Page 49 of Not Mine to Keep

The door opened a moment later, and Gabriel grimaced at the sight of Alessandro on the floor and started our way. “Never seen him like this before.” He knelt alongside him, and I did the same on the other side, and we both helped Alessandro to his feet, but the muscular man was heavy.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” Alessandro grumbled in a drunken-like tone, peering at Gabriel. “She’s in a towel. It could fall off again.”

“Yeah, well, I need to get you to your brothers before they storm the place, looking for you,” Gabriel said, eyes on me with a light shake of the head. “I need someone else to help get him down the stairs. He’s worse now than when he came up.” He pointed to the bed with his chin. “Let’s have him sit for a second. I’ll be right back with help.”

“Okay,” I said in agreement, and it was a miracle we got him to the bed.

After Gabriel left, I focused on my future husband, a hundred questions cutting through my mind, but I needed to wait for answers.

“I’d pick you, you know.” Alessandro set his hand on my bare thigh and lightly squeezed. “Just like Constantine did for me tonight.” He hadn’t exactly slurred that time, but what was he trying to say?

I looked up at him, shocked he was still sitting upright.

“I’d choose you over revenge.” His head bobbed a bit, as if it were too heavy for his neck and he’d soon nod off. “I’ll protect your life with my own. Always.” He eased his hand free from my thigh, turned in toward me, and cupped my chin, and in a low, almost sad tone, he said, “But don’t trust me when it comes to your heart, okay?”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alessandro

“Fucking hell.”Where am I?

“You really are allergic to drugs, aren’t you?” Was that Hudson? “I’ll get your brothers. Be right back.”

I tried to look around to get my bearings, but the pain behind my eyes had my skull feeling like it was going to crack open, so my eyelids slammed shut.

“You’re awake. Finally.” That was definitely Enzo.

I think.“Why does it feel like someone roofied me?” Lifting my arm to hold my head, I groaned at the pain there, and my hand plopped down onto my chest, about the only part of my body that didn’t feel like it’d been used like a punching bag.

“Have you ever been roofied to know what that feels like?” My sister’s words had me forcing my eyes open, and I looked over to see her and Enzo hanging by my side.

Fuck. My wedding day. That’s today, right?It’s happening. Gabriel said it was, didn’t he? Or was that a lucid and twisted dream?“Someone talk.”

Enzo helped me sit, and Izzy offered me a bottle of water.

“Esposito’s wife shot you. Then one of his guards tossed you onto a glass table, and it shattered when you landed on it.” Izzy rattled off the details of last night, speaking too damn fast. “Unfortunately, they wereusing that table to do lines of ... something illegal, so you may have inhaled some of that, too. But on top of hitting your head, then the doc jabbing you with fentanyl—safe to say you needed the beauty sleep.”

“I heard about every third word you said.” I sucked down the water, then crumpled the plastic between my palms, wishing the jackhammer in my head would call it a day.

“You were distracted last night.” Enzo sat next to me. “That’s not like you.”

“You know he’s a big softy when it comes to certain things.” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult from Izzy. “I think this woman has him a little shaken up, though.”

“Probably the loss of his bachelorhood’s more like it.” I was too out of it to detect whether Enzo was being sarcastic with that comment.

“Rocco was there. Seeing him was what shook me up.” It had nothing to do with Callie, dammit. “Where’s Constantine?”

“On a call. He’ll be in here in a second.” Enzo nudged my side, and it was thankfully my good arm.

“The doctor we dragged from his home last night. Is he going to be a problem?” I slid my legs around to the side of the bed and tossed the crumpled bottle toward the wastebasket but missed. “Also, you should’ve clocked him so he couldn’t drug me.”

“This is Enzo we’re talking about.” Izzy grabbed the bottle and threw it away. “He nearly did, but I held him back. We don’t punch doctors. Not a good-guy-gal thing to do.”

I rolled my eyes, not the norm for me. “There can be exceptions.”

“The sizeable donation we made to his bank account for his help should buy his silence,” Enzo answered my other concerns.

“You sure you’re up to getting married today?” I looked over to the doorway to Constantine there, concern in his eyes.

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