Page 56 of Isle of Beauty

My head starts spinning and my progress falters.

“LANA.”

I vaguely hear my name before a silhouette approaches me in a hurry. Relief floods my system, stronger than any drug, and the fight leaves my body. I let strong arms pick me up from the floor before I collapse into blissful oblivion.

TWENTY-THREE

PIERCE

TATTOOS AND SCARS

Lana has been in surgery for a punctured lung for barely an hour and I’m going out of my mind.

I’ve never driven this fast in my life as I did getting to the hospital. I’ve also never been more scared. I knew this life was dangerous but everything up until this point was hypothetical. I had the situation under control, the risk was minimal.

I vow to myself to chase the people that did this to her to the end of the Earth and end them slowly.

A nurse passes by and I seize his elbow to stop him in his tracks. I’m sure I’m even hurting him but I don’t give a fuck. If I don’t start getting answers on how my wife is, I might do something I’ll regret.

“Any news on Alana Moretti?”

“I don’t know, sir. I’ll check with the doctor.”

He removes his arm from my hold with force and disappears behind a closed door.

I sit down, elbows on my knees, head down. I just stare at my feet, unseeing, for long moments. My fingers close around locks of my hair. I pull and let the pain anchor me.

When the bomb exploded in the warehouse, I saw Lana’s body flying and shoved down with the force of the deflagration and my heart stopped. She fell unconscious and she hadn’t stirred in the car. She was breathing but that doesn’t tell me shit. If I’d waited for the ambulance, the paramedics might have given me more information but I acted on instinct. I had to carry her myself, I had to drive her to the hospital and fast. She depended on me. I needed to take care of her.

I’ve waited three years to find her. Looking back, I don’t think I did everything I could to locate her. I could have called Andrea but my morals won over and I decided to do things the “right way”. I was a self-righteous bastard who put his moral highgrounds over the woman who haunted him. I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me. A connection like ours only happens once in a lifetime and I let my integrity be a priority over her.

I’ll never make that mistake again.

Worst cases scenarios play in my mind on repeat. Her pale body on a gurney. Her paler body in a casket lined with silk. All I can see is her impassive form lying lifeless in front of me, and tears of agony and pain, of powerlessness and despair line my eyes.

Even with all my resources, I didn’t do enough to help, I didn’t take the threats seriously.

Julian comes rushing, out of breath and a crazed look in his eyes. I’m reminded that Lana is the centre of the family and the light that keeps everyone going.

“How is she?”

“I don’t know,” I answer, looking down and pacing like a caged animal.

He embraces me and it takes everything in me not to lose it completely. It’s not that I don’t want to be vulnerable in front of my brother, but I’m painfully aware that while I might lose the girl I’m obsessed with, he might lose the person that was his sibling more than I ever could.

“She’ll be fine, she’s the strongest person I know.”

I simply nod, throat clogged with emotion. “Where’s Igor?”

“He stayed at the Harbour, helping the patriarchs grease the right hands. It’s a fucking shit show down there. They’ll come over as soon as they’re done and Giulia and the rest of the Moretti are headed our way.”

“Mr. Bartoli?” the same nurse from earlier calls out.

“Yes?” both Julian and I answer at the same time and share a small smile of understanding.

“Your fiancée is ready to receive visitors. One at a time, please.”

“Go. Go see your girl. I’ll be here to give the news to everyone.”

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