the cold shoulder, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around and let other people be assholes to her.
“I don’t need you to stick up for me, CJ. I can tell this asshole to shut the bloody hell up myself,” Daniella says before storming from the room.
“Someone tried to shoot her. Do not let her out of your fucking sight,” I tell Aiden, who has been awfully quiet this entire time.
“Don’t die on me. I like being the spare. I have no intentions of being the heir,” he says before following Daniella out of the room.
“Seriously? You’re just jumping in front of bullets for people you hate now?” Alfie asks me.
I’m saved from having to respond when the doc walks in, already opening his bag. The next half an hour is a blur. I’m pumped with enough drugs that everything is hazy. And then I’m drifting off to sleep.
My eyes blink open, the sound of my mom’s voice bringing me back to consciousness. “Mom?”
“Oh, thank god you’re awake.” She rushes over and sits on the edge of the bed. Her lips press against my forehead and then my cheek. “Don’t you ever scare me like this again, Carlo Junior. I swear to god, I will kill you myself if you do,” she says.
“Sorry,” I tell her. I’m not sorry. I saved Daniella from getting hit by a fucking bullet. “Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Daniella?”
“Oh, she’s out in the hall. She wouldn’t come in, but she also wouldn’t leave,” Mom says.
“Okay, that’s good.” I lean my head back against the pillow.
“Is it?” Mom asks. “What were you doing with her, CJ?”
“She was out front of the Royal. I stopped to ask her where she was going dressed the way she was.”
“First, it’s the twenty-first century. You don’t get to tell a woman how to dress, dipshit. Second, have you forgotten what happened the last time you got involved with her?”
“Antonia, he doesn’t need relationship advice right now. He needs rest,” my father’s voice cuts through.
I turn to see him leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. I didn’t even notice he was there.
“Someone tried to shoot her, Dad. I want to know who,” I tell him.
“I’ll find out.” Dad nods his head. “Antonia, let’s leave him to rest.” He takes my mother’s hand and guides her to her feet.
“I’ll be downstairs. I’m not leaving this house until you’re ready to come home with me,” Mom says.
“I’ll be fine, Mom. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Oh, I know you’ll be physically fine, CJ, but your shitty taste in women is going to be the death of you. Don’t ever jump in front of a bullet for someone else again. Your life is more important,” Mom warns me.
“What if it were Jazzy? Or Aiden?” I raise a questioning brow at her.
“Saving your sibling is a lot more admirable than saving someone who broke your heart.”
“You did the right thing,” my dad tells me. “Antonia, you would have done the same thing if it were me, even when you hated me.”
“Pfft, I would have pushed you towards the bullet, not away from it.” My mom smirks at him.
“Sure you would have.” Dad laughs. “Get some rest,” he orders as they exit the bedroom.
I look around, recognizing the décor of Alfie’s guestroom. I can just imagine how pissed my cousin is at having everyone in his house. And that thought brings me the tiniest bit of comfort.