Page 67 of Vow to Me

She’ll be okay. She’ll grieve, but my family will take care of her, and she’ll move on. She’ll be happy in a life without me, in a world in which I no longer exist.

There's an incessant buzzing noise near me ear that makes me want to reach out and fucking throw something to get it to stop. This isn’t like the dark place I was previously; this is fucking painful. My abdomen fucking aches and there’s a heavy weight on my arm.

I find the strength to open my eyes and I blink a few times as I’m hit by light.

Holy fuck, I’m not dead.

How the fuck am I alive?

I glance around me and see I’m in a hospital room, covered by ratty bed linens that I’d much rather burn than be laying under.

I peer down to see a blonde head of curls resting on top of my arm, sleeping peacefully as she sits in the chair next to me.

She’s okay,I remind myself.She’s right here, you saved her from being hurt.

“It’s about time you woke up.” My head turns to my right to see Marco sitting in a chair like Izzy’s on my other side. I reach my hand over to run my fingers through her hair, needing to feel as much of her while I can—she’ll no doubt leave once she knows I’m awake and well.

“Don’t wake her up, you’ve been here for four days, and this is the first time she’s allowed herself to sleep,” Marco murmurs and I turn to him again.

“Four days? Fuck. Why didn’t she sleep at home? Or Enzo’s apartment I suppose,” I say, and my voice is scratchy as fuck. Of course, Marco picks up on it and brings a cup of water to my lips, helping me to take a sip since my mouth is dry as fuck.

“Have you met her? She’s refused to leave the fucking hospital. She says the only way she’s leaving is you do too,” he says and lets out a breathy laugh. I can imagine them both arguing, andof course,my stubborn as fuck wife would get her own way.

My brother stands and leaves the room as I focus my attention back on Izzy, only for him to return a moment later with a doctor in tow, who proceeds to quietly ask me question after question—no doubt Marco informed him not to wake my girl or he wouldn’t like the consequences—before flashing his fucking light in my eyes and checking the bandages around my wound before they both finally get the fuck out to leave me to stare down in awe at the gorgeous woman who’s still sleeping on my arm.

I shift through the memories of what happened in the coffee shop.

Me sitting down with Izzy.

She was about to ask me for a divorce.

A random woman pointing a gun at my wife.

Who the fuck was she?

The mystery woman shooting me.

Izzy shooting her.

Izzy’s cries as I laid on the floor bleeding out. Fuck, I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for her, if it was me in her position, I’d have lost my goddamn fucking mind.

I close my eyes and mindlessly continue playing with her hair as I try to figure out who the fuck the woman was and why in the goddamn hell, she tried to kill the most precious being on earth.

Was she on her own? Was she part of an organization? Was it a lone attack? Will Izzy have anyone else coming to look for her? Is she fucking safe? I can’t deal with another threat to her life right now, I can barely take a drink on my own so how fuck am I going to protect her? My mind is spinning out thinking of a hundred different scenarios as I hear the door click open and my eyes pop open to see Enzo quietly step inside the room.

“It’s about fucking time; you know she threatened a doc with a knife because you wouldn’t wake up?” he says and gestures towards Izzy. “She was losing her fuck shit man, and that sayin’ something coming from me.” He strolls over and takes the seat next to me where Marco sat before.

“Who was the woman and why the fuck was she after her?”

“I had Alec go through the security footage and identify her. Seems like she was Alessi’s girlfriend or some shit like that, and blamed Izzy for his death,” he whispers, and I let out a breath of relief that it wasn’t Mafia related. Thank fucking fuck for that, I don’t fancy any more wars right now.

“Once she wakes up and sees I’m good, I’ll send her back to yours to rest, let her stay with you until she figures out what shewants to do. I don’t know if she’ll go back to Chicago or stay in the city.”

Enzo chest vibrates with a silent chuckle before he murmurs, “She’s not fucking going anywhere man, that girl loves the fuck outta you.”

His words give me a spark of hope that I quickly push away, I don’t think I have the strength to hope for her to stay only to have to watch her walk away.

We sit in silence for a while and I close my eyes, thankful to be alive and that the bullet didn’t do too much damage.

---