Page 75 of Broken Princess

I run past Miceli, who's on the floor but still breathing, and pull out my switchblade to cut the zip ties binding Amelia's wrists behind the chair. She pulls the gag from her mouth as soon as she's free and lunges for her father.

"Daddy!" she cries, dropping to her knees on the attic floor.

I walk over, kneeling down to examine the wound. Miceli is barely conscious.

"Here," I say, shrugging out of my jacket and balling it up to use it to apply pressure to the wound. It's close to his heart, and he's lost a lot of blood already. That's not good, but I don't want to scare her even more. "Hold pressure there. I'll call for help."

She nods shakily, tears already rolling down her cheeks.

The next ten minutes seem to happen in a blur. She's focused on her father as I keep obsessively checking on her while we wait for the ambulance to arrive. The sirens in the distance are a relief, when the sound is usually the last thing any mobster wants to hear.

For once, though, I'm not the one on the wrong side of the law. I killed a man, but it wasn't just self-defense, it was defending my wife and our unborn child. And I'm not going to lose a second of sleep over that.

The way Amelia looks as they load her unconscious father onto the stretcher, though, knowing I'm the one he took a bullet for… that's going to haunt me if anything happens to him. Miceli and I might have started out as sworn enemies by blood, but there's one thing we both have in common.

We'd do anything for Amelia, even if it means giving up our lives.

I just hope that's not a sacrifice he made tonight.

CHAPTER 40

AMELIA

The hospital is a flurry of activity, but it all seems like a blur to me. I can't even remember how we got here. Lorenzo is at my side as we wait in the hallway for my father to get out of surgery, and it seems like it's been hours, but he probably hasn't been in there for that long. It feels like forever, though.

Lorenzo puts a hand on my back and murmurs something soothing, but my thoughts are too frantic to make it out. All I can think about is my father and telling myself he’s going to be okay.

He has to be.

"Miss Rossi?"

I look up to see a doctor in scrubs coming towards us. "How is he?" I ask, already on my feet.

"He's stable," the doctor replies. "The bullet missed his heart, but he lost a lot of blood. He's going to need some time, but he should make a full recovery."

My heart bottoms out in my chest and the world seems to spin as all the tension and panic leaves me at once. Lorenzo reaches out to steady me, which is good, because I'm pretty sure I would have stumbled otherwise.

"Can I see him?"

The doctor shakes his head slightly. "He's not able to have visitors yet, but we'll let you know when he wakes up. And I know that your initial examination when you came in was all right, but I'd really feel better if we did an ultrasound as well."

I glance over at Lorenzo, knowing he had something to do with that suggestion even if he's playing innocent. I sigh, nodding. "Okay," I finally say. "But I want to see him as soon as he's awake."

The doctor smiles. "Of course. You can head to the room at the very end of the next hallway. A tech will be in with you shortly."

"Thank you," Lorenzo says, sounding infinitely relieved as he puts a hand on my shoulder and guides me down the hall. He knows as well as I do that if my father wasn't going to be okay, I might have gone a little crazy right now.

The exam room is just off the emergency wing, a small but comfortable space with a table and a bunch of machines in the corner. There's a gown waiting for me on the end of the table, and Lorenzo helps me into it. A few minutes later, the tech knocks and comes in to introduce herself.

My mind is still far from this, even though the doctor reassured me that Dad is going to make it. There's still so much that could go wrong. So much we've all been through.

At least Milo is gone.

Is it really over? It feels so surreal.

"All right, Amelia, just lie back and we can get started," the tech says in a pleasant tone. "Just a warning, this is going to be a bit cold." She applies a clear jelly to my stomach and slides the ultrasound wand over it.

It's not the first ultrasound I've had by a long shot, but it occurs to me as Lorenzo's hand tightens around mine that it’s the first one he's been here for. His attention is transfixed on the screen, and I can feel the tense energy coming off him. He seems more nervous now than he was when his own life was on the line, and I can't help but find it endearing.

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