Page 121 of Sinful Wrath

His fingers dig into my waist, pulling me tight against him as he kisses me harder, his tongue gently teasing my lower lip.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” he says before letting me go.

"You bring out a different side to my brother,” Dimitri comments as we walk down the steps toward his car. “One I haven’t seen since our parents died.”

“Is that a good thing?” I open the passenger side door.

“It’s a very good thing, Lucia.”

I stay quiet as Dimitri drives us over to the hospital, my head too full ofwhat if’s to bother with polite conversation. I don’t know Dimitri that well, but I figure we’re going to be family at some point, so I can let the mask drop for right now.

“I’ll wait out here,” Dimitri says, breaking the silence as we reach my father’s room. “Just shout if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

Elle is exactly where I left her yesterday, curled up in the chair with her eyes glued to the beeping monitors.When she sees me, her entire body sags as she rubs her eyes. “There’s no change. But the doctor said he’d stop by in an hour to do another check.”

I drop my bag down onto the cot and move to stand at my father’s other side, reaching for his hand, ignoring how strange it feels without all the rings.

“Thank you for staying with him.”

“I was happy to.” She stifles a yawn. “He might be a hard bastard, but he’s all I have left too.”

I swallow the lump in my throat as I look at my cousin. I sometimes forget all that she’s gone through and despite it all, she still manages to shoulder on with such strength.

It gives me hope that I’ll be able to get through this too.

She fights another yawn. “Do you want me to sit with you?”

“You can go.”

“Call me if you need anything.” She gets to her feet, giving me a quick hug before disappearing out the door, leaving me alone with Papa once more.

My father and I might not have the easiest relationship, but he’s still my papa. I love him, and I’m not ready to say goodbye to him yet.

I have no idea if he can hear me or not, but I want him to know that he’s not alone.

I bend down. “Papa, if you wake up, I promise not to be a pain in your ass for the rest of my life. I’ll be an angel child, like Federico. I’ll marry Mikhail and give you dozens of little grandbabies, so you can’t die, otherwise they’re never going to meet their Nonno?—”

A stabbing pain tears through my stomach doubling me over.

“Ow,” I hiss through my teeth as another cramp hits.

I clutch my abdomen as I try to breathe through the pain. “Now is not the time, mother nature. I think I have enough to deal with, don’t you?”

Despite the worsening cramps, I stay with my father for until the doctor comes, wanting to speak with him myself before heading home. It seems his condition is stable, but they want to leave him in the coma for a few more days while he recovers from the bleeding in his brain.

I hate to leave him, but hospital food sucks, and I smell like hospital.

I want to go home and shower before getting Mikhail to bring me back later once he’s finished up with Anton.

“How is he?” Dimitri asks as I close the door to my father’s room.

Dimitri stands with his hands in his pockets, his appearance almost identical to Mikhail’s except for the slight curl to his hair and the stubble that coats his jaw.

“No change. Can you please take me back home?”

Dimitri offers me a sympathetic smile before leading us toward the exit.

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