Page 32 of Inevitable

He drops me to my feet and turns around like a flash of light as he knocks the barrel away while delivering a crippling kick to the assailant’s leg. The man buckles to the ground as Luca pulls a pistol out of the back of his waistband. Without hesitation he raises the gun to the man’s head. POP. POP. POP.

While Luca is still turned around another man rushes next to me and smashes the butt of his gun across my face. I groan in pain and crumple into a heap on the sidewalk. My vision is blurry, and I can’t tell if it is from tears, blood or maybe both.

Seconds later a body falls inches from my face, limp and lifeless. I stare into the dimming eyes of the man that just hit me, a perfect circle now marking his forehead with a stream of blood trailing from it to the puddle his head rests in.

Everything is becoming numb. I can feel the blood rushing out of me, but I feel no pain. My heartbeat was fast with adrenaline but is becoming softer and shallower by the second. The world around me becomes muffled and I am unsure of what is even going on anymore.

Luca rushes to me, throws me over his shoulder and jumps into the car. He is screaming at someone that I can’t see and saying things that I can’t hear. I feel the car lurch forward as we drive away. For a moment it shakes the fog away and I emit a screech of pain.

I expect to see Luca in full Mob Boss mode, hard and angry but instead his eyes are filled with sheer terror. I can barely hear his voice as he is quickly stroking my head, his mouth moving rapidly. He begins chanting the same sentence in English and Italian just like he did all those years ago.

“It’s alright my angel. You are safe, I will never let anyone hurt you. Va tutto bene, angelo mio. Sei al sicuro, non permetterò mai a nessuno di ferirti.”

He breaks his gaze from me for a moment to address the man driving. “If the doctor is not ready for us when we get there, I will fucking kill you myself!” He roars.

Luca turns his attention back to me his expression softening, melting back into my sweet Luca. He is gently rocking me and applying pressure to my shoulder. Darkness starts to set in around the corners of my vision and my limbs grow heavy. I whisper the only thing that has been on repeat in my mind.

“Ti amerò per sempre.” I will always love you.

His face collapses and I see those honey eyes glisten as a large tear slips from them, trailing across his tan skin just as everything fades away.

Chapter Twelve

Luca

“No, no, no, no! Angel! Angel stay with me! Angelo, non posso perderti di nuovo!” I scream.

We are driving back to the house as Ashlynn goes limp in my arms. The color is draining from her face rapidly and I can practically feel her slipping away. I look up to Benjamin who is driving.

“Go faster you useless fuck! She is dying!” I scream as I punch the back of his seat with all my strength.

I feel the car accelerate more and we have to be going over 100mph through the city, but it’s not enough. We can’t go to a hospital for obvious reasons, so I have a team of doctors on a retainer to be at my beck and call 24/7. If they value their lives, they will be there ready for us. I will burn the world down for this woman. If anything happens to her no one will be safe.

I hear Derek in the front seat murmuring to someone on the phone, it sounds like he is telling them Ashlynn has just went unconscious. Hopefully he is speaking to the doctors. I look down at my Angel, limp and bloody in my arms. This is my worst fear come true.

I have had her in my life for over 2 weeks now and I have spent the entire time pushing her away when I should have been cherishing her, worshiping her. Just like I always vowed I would if we ever got the chance, and I fucking blew it.

“Come on sweetheart. Open those eyes,” I murmur into her ear. “Let me see those pretty baby blues.”

But she doesn’t open them. Her blood is soaking through the rag I have pressed up against her chest. The gash on her head from the asshole who pistol whipped her is turning her beautiful golden hair, red. I don’t have to be a doctor to know she is losing too much blood too fast and that we don’t have long.

I am one of the most powerful Mob Boss’s in the entire country, and I am completely fucking useless the only time in my life that it matters. I begin to do something I haven’t done since my parents were alive, I pray. I bend my head over Ashlynn’s body, and I pray that she will survive this. I pray that I will get another chance to hear her laugh and see her smile. Most of all I pray that I get the chance to tell her I will love her forever and prove it too.

I look up to see that we are racing up the driveway, dozens of vehicles are already scattered across the property. Everyone has been called in, not just because of Ashlynn but because we were directly attacked. I don’t know the total damage, but I do know I saw Stephen take a shot to the leg, and I saw Craig and Joe shot in the head. They attacked us, they almost killed me. If Ashlynn hadn’t warned me, I’d be dead in the street right now. We are in a full-blown war now, there is no going back until every last one of them is 6 feet under.

Relief rushes through me when I see the team of doctors already inside of the house standing in the foyer, all in scrubs. I don’t wait for the car to stop before I lift Ashlynn in my arms and run faster than I ever thought possible, up the stairs and inside the house.

Within seconds I am placing her on a gurney and the doctors roll her into a sitting room that they have made into a makeshift OR. They are all shouting stats and orders at each other as they cut her clothes off and start hooking her up to machines.

The adrenaline starts to wear off and emotions overtake me. I stand from the foyer watching as they start digging at her shoulder, trying to retrieve the bullet. The heart monitor starts to screech, my eyes whips to the man that is taking point looking for answers.

“She’s flat lining, push 1 of Epi!”

There is a lot of fumbling and frantic movements among the doctors as they try to get her back. I drop to my knees, out of exhaustion or fear I am not sure. I do know that for several moments I don’t breathe. Not until I hear that first blissful beep and they say she has a pulse.

A hand clasps my shoulder, I don’t have to look to know who it is. Giovanni lifts me up to a standing position and is in my ear whispering quickly.

“I know you are scared Luc but you gotta pull it together. Everyone is here and they need you, she will be okay. We need to make moves, now.”

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