36.Alin
Alin
My eyes struggle to open, and sharp pain shoots through my body, making movement impossible. Why is this becoming a recurring nightmare?
The harsh fluorescent light blinds me, its buzzing aggravating the throbbing in my head. I turn my head slowly, blinking to clear my vision and orient myself.
A sharp pain burns my shoulders as my neck stretches, and now I remember everything. Stas shot me. Where the hell am I? Did he lock me up again?
Panic floods me as I remember trying to signal Luca. Was he there? Did they reach him?
Ignoring the intense pain with newfound adrenaline, I bolt upright. I need to escape, no matter the cost.
Glancing down, I see I’m clad in a faded white gown, stained with small patches of blood. Is it mine?
I’m connected to strange machines, with many wires. What the hell are they putting into my body? What is this needle in my arm? I rip it out quickly, cursing as the pain from the quick motion hits me. I need a water source quickly so I can heal my injuries.
There’s no one else in the room, which looks like an old storage space.
The walls are painted mint green, and the windows have worn-out blinds with deteriorating plastic frames.
The only things in the room are the bed I’m on, a chair, and the machines I’m connected to.
I now pull off a clip that was annoying me from my other hand.
What is all this crap?
Is Stas experimenting on me?
The machine begins beeping loudly, and I panic, fumbling to replace the clip on my finger. A man in a white coat bursts in, rushing to gently ease me back down, careful of my wounds.
“Alin, hello. I’m so glad you’re awake. I’ve been treating you. Your family has been waiting for you,” he says with a warm smile, while I, on the other hand, am horrified.
“My family?” I ask in disbelief. How did my family get to the mainland? Did they find me? Panic overwhelms me.
“Yes, I need to perform a few more tests, but I’ll update them on your condition. They’ll be happy to know you’re awake,” the doctor says with a smile and leaves before I can protest.
I have to get out of here . I pull myself back up with all the strength I can muster, wincing from the pain immediately.
I take a deep breath, gather myself, and stand up despite the pain. I try to occupy my mind with other thoughts to distract myself.
I take the first step, and a quiet curse escapes my throat as the pain intensifies, feeling like my skin is on fire and peeling off slowly and torturously.
I sit back down carefully on the bed, trying to think of how I can get out of here. It seems my fate is carved in the depths, and there it will remain.
Tears threaten to spill from my eyes as the door slams open, and Cora runs in crying, hugging me tightly.
I groan in pain, and she immediately releases me, apologizing through choked sobs and quickly wiping her tears, as if it were forbidden.
“I was so worried about you, I thought I’d lost you,” she says, crying.
And now relief floods over me as I realize he meant her when he said “your family.” He meant the Spallo family.
“Cora, I’m fine. How are you feeling?” I turn the question to her and bury myself in her embrace as if it’s the last time I’ll ever see her. I missed this feeling of home so much.
“Are you really asking how I’m doing right now, Alin? You risked your life so I could get out of there alive,” she continues to cry.
I slowly start to recall everything that happened over the past few days, not even knowing how much time has passed.
“What happened when I was gone? How long has it been?” I ask, trying to understand how I got here. What about Luca? Did he bring me here?
“The moment Stas released me, I ran out of the building and down the street, stopped the first person I saw, and called Luca and Mariano immediately,” she sits on the bed beside me and recounts.
“Alin, Luca lost it. When he arrived at the warehouse where I was held, no one was there. Everyone had disappeared, including you...” she continues subbing.
“Cora, just tell me. How long has it been?” I insist, sensing her reluctance to tell me.
“A week. A whole week without knowing your location. A week of Luca turning over every stone in this city and every informant; he was close to setting the whole city on fire.” She finally answers, and I can’t believe how much time passed in that filthy cell Stas locked me in. Fucking madman .
Luca spent the entire week trying to find me...
My eyes now gaze at the open door of the room. Where is he now? Why isn’t he here? My hands grip the bed sheet tightly as the fear of hearing the rest of the story seeps in. He’s alive, right?
“He tried to trace phones, kidnapped Russian soldiers, and tortured them for information. When we finally got a lead on a location, the place was completely empty. Luca nearly exploded.” She continues. This isn’t what I want to hear.
“Where is Luca? Is he okay?” I finally dare to ask, taking a deep breath, praying she won’t tell me the worst.
“Do you mean alive? Yes, he’s alive.” She answers, and I release the breath I was holding along with a few tears that I had been holding back, their warmth now flowing down my cheeks. He’s okay.
“But the strangest thing,” she continues, this time holding my hands as if she’s about to share exciting gossip. I smile at her this time, I missed her touch. I missed her .
“When they got to the building and didn’t find you, everyone was on their way back to the cars.
But miraculously, Luca suddenly shouted for them to come back, and they went back in, right to the building where they found you.
Mariano told me all about it. It seems you two are really connected.
I have no idea how he pinpointed your location so accurately,” she shares as if we were on a romantic date, instead of a life-threatening mission.
She smiles at me, radiating her familiar warmth, and winks as tears still brim at the corners of her eyes.
I know exactly how he found me ; I smile to myself.
“You’ve watched too many romantic dramas,” I tease, holding her hand and laughing.
“Where am I?” I ask as the atmosphere lightens up.
“When we found you, Luca brought you here immediately. This is the family’s safe house; he knew they wouldn’t find you here. He went on a revenge spree for the three days after that,” she updates me. Three days ?
“Luca finally sent Stas back to the hell he came from and took down a lot of the Russians,” she adds with pride, but I’m still stuck on ‘three days.’
“How long have I been here?” I ask, surprised.
“You’ve been asleep for four days. You really went into hibernation,” she jokes, making herself laugh, but I’m horrified. I was unconscious for four whole days?
I’m about to ask for more information when running footsteps suddenly echo from the hallway, entering the room.
I quickly turn my head as the scent I’ve missed so much fills my nostrils, immediately recognizing my man standing in the doorway, his gaze locked on me like a predator.
He approaches me now with slow steps, as if trying to determine if he’s hallucinating. Cora immediately lets go of my hand, smiles at me understandingly, realizing she’s become the third wheel, and quietly exits the room.
Now it’s just the two of us.
He sits on the edge of the bed, careful not to make any sudden movements, looking as if he’s afraid I might break at any moment.
I watch his movements expectantly as he gently runs his hand over my cheek.
His touch is so warm; I didn’t realize how much I needed it again.
Another tear slips down my cheek, landing directly on his hand.
Relishing his touch, I look at him, not willing to close my eyes, afraid of missing any opportunity to see this face again. I missed this man too much.
His face is tired and stubbled, it looks like he hasn’t shaved in a long time. A large bandage is wrapped around his neck.
“I missed you so much,” I whisper to him, breaking the tension that surrounded us. It seems the air returns to his lungs as he releases a long, heavy sigh.
“I went crazy without you; I nearly killed half the city,” he confesses in frustration, and I can’t help but laugh in response. But I immediately regret it as the pain stabs again.
Luca sends me a helpless look, the worry in his eyes is hard to miss. I quickly send him a smile, now that he’s here with me, I’m okay.
His eyes scan the bandages peeking out around my exposed neck beneath the gown I’m wearing.
“You’re never doing this again! I don’t care about your powers.
These suicide missions end here and now!
” He roars, his voice thick with anger. Then, suddenly, his gaze falls, breaking away from mine.
“I love you too much,” he whispers painfully to the air.
My heart pounds hard; did I hear him right?
I feel my cheeks flush with excitement. I never thought I’d hear him say those words out loud. The three words I wanted to hear from him all this time.
“Did I have to get kidnapped to finally hear you say those words? I should’ve thought of it sooner...” I tease, leaning my body carefully forward against his, my forehead pressing against his chest.
“I dare you to try something like this agai—” he starts but I cut him.
“I love you much more than I want to admit,” I whisper sincerely against his chest, and he wraps his arms around me carefully.
“I did exactly what you would have done— I fought for my family. You and Cora have become an inseparable part of me. I’d rather it be me than either of you,” I add softly, my words hanging in the silence between us.
He lifts my chin and turns my gaze toward him.
“You’re not God, Alin, and we’re a family that deals with problems together.
We don’t go on suicide missions alone. When will you start trusting the people around you?
” Luca’s words pierce my heart like arrows, one by one.
He’s right; I’ve always done things alone to protect myself and those close to me.
I preferred to keep everything inside and not ask for help from anyone.
Family may not always be defined by blood, but they are always supposed to be there.
Was I really that selfish? What about my real family underwater then?
I left them to deal with the consequences all by themselves.
I could have died, and they wouldn’t even know what happened to me.
I miss them. Do I need to fight for them too? Is that even possible?
“You’re right, I need to start taking responsibility for my actions,” I sigh, deciding to end my reckless adventures here. When we get home, I’ll open up to Luca about my family dilemma. Maybe we can try to find a solution together.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Luca replies with a smile, pulling me out of my thoughts. I don’t know how the wars in my world will end, but I definitely know which battles I’ll fight, and they’ll be by Luca’s side.
The doctor enters the room, breaking the little bubble of intimacy we had created here. Luca gets off the bed and lets the doctor finish his examinations, following his every move. There’s the possessive and crazy man I know, I chuckle.
When the doctor finishes and leaves the room, I encourage Luca to take me back to the apartment.
“It’s better to keep me nice and close to you, don’t you think?” I ask with playful flirtation, trying my luck with seduction first.
“When the little mermaid tempts me like that, how can I refuse?” he replies, his voice suddenly hungry and his eyes gleaming, a wicked smile stretching across his face.
If my body didn’t hurt so much, I’d happily jump on him right here and now.
“But you need medical supervision, so we’ll take the doctor with us,” he adds as a condition.
“No need, I’m not worried. No critical internal organs were hit; these are just gunshots. If you put me in water, I’ll heal quickly,” I explain, relieved that I can share this with him.
Luca looks surprised. “Just gunshots? You were unconscious for four days!”
I laugh at his surprised reaction. “Nothing that water can’t heal. It would take a lot more than a couple gunshots to really hurt me in a way that couldn’t easily be healed by water. But that’s a secret,” I say, placing my finger on my lips teasingly.
From the curious look on his face, I can tell he’s going to try to squeeze every bit of information out of me on this topic. A small snort escapes my lips as I bite back a laugh.
“But I do worry about you, what happened to your neck?” I ask before he starts his interrogation.
“Anyone who hurts what’s mine pays with their life. What’s on my neck is just a result of sweet revenge,” he smiles in satisfaction, and it seems there’s no man in the world who could match the beauty of mine, even on his worst days.
“I’ll stop questioning you if you take me home already,” I reach out my hand toward him in a request, a scheming smile on my face.
The spark returns to his eyes instantly. “That, you don’t have to ask twice.”