Page 97 of Born a Queen

Chapter Fifty-Two

Everything that happened after Desi was captured was a blur. Raina and Giovanni did their best to stabilize Mateo until the paramedics could arrive. They’d debated making the call, since the usual procedure would be to call a doctor they kept on standby for emergencies, but both agreed Mateo could be critical. It was better to make sure he survived first; they could deal with the fallout and potential city payoffs later.

Vee and Sotza arrived at the mansion at the same time as Mateo, Raina and Giovanni were being loaded into ambulances. Raina insisted on accompanying Mateo to the hospital, which the paramedic finally agreed to when she became nearly hysterical at the idea of leaving his side.

Desi had mostly missed when she'd aimed to kill Giovanni, clipping him in the side of the head. The wound looked much worse than it actually was. And after the paramedics had a look at him, they were told that Giovanni would likely only need a few stitches.

Mateo was another matter. Though the shrapnel in his shoulder had not hit a major artery, it had struck the bone and the paramedic who looked him over believed that there was damage to his collarbone. His gunshot wound was mostly superficial, though it would need stitching. He’d also lost a significant amount of blood and was covered in scrapes and bruises.

Raina hadn't realized that she'd been hurt until Vee grabbed hold of her and started shouting for a paramedic. Raina looked blearily at her mother. "Who needs a paramedic? Mateo and Giovanni are already being looked after." Raina looked surreptitiously around and added, “And anyone else involved is probably dead."

Vee grabbed hold of Raina's arm and held it up. There was a long gash on her upper arm. Blood was trickling slowly from her wound and down her hand, but she'd been so preoccupied with Mateo's injuries that she hadn’t noticed. Now that she saw the blood, she felt woozy.

"Don't you dare!" Vee snapped, giving her a sharp two-fingered tap to the cheek. "We don't have time for fainters in this family. Pull yourself together, get in that ambulance and go for stitches."

Vee said this as she wrapped Raina's wound with a cloth napkin she snatched from the dining room. She stood next to the ambulance as Raina climbed inside. Raina looked at her mother and said calmly, "Someone let Desi in the bunker room. Only three of us had the code."

She didn’t want to tell her mother exactly who betrayed them as too many people were standing around listening. She hoped Vee and Sotza would figure out who she meant.

"I'm on it." Vee answered, then she leaned up and kissed Raina on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

* * *

Mateo tensed as consciousness rushed towards him. He expected a blast of pain to knock him on his ass but was instead greeted by a gentle fuzzy sensation. He'd been drugged. He hated that someone had administered what was likely morphine while he wasn’t awake to give his consent. He needed his wits about him, needed to be able to think, to talk to Raina.

"I'm here." Her soft voice penetrated the mist that he was attempting to swim through to reach consciousness.

Finally, Mateo managed to pry his eyes open. He tried to speak but only a croak emerged. He let out a frustrated growl and tried to push himself up on the bed.

Alarm swept over Raina's features and she was quick to grab him, placing her hand carefully against his chest, away from his wound and giving him a gentle push back against the pillows. Mateo resisted for a few seconds, then gave in. Raina meant well, but he would have to get up and moving before long.

Maybe one day he would explain to her the extent of some of the injuries he'd suffered in the past. Every time he'd been shot, stabbed, or punched, he had no choice but to bounce back quickly. To force his body to accept and overcome whatever injury he'd sustained. He was a firm believer in mind over body because he had no choice. In his line of work, a bed ridden mobster was a dead mobster.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked him, reaching for a cup with a plastic lid and straw. She placed it against his lips.

Mateo gratefully took several sips, wetting his parched throat. He closed his eyes and tried to think of the events that had landed him… where was he? He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Fuck. They brought him to a hospital. Once he was recovered, he would have to have a long conversation with Raina about proper protocol when it came to injuries. He did not ever want to be checked into a hospital, nor did he want drugs administered.

"I remember the blast." His voice was stronger, though rough, as though he’d been coughing for days. "Going into the bunker. I remember Desi.”

He could see her now, standing across the room from them, her gun raised. She'd sprayed them with bullets. Mateo had taken one in the side and fallen back. He didn’t remember anything else.

"Where’s Desi?"

Raina squeezed his arm and set his glass of water back on the table. "She's being held in the bunker. I tried to kill her, but Giovanni stopped me."

"He’s alive?" Mateo was surprised that the other man had survived a shot to the head.

She nodded. "The bullet winged him, causing a gash on the side of his head. But that's the only injury he sustained during the entire standoff."

"You?"

She shook her head and played with the end of her sleeve. "I'm fine. Especially considering I survived a bomb blast, an impromptu dip in the pool and being shot at by a psychopath. All in the space of about ten minutes."

Mateo smiled wryly. It was just like his girl to make fun of a serious attack. She used humour to lighten the mood when darkness could easily emerge the victor. He appreciated her ability to look on the lighter side of things. She balanced him, balanced his serious nature and the darkness within him.

"My parents are at the mansion now, getting everything back in order. They’ve been texting with me while I waited for you to get out of surgery. It looks like there were three bombs. One in the lobby, another in the pool house and another in your bedroom." Raina filled him in on the details, giving him a thorough no-nonsense rundown. "Sotza is managing the contacts that’ve heard about the explosions and checked in. He's also organized all the house staff and security. We were lucky. We didn't lose anyone in the bombs. Desi attacked the mansion with two hired thugs, both are dead now. We think the bombs were planted while she still had access to the house and grounds and that she used a remote device to set them off. Sotza thinks she used the distraction of the bombs to get through our estate security and into the bunker."

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