Page 70 of Always Yours

“She was injured by the bomb. She’s at the house now. She was struck in the leg pretty badly and had to have surgery to fix it and remove anything that was caught in there,” Trigger tells him.

“She’s okay though?” Nick asks, almost pleading.

He nods his head. “She can’t walk much right now, but everyone has been helping out.”

“I can’t wait to see her,” Nick says, and I give him a sad smile.

After everything he has been through, I know he’s going to need a lot of help and will feel guilt for not being there for his daughter; but it wasn’t his fault.

I hate what happened to him, although I am so glad he is alive. I had missed him so much over the years, and it almost feels unreal that he’s here with us.

“We need to come up with a plan,” Antonio says, getting a serious look on his face.

“Once I know how Derek is doing, then we can discuss it,” I tell him.”

My main worry is my man right now. I need to know if he’s going to be okay. He has to be okay.

~

Hours pass as we wait on new information. They run tests on him, but I still haven’t seen him.

Finally, the doctor comes out. “Derek Knight’s family?” he asks. We all stand up and step closer.

“I’m his wife, Lily,” I tell him, and he nods his head.

“You guys are lucky you got him here when you did. Though he’s going to have a rough few months ahead of him. He has pneumonia, and having it left untreated for some time has severely impacted his health. We will be admitting him for a few weeks as he was close to respiratory failure. The lack of care he received while he suffered in sickness left him seriously infected. We are going to do everything we can to make the recovery smooth for him, but it won’t be easy. He will most likely spend a lot of the time sleeping for the first week or so until the antibiotics start to take effect. You are welcome to see him, but we must ask you to limit your visit as his body needs time to heal,” he states.

“Nurse Tami here will take you to the room we have him in,” he says while gesturing to the nurse behind him.

Me and my boys follow the nurse as everyone says they will take turns as not to overwhelm him.

My heart breaks at the sight in front of me.

He has something helping him breathe, and tubes in his arms, plus a catheter in.

“Fuck,” Tyson whispers hoarsely.

“Shit,” Aiden says, nodding his head in agreement.

“Honey,” I say. My voice breaks as I take him in. He looks nothing like the man I love; he’s so pale and sick. My hand shakes as I take his hand in mine. He’s sleeping, so he doesn’t move.

“You have to get better. I thought I lost you. I don’t know what I would ever do if I lost you. You are my entire world,” I cry. My head falls, and my boys wrap their arms around me as I finally let myself break.

“Fuck, I didn’t think it would be so hard to see the man I look up to, considering how strong and full of life he always was, looking so sick,” Aiden says.

“Even tough men can get sick. He will be back prodding Ella and our women to have more babies in no time,” Tyson says, looking like he barely believes the words he’s saying.

“Your father is strong. There is nothing that he can’t overcome. We will take care of this threat once and for all, and then we can see about moving him closer to home,” I tell them.

“Will you really be able to kill your own father?” Aiden asks me.

I turn and look at both of them, so they know how serious I am. “Your father is a great man. Sure, we had our bumps along the way, but I never once believed that he wouldn’t be a good father. My father wasn’t a great man. Our house was cold, and I was only taught to learn what a woman’s place was. I’m not the weak daughter he thought he raised. It wasn’t until I left, and being with your father, that I saw how real men can be. How a family should live. Alessandro not only took something from me by taking your father, but he also took your Uncle Nick, and my brothers. It takes a sick man to hold someone captive for twenty years just to use as a pawn. It’s time he learned who his kids really are. He always told us that no one messed with a Romano, and it seems that he needs reminding of that, and to learn that no one messes with the Vicious Snakes. We will show him just how much he fucked up,” I tell them, making sure they can notice all the rage inside of me.

“We are behind you, mom. That fucker gets no mercy,” Tyson spits out angrily, and Aiden nods in agreement. I see the men that they have become, and the reason they are a part of the Vicious Snakes. They look dangerous and pissed off. Just like their parents.

We stay with Derek for a few more minutes before leaving to let everyone else have a turn. I don’t want to leave him, but we have other shit to do. We need to make sure the threat is taken care of.

We have rooms booked at a hotel across the street where we pretty much have the whole floor, since there are so many of us. It will offer us more privacy anyways.

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