Page 62 of Dark Truths

Gabriella is still out from a combination of the medication they gave her and the adrenaline of the accident. Although I can hardly imagine how she’ll feel when she sees me. Based on our last conversation, I doubt she’ll be very thrilled. After all, the accident was partially my fault. Had she not been distracted byour argument, maybe she would have seen the truck coming. Maybe she could have avoided it in time.

I have so much to ask her forgiveness for. The conversation she overheard. The accident. The truth about myself. There’s so much, and I fear she won’t have enough compassion in her to forgive me for all of it. Not that I deserve to be forgiven for any of it, if I’m being honest.

With nothing else to do until she opens those beautiful hazel eyes, I watch the screen that monitors her heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature instead. All normal. So now it’s just a matter of time for the drugs to leave her system and then a waiting game after that for her mind to recover enough to wake.

The door opens. Gabriella’s family will be here soon, and I intend on being here when they do. But it’s only her nurse and a doctor.

“Oh,” the nurse exclaims when she spots me. “I didn’t know Ms. DiAngelo had company.”

“My apologies. I've only just arrived,” I tell her.

“Are you family?”

“No.” I’m better than family.

“Oh,” the nurse repeats that annoying sound before a frown tugs her lips down and I know immediately what she’s going to say. “Well, I’m terribly sorry to have to tell you, but only family is allowed back here right now. Visiting hours for non-family start at eight a.m.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“But sir—”

“I said, I’m not going anywhere,” I repeat, my tone deep and even.

This time, the doctor steps forward, clearing his throat as he approaches. Swinging my eyes to the older man, I visibly watch him freeze in my icy gaze. He glances down at the tablet in his hands and clears this throat again, a clear sign that he’s nervous.But rather than listen to his gut screaming at him to shut his damn mouth, he argues.“Sir, since you’re not family, we will have to ask you to leave. If you refuse—” He swallows hard, working up the courage to continue his threat. “If you refuse, I will have to get security involved.”

I make a point to lean back slowly in my chair next to Gabriella’s bedside, my eyes never leaving the doctor’s growing pale face. “Go ahead and call them if it would make you feel better, but I’m not leaving.”

The nurse and doctor leave the room in a rush. I calculate that I probably have maybe five minutes or fewer before “security” arrives, and I’ll have to argue with those elevated mall cops. In the meantime, I reach out and sandwich Gabriella’s non injured hand between mine. Giving it a light squeeze, I try to implore her to wake up through just my touch alone. When her fingers twitch, my heart skips a beat, and I wait to see her open her eyes. But it’s just a subconscious reaction because she stays quiet and still.

Bowing my head to rest on our joined hands, I whisper, “Please, angel. Open your eyes. Come back to me. I can’t lose you. Please.”

The sound of several hurried footsteps echoes outside the room and grows louder as they get closer. I kiss the back of her hand and keep hold of it even as I rise to my feet and turn to face the door. I expect to see the nurse and doctor and a few security guards, but I did not expect to see Michael and his fiancée, Rose, walk in along with Raphael and a blonde woman beside him. I think her name is Lily if I remember what Gabriella shared with me. A woman sold to Xiao years ago who ended up having a daughter with him. When the DiAngelos attempted to kill Xiao, they found Lily and her daughter instead. Raphael offered her a chance at freedom in exchange for her help taking down Xiao. Inthe end, the plan worked. Xiao is dead and Lily and Raphael fell in love.

Michael’s eyes fall to where I hold Gabriella’s hand and if he had the power to shoot lasers, my hand would be on fire. Instead, he raises his murderous gaze to my face and then takes a menacing step forward. Rose notices and immediately steps in front of him, putting her small body in between a lion and his prey.

“Not here, Michael,” she warns him. He growls like the big cat and bares his teeth at me, over Rose’s head. She reaches up and cups his face. “Please.”

“Rose is right, Michael,” Raphael, the younger of the two brothers, tells his twin. “We’re here for our sister. Not to pick a fight.”

“The Russian bastard is holding our baby sister’s hand,” Michael snaps back.

I take offense to being called a Russian bastard, but hold my tongue. The air crackles like there's lightning in the air, ready to strike.

“And I’m sure Dimitri will explain why.” Raphael looks toward me, and I shift my eyes to him. The DiAngelo brothers are identical but have changed their appearances enough that it’s almost like looking at someone different. Raphael has longer and messier styled hair while Michael keeps his short around the sides with a little length on top. “Isn’t that right, Volkov?”

Interestingly enough, I get the vibe that Raphael might be slightly more agreeable and understanding of Gabriella and I, rather than Michael. He strikes me as the more level-headed of the brothers, if that’s even possible when the pair are death incarnate. Having the three of us in a room together is a recipe for disaster. Add in that Viking friend of theirs and it’s like trying to have a pack of alpha male wolves live and work together.

Someone’s going to get hurt. Or killed.

“Yes, in time.”

Michael takes another step forward, only to be stopped once more by Rose. Before he can pick her up and move her aside or say something stupid to me, Lily steps around Raphael and approaches Gabriella on the other side of the bed.

“If you’re done measuring dicks,” Lily comments offhandedly as she studies the monitor and IV bags hanging. “Your little sister was in a car accident and deserves some peace and quiet while she heals.”

Her comment is like a needle that pops the brothers’ growing anger, and deflatesanger both into a slightly calmer state. From the corner of my eyes, I feel Michael’s heated gaze remain on my profile, while Raphael stands stiff and ready to make a move if I do something he doesn’t like.

“Have you heard anything?” Lily asks, and it takes me a second to realize she’s talking to me.

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