Page 67 of Luca

I try to go in, but the doctor stops me. “You need to stay out here. One of the nurses will come by with something for you to change into.”

“I need to be with my wife,” I growl at the man in my way.

“I need to be with your wife, and I can’t do that if I’m out here arguing with you,” the doctor tells me.

“Come on, Luca. He needs to get in there,” Finn says, grabbing my shoulder and tugging me back. The doctor spins and goes through the doors where they took Giada.

“It’s going to be okay. She’s in the best hands money can buy.”

I allow him to lead me to a couch set up just outside the doors. He has a seat next to me and Alessia sits on the couch opposite us. When I glance at her, I see the worried look on her face. That was a lot of blood, and Giada was so fucking pale, as though it all had leaked from her. Alessia tries to offer me a reassuring smile, but it’s useless. Everyone in this room knows how fragile life is, and Giada may not have one after tonight.

A nurse brings me a change of clothes and leads me into the bathroom. As I wash the blood from my hands and neck with a damp cloth, my eyes stay fixed on my reflection. Why wasn’t I faster? If I would have covered her faster, the bullet would have gone into me instead of her. I’m the one with the stains on my soul, not her. She doesn't deserve being shot and fighting for her life.

Staring at myself, rage like I’ve never known overtakes every cell in my body and explodes through my fist into the mirror. I keep punching until my knuckles are broken and bloody. Until Giada’s blood mixes with mine on my cut palms.

The pounding on the door breaks me from my violent haze. “Luca,” Finn says through the door.

I open the door and find him standing there. He looks from the mirror to my knuckles, then meets my gaze. “Come on. I’ll find someone to stitch your hand.”

The same nurse who handed me the change of clothes is now cleaning glass from my skin.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” I say robotically since that’s what a rational person would do in this situation, even though I feel like anything but.

She raises her shoulder, shrugging off my apology. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been working with the doc for nearly ten years. You’re not the first person to break something around here.” She smiles, but I don’t return it. The sum of everything that is good in my life is lying on an operating table, and I don’t have it in me to feel anything other than anger that she’s there at all.

When the nurse finishes cleaning the wound, she applies a few stitches to the deepest of the cuts then covers them with gauze. “I’ll see if I can get an update on your wife. It may be too soon right now, though. Okay?”

I nod and Finn shoves off the wall he was leaning against while the nurse patched me up.

“No speeches about how I should control my temper better than that?” I ask my cousin when he sits next to me, his expression giving nothing away.

Finn shakes his head and releases a huff of breath. “Are you serious? If I were in your shoes, I would’ve probably done the same thing. I think you forget the kind of man I am.”

“Yeah, what kind is that?”

“The kind who would move heaven and hell to protect his wife and cut through any motherfucker who stood in his way. If busting a mirror and your hands make the pain in your chest lessen for even a second, who the hell am I to judge?” Finn looks at me. “A guy I know once told me it changes when you have someone who carries your heart in their body.”

“It sure as fuck does.”

Finn smiles. “Yeah, that’s what I said, too.”

Three grueling hours later, the doctor meets me in the waiting room. “She’s going to be fine,” he says. “The bullet went straight through. It tore up some muscles but missed the major arteries, which is always a concern with gunshot wounds like this. She’s going into recovery now, and you can see her once she’s settled. She’s asleep and heavily medicated for pain, so when she wakes up, she won’t be fully cognitive.”

I nod and thank the doctor, apologizing again for the mirror.

“It’s fine. I’ll bill your cousin.”

When he walks away, Alessia looks in the direction he went then back to her husband. “Holy shit, did the doc just crack a joke?”

“Doubtful. I fully expect an invoice by morning,” Finn replies.

Alessia lets out a small laugh then turns to me and smiles.

This time, I return it.

Chapter twenty

Giada

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