Page 122 of Beautiful Revenge

“Don’t talk like you’re dying,” Aiden snaps.

“But I think I am dying. Sorry to disappoint all of you.”

“You can’t die,” Aria says, tears streaming down her face. I never thought I’d see her cry over me. It only took me dying for it to happen.

The urge to tell Aria I love her is on my lips. But a surge of pain hits me before I can say anything and then all I see is darkness.

Aria

I feel Finn’s pulse stop.

“Oh my god. He’s dead.”

“Move,” Aiden says, gently nudging me out of the way, before he starts doing chest compressions.

“Where did you learn to do this?” I ask.

“I’ve been in a lot of tough situations in my life. Knowing how to do chest compressions is a staple. Now, I need to focus.”

I watch as Aiden does chest compressions on Finn for what feels like hours but can only be minutes before the paramedics arrive. They take over and get Finn on a gurney.

The three of us follow in Aiden’s car to the hospital.

The nurses take one look at me and have me admitted too. I’m put on a bed with a hospital gown as Finn is wheeled into a different room. Aiden and Elena are forced to stay in the waiting room.

A doctor gives me some pain meds and cleans up my cuts before letting me go with some clothes from the lost and found. I meet Aiden and Elena back in the waiting room as we wait for news about Finn.

“I’m fine,” I tell them as they give me a questioning look. “Sal didn’t cut deep.”

Two police officers approach us. “You were involved in a shootout. A man is dead. We need to question all of you.”

“I got this,” Aiden says. He explains to the officers what happened. How Sal had kidnapped us and Finn shot Sal to save Elena’s life. Since we were all witnesses to it, the police don’t seem that concerned about it being murder but they do tell us an investigation will take place.

“I’ll call Erik when this is all over,” Aiden tells us once the police are gone. “I’ll have him clean up this mess. But… I should call Dante. Let him know that you’re ok, Aria.”

“And my dad.”

Aiden winces. It’s a subtle movement but I see it.

“What?” I ask.

“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you but… your dad is dead, Aria.”

“What?”

“Sal killed him. Snapped his neck. I saw his body when I came back to the house and found you and Elena gone.”

Aiden is so matter of fact in the way that he speaks. I’m appreciative of it in this moment. There’s no good way to tell someone that their own dad is dead.

I break down into tears. I never got to fully appreciate my dad before he died. Elena’s words have come back to haunt me and now we’re in the same boat. Both of us have dead fathers, killed by hitmen.

Hours go by and in that time, I stop crying.

A doctor finds us to tell us that Finn has been admitted to surgery for the bullet and that he might not make it. “I’ll come find you when there’s more information.”

I’m in a state of shock. My dad is dead and now I could lose Finn. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Finn before. I was so conflicted. But now all I want is to have him back. I know in my gut that I’ve fallen in love with him because the thought of being without him hurts too much to even contemplate.

Fiona shows up at the hospital and rushes into Aiden’s arms. We’re all waiting for news about whether he’ll pull through or not when Erik, Dante, and Matteo arrive.

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