“Never,” I answer, wincing as I lift my injured arm, making room for her, careful of her own injuries. “But, I know you’d rather be home in our bed with the kids.”
“Lucky for us, I snatched Riggs’ phone,” she says, producing the phone she had tucked between her breasts.
“Lucky phone,” I tease as I place my finger under her chin and tilt her head back. “Hey,” I started.
“Hmm?”
I search her eyes for signs of despair, recalling how closed off she became after the shooting at Temptations, but there are no traces of shock or PTSD like last time. I don’t know if this is the calm before the storm, if she’ll break once she’s home and the dust has settled or if her skin has grown thicker since the last time we faced certain death.
“What’s going on inside that head?”
“I lost my shoes,” she replies flatly. I follow her gaze to the gauze wrapped around her feet.
“I’ll buy you a new pair,” I tell her, kissing the top of her head. “Now…the truth, what are you thinking about?”
“What happens now?” She asks softly, lifting her eyes to mine.
I stare at her silently, deciding how to answer her since I’m not sure what happens from here. I don’t want to frighten her and tell her there will be a motherfucking war, one that will likely make the shit we’ve been witness to in the past look like a church picnic.
“I mean whoever the fuck did this will pay for this, right?” She questions, surprising me.
“Come again?”
“You can’t get up but I did, and this emergency room is full of everyone we know and love. If my father was here, he’d be on the streets already, looking for mercy. So, again, whoever did this, whoever ruined Jack and Reina’s wedding, jeopardized their baby, and scarred the lives of all of us, they will pay, right?”
“You offering to take them out?”
“We could’ve died and left our kids orphans so yeah, if it came down to it, I’d be the first in line,” she says, her face set in stone.
Another man may have laughed at his wife’s offer to take out the people responsible but not me. I didn’t doubt, given the opportunity, Adrianna would take out the enemy. She’s a fighter, been fighting for what she loves since she was fifteen years old, since she met me.
What I’m saying is I know you will have a part in this and I’m okay with it, just as long as you raise all sorts of hell and get every last one but you come home to me. You come back and you tuck our kids into bed and love me because if I ever lose you I’ll lose me too.”
I open my mouth but she silences me with a finger.
“Just need your promise, Bianci,” she whispers softly. “No explanations.”
“I promise,” I say against her finger and watch her nod in satisfaction. She drops her hand and a smile forms across her perfect mouth. A little chuckle escapes next and I think it’s happening—she’s going to lose her cool.
What’s so funny?” I cautiously ask.
“I was just thinking back to that night I went looking for you, the night I found you in the gym...do you remember?”
“Yeah,” I say, wondering where she’s going with this.
“We were so worried about simply being Anthony and Adrianna but we’ll never just be Anthony and Adrianna, will we? I’ll always be the mobster’s daughter and you will always be his enforcer. We can be parents, we can be gym owners but at the end of the day we will always be Anthony and Adrianna and the mob will always be the foundation our family was built upon.”
If today was any indication, she was right There will always be something that pulls us back, reminding us who we are and what we’re capable of. Today it was a bomb, tomorrow it’ll be when the mailman forgets to deliver her Amazon package and twenty years from now it’ll be when Victoria brings home a boyfriend.
I press my lips to hers gently, sealing our fate and the truth. We’ll never be ordinary.
“Now, let’s call our kids,” I say against her mouth.
She pulls back and dials the house, placing the call on speaker. My mother answers and instantly praises Jesus, cursing Jack, going through the whole spiel on how everyone I’m associated with has a death wish. Finally, she puts Luca on the phone and everything is right with the world again.
he terror we survived fades.
Revenge does too.
All that exists is the two innocent people who don’t know how ugly the world truly is.
And I hope they never do.
Chapter Forty-Three
“Mr. Petra, the x-rays show you have five broken ribs. As I’m sure you know there isn’t much we can do but give you something for the pain—” the doctor says, reading the films.
“No,” I say, cutting him off as I throw my legs over the side of the bed. “I don’t need anything,” I grunt, cringing as I slide off the bed.