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"The things we do for the people we love." There was a sadness in Gale's eyes, one that punched me in the gut.

Yeah, I held a special place in Gale's life, particularly his heart. Thankfully, he was smart enough not to try anything after I made my boundaries with him clear. Sometimes, I felt bad about being unable to reciprocate his feelings towards me, but at the end of the day, no chemistry meant no chemistry. I tried to feel something for him, but it was too forced and didn't feel right. Friendship and nothing beyond; it was unfortunate, but forcing something that wasn't there would do more harm than good.

Returning his sad smile with my own, I reached down and gave his hand a soft squeeze. "I love you, Gale, always have, always will." As a friend, a brother—the one I should have had with my own.

"I know, and I'm thankful for every day I still get to have you by my side, whether that be as a friend or something else. As long as you are in my life, that's all I ask for."

BANG!

Chapter 44

Luciano

"Shots were fired."

Three words I always dreaded hearing, and to hear them over the phone from one of the bodyguards assigned to Juliet almost broke me then and there. I already hated hearing it from my own men in the field, but regarding Juliet, the chill that nearly ripped my spine out was indescribable. The words following those three didn't matter to me one bit because my mind was too hung up on Juliet's well-being to take them into account.

I didn't care if Juliet wasn't the one shot. What if she got grazed or scratched and bruised up from the fall? What about her mental well-being? Seeing someone shot up close wasn't easy, especially someone close. Physically, she may be fine, but mentally? That's what I worried about.

But fuck, I don't know what I would have done if it was Juliet who had been hit. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if Juliet got hurt because of me. She's already been through too much to be hurt now because of me. For fuck's sake, it hasn't even been a year since her ordeal at the brothel, so to add a traumatic attempt on her life on top of her healing wound wasn't something I wanted her to shoulder.

None of that should matter or bother me, though. Juliet wasn't the one hit. I just needed to worry about how to help her through this mentally.

As I barreled my way down to the private section of the hospital reserved for us, I could hear Juliet's shouting down the hallway. "No! Let me see him, please! Please! I just want to see him!" Judging by the distress in her voice, she wasn't well.

"Mrs. Agosti, please, it is very critical for the provider to operate on your friend, and they cannot do that with others in the room. We are doing the best for your friend, promise, so please, I need you to calm down so we can look you over." It wasn't a voice I recognized, but from the words being said, it was probably a nurse or some other medical worker.

As I approached the door, the guards parted to let me through to the chaos behind the closed doors. Chaos was definitely the right word to describe the scene.

Juliet was restrained by one of her bodyguards with a medical personnel in front of her with their hands held out in a supposedly calming manner—I don't know how effective it was given Juliet's escalated affect.

"Move," I commanded, politely shoving the person and bodyguard away.

Fretting over Juliet needed to wait until after I calmed her down. If she fought against me and the medical workers, then examining her would be almost impossible without some sedation—something I didn't want.

Settling a firm hand around her neck, I backed her into a corner and crowded her personal space to shut everything else around us out. "Juliet." I firmly snapped at her, making her breath hitch and her body go rigid under me. "Breathe," I commanded in a softer voice, stroking my thumb against her thrumming pulse. "You need to breathe and recollect yourself."

No words left her heaving body, the only sounds being her heavy breaths with the deep rises and falls of her chest. Giving her a moment, I stared deeply into her frantic eyes to pull her out of whatever shit show her mind was in. "I know you want to see Gale, but he is in surgery right now. The doctors can't operate if you go in there and interrupt them. There is nothing we can do right now besides wait." I wish I had more to offer her, but I didn't. I couldn't tell her Gale would be fine because I had no certainty about it, and to give her false hope would be beyond cruel.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned my head against hers. "You need to get checked out in the meantime." Sitting here biting her nails while her friend was in the operating room would do her no good.

"I'm fine." Juliet tersely spoke up with a shake of her head. "Only Gale was hit, he took the bullet, this blood isn't mine, it's his." Her words quickly became erratic with her breathing as she spoke in a single breath.

"Juliet." My hand tightened around her neck slightly. "Breathe." I waited for her breathing to even out before continuing, "We have to look you over still to make sure you don't have any other injuries or possibly got hit by some blowback or have any head injuries."

I hoped to all the high heavens that none of the blood on her came from inside her body. "We need to get you cleaned up and checked, amorina." It was hard to tell if she had anything with the dirt and blood on her. "I'm going to take you to the shower rooms, get you cleaned up, and a doctor will check you out." I wasn't asking for permission, merely informing her.

Thankfully, she didn't fight me when I began to drag her away, but she seemed a little out of it the whole time. Juliet didn't utter a single word or make the slightest peep of sounds as I moved her body around, undressed her, showered her, dressed her again in a hospital gown, and set her on an exam table in an exam room. As much as I didn't mind the cooperation, her zombie-like state worried me.

My concern grew with every clench of my heart as I watched the doctor examine Juliet and question her, only to receive a silent movement of her head or a shrug of her shoulders. It'd been a long while since she shut down to the point of being nonverbal, something we worked past weeks after her trauma.

"Juliet." My voice trembled with dread as I helped her out of the hospital gown and into one of the outfits she'd bought at the mall today. "Sweetheart, talk to me, please." Physically, she was in perfect health considering things, according to the doctor.

I didn't care about any of that, though. Physical wounds healed with time, but psychologically, she might never heal. "Amorina, please," I begged with a cracked voice as I held her face, making her look at me.

The emptiness dulling her normally bright eyes took me by surprise when her eyes slowly locked with mine. Correction: the way her empty eyes starkened with burning fury surprised me with her slow, deep, seething breaths. "Get me my laptop." She demanded in a voice as calm as a turbulent ocean.

"Juliet, that—"

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