Chapter 25
Laurie
“How the hell do you even walk in these?” Tiny asks as he passes Tori a pair of silver five-inch heels Pierre forced me into taking the last time he was here.
I don’t think I’ll ever wear them.
“Carefully,” I reply, which makes them chuckle.
Hearing hard footsteps pounding down the hallway, I glance over my shoulder.
Paulie stands up from where he’s sitting on the chaise on the other side of the bed, a frown forming on his face. “What’s wrong, boss?”
Just as I get up off the floor, Paulie pulls his gun out of the holster by his hip, his demeanor on high alert.
Suddenly Marco lunges toward me, his arm locking around my waist before he jerks me hard against his chest. Just then my eyes land on Adriano, who’s pointing his gun right at me.
A wave of intense pins and needles spread over my body, but he quickly adjusts his aim, pointing it at Marco right as the cold press of a barrel is shoved into my temple.
Shitshitshit!
My lips part, but no air comes out as it stalls in my throat while my body instantly begins to shiver from raw terror.
What is happening right now?!
Adriano’s features are cut from stone, the expression in his eyes deadly as he growls, “You fucking traitor.”
“Dammit, man,” Marco snaps with frustration. “How did you find out?”
“Does it matter?” Angelo asks as he comes to a stop beside Adriano. “Keep her covered.”
“Always,” Tiny replies. Out of the corner of my eye, I see how he keeps Tori behind his huge body, his gun trained on Marco.
When Adriano takes a step forward, putting himself closer to us, Marco shouts, “Don’t fucking move or I will spray your precious wife’s brains all over this fucking room!”
God!!!
The barrel drives harder into my skin, and I suck in a quivering breath before letting it out very slowly.
Calm down. You can’t think straight if you lose it.
Suddenly I’m dragged toward the window, and it rips a frightened gasp from me. My heart slams wildly against my ribs as I stare at Adriano, thinking today is the day I die.
At least I got to feel true love before my untimely demise.
“Think this through, Marco,” Adriano growls viciously.
“Oh, I have,” Marco lets out a harsh laugh. “I’m dying here today. The only thing that matters is how many of you I take with me.”
Adriano’s eyes touch on mine for a second, and I don’t know where the courage comes from, but before I can think things through, I stomp my heel hard on Marco’s foot and use all my strength to slam my elbow into his side.
His arm around me loosens enough for me to wrench myself away from him.
Go!Go!Go!
I let out a panicked shriek, but instead of blowing my brains out, Marco aims his gun at Adriano.
“Noooo!” I cry, the sound pure desperation from the very depths of my soul as I dart forward.
I’ve never moved as fast as I do in this horrific moment, and when gunshots fill the air, I throw my body in front of Adriano’s.
Pain rips through my upper arm, and something burns along the side of my neck before warmth spills down my skin.
“Laurie!” Tori shrieks.
I slam into Adriano, his arm instantly wrapping around me while rage twists his face into something ferocious, making my stomach clench.
Not sure if it’s from shock or because I’m dying, my body loses all feeling.
Tiny tackles Marco off his feet, and it has Adriano shoving me so hard behind him, I stumble and fall near the bed. Leaning against the side, my arm pressing into the covers, I watch with wide eyes as the horrific scene unfolds.
Even though Marco was shot in the knee and thigh, he fights like a rabid dog, his blood smearing all over the floor.
When he manages to drive his fist hard enough into Tiny, he’s able to get free and lunge for a gun lying near the corner of the bed.
Adriano is on him within a second, and the sound of his fist slamming into Marco’s face is sickening.
“You fucking betrayed me!” Adriano roars before another punch snaps Marco’s head violently sideways. “You pointed a fucking gun at my wife? You thought you could take what’s mine?”
Marco tries to shield himself, but Adriano keeps punching him with a level of violence that turns the entire room silent except for the sound of his fist connecting with Marco’s face.
Tiny steps back, breathing heavily while he grabs hold of Tori, who’s sobbing from the shock she’s just been dealt.
Angelo hurries toward Adriano and grabs his shoulder. “He’s out, son.”
My husband drives another punch into Marco’s bloody face before he climbs to his feet, his chest rising and falling with harsh breaths.
When he turns and his eyes lock on me, the violence drains from his face and is quickly replaced by something akin to fear.
“Are you okay?” I ask him, using the bed to pull myself up, but my head spins, and I sink down again.
“Oh my God, Laurie,” Tori gasps as Adriano hurries toward me, dropping to his knees in front of me.
“Christ, Laurie,” he groans, his voice filled with unbearable pain, which confuses me.
My eyes scour his body, and not seeing any blood except for what’s coating his knuckles, I feel intense relief.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Adriano’s hand wraps tightly around my arm, and it makes pain flare through every nerve ending.
Everyone is frozen in place, looks of horror on their faces.
A whimper escapes me as I glance down, and seeing all the blood on my shirt, arm, and the floor, it only sinks in then that I’ve been shot.
Adriano presses his other hand to the side of my neck and roars, “Bring the fucking first aid kit and call the doctor!”
Everyone moves at once.
Feeling a little delirious, I stare at his face. “You’re okay.”
His jaw clenches hard. “Stop talking.”
Tori sinks down beside us and wraps a towel around my arm before her worried gaze meets mine.
“You’re going to be okay.” A sob sputters from her, then she brushes her palm over my hair and leans forward to kiss my temple where I can still feel the barrel pressing into it.
“Mom’s here. I’m going to take good care of you. ”
Tears flood my eyes while my lips curve into a smile. “Mom. I like that.”
“The two of you can bond later,” Adriano snaps angrily. “Give me that fucking bag.”
I notice Little Ricky handing him a first aid kit, but then my sight blurs.
“Laurie!” Adriano snaps angrily, ripping me back to the here and now while he presses gauze to the side of my neck. “Stay with me.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumble, my vision going spotty.
“Keep it there, Ma. Press hard.”
Tori does as he says, then he pulls the towel away from my arm, and when I see blood flowing freely from the hole in my arm, I feel nauseated and even more dizzy.
Everything keeps going from blurry images to black as Adriano tightly wraps a white bandage around my arm, my blood seeping through it everytime a new layer is added.
It feels as if my body turns weightless.
“No, Laurie!” I feel Adriano holding me. “Where the fuck is the doctor!”
“Let me take over. We can’t wait,” I hear Big Ricky snap, his tone tight with worry. “Lay her down on the bed for me.”
The whoosy sensation lifts, and Adriano’s gravely worried face comes back into focus as he picks me up.
“You’re okay,” I mumble.
It’s all I care about.
“Keep talking to me, mia piccola farfalla.” A harsh breath shudders from him as he gently lays me down on the covers.
When he locks eyes with me, I see how much pain he’s in, and a tear escapes from my eye, rolling down my temple, while I gasp, “I couldn’t lose you.”
His eyes shut briefly before he looks at me again, something raw and furious moving across his face. “Never again, Laurie. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around.”
Big Ricky appears beside me with an injection, and when I see the long needle, my eyes go squint.
“Laurie!” I hear Adriano roar as everything goes black.
I keep going in and out of consciousness, only able to hear something every now and then.
“I can’t lose her!”
Tori is sobbing uncontrollably. “Will she make it, Big Ricky?”
“Quiet!” Big Ricky shouts. “Let me focus.”
“I won’t survive losing you,” Adriano murmurs against my temple as he brushes his palm over my hair. “Please, amore mio. Open your eyes. I’m fucking begging you.”
Adriano
Taking in all the blood Laurie has lost, my fear becomes a living, breathing monster.
Her neck, collarbone, and clothes are soaked with blood.
I’m fucking soaked in her blood.
Cradling her head with my attention glued to her lashes, I keep seeing her break free from Marco and running toward me.
She used herself as a fucking shield to protect me.
Christ. What the fuck was she thinking?
I close my eyes and take a deep breath of her, but I can only smell the sweet metallic scent of blood. “Please,” I pray to whoever’s listening. “Don’t take her from me.”
“She’s tough, son,” Dad murmurs while patting my shoulder.
Big Ricky presses both hands against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding, then mutters, “Fuck, the bullet nicked an artery.”
Ice tears through my chest. Big Ricky was a medic in the army. He’s had years of experience patching up his own wounds and those of our men when they couldn’t get to the hospital in time.
If he’s worried, it’s fucking bad.
“No,” I groan, my eyes snapping back to my wife’s way too fucking pale face.
“Tiny!” Big Ricky snaps. “Get your O negative ass over here. Move Adriano. Make space for him.”
“Can you save her?” Mom asks, her voice trembling.
“Yeah.” He lets go of Laurie’s arm long enough to rip open a black medical bag and turns it over on the bed while Tiny lies down beside my wife. “But if I don’t close it now, she dies before we reach the hospital.”
Dies.
I stare at the clamps, sutures, gauze, and needles. The sight of the medical supplies turns my stomach because none of this should be happening in our fucking bedroom.
This shouldn’t be happening to my butterfly.
“Get me towels,” Big Ricky barks, while he jabs a needle into Tiny’s wrist with brutal efficiency before setting up another line into Laurie.
He grabs a flashlight and switches it on, then orders, “Son, come hold the light steady for me on the wound.”
Little Ricky moves and does as his father orders while I stand helpless and watch.
The room fills with wet sounds and metal clinking as Big Ricky begins to work on Laurie’s arm. He’s only covered the wound to her neck with a bandage, so I hope that means it’s nothing too serious.
Dad’s arm falls around my shoulders, and Mom begins to wipe Laurie’s blood from my hands and arms with a wet cloth.
I can’t move. I can’t talk.
I can only watch as Big Ricky breathes harder and harder with every passing second.
Then blood suddenly surges over his hands again, the sight making my heart all but stop dead in my chest.
“Fuck! He snaps before shoving the clamp deeper into the wound, then he growls under his breath, “Got you.”
Laurie’s body stays frighteningly still while he works to fix her with the kind of precision that reminds me he’s done this before in places far worse than this room.
Seconds drag by like hours as my soul reaches from my body to get to Laurie’s.
Please, I can’t face a day without you. Stay with me.
Finally, the bleeding slows down until it stops, and when Big Ricky exhales a relieved breath, hope pours into my heart.
Dr. Milazzo suddenly runs into the room. “What are we dealing with?”
“You’re fucking late,” Big Ricky snaps at him. “Check on Tiny. He’s giving a lot of blood. I’ve got Laurie.”
My eyes latch onto Laurie’s pale face, and I don’t stop staring at my wife until she’s loaded onto a gurney so she can be taken to the Cosa Nostra’s hospital.