The doctor hesitates but then nods, sitting down across from Enzo and getting to work stitching up his wounds. I watch from the corner of the room as Enzo grits his teeth and pushes through the pain. Why hasn’t he spoken to me yet? Is there something wrong?
Once the doctor is done, he tells Enzo to rest for a few hours and then he can go home. He leaves the room, giving me and my husband space.
“Enzo,” I say. His eyes meet mine and they soften. It’s taking everything out of me to not know what’s on his mind.
He opens his mouth to speak when the hospital door bursts open and in walks Francesca. The sight of her startles me so much, it takes me a long time to process that my aunt-in-law is standing in the room with us.
“Francesca?” he asks.
“You’re hurt.” She huffs and turns to me. “Your doing, I’m presume? You first have the audacity to have an affair with my nephew’s friend and now you’re the reason he’s hurt?”
“Affair?” Enzo furrows his brow. “What are you talking about? What affair?”
“Between your friend, Matteo, and your wife. I caught them looking at each other and it was full of unspoken words. It was obvious to me what happened.”
“You think they had an affair? Francesca…” Enzo sighs with a shake of his head. “They did not have an affair. Besides, Matteo is dead.”
She blinks. “He’s… what?”
“He’s dead because he kidnapped Kira. That’s all you need to know.”
“So it’s her fault? Matteo was a good friend of yours. A good friend to the family. He never would have kidnapped anyone.”
“Francesca, just stop,” Enzo says. “Matteo was an asshole who betrayed me. He tried to hurt Kira and then kidnapped her. I saved her life and now he’s gone. Don’t speak good of him. I do not like it.”
She runs her hands down her dress like she doesn’t know what to do with her hands. “Well… I don’t know what to say. Surely, this is still Kira’s fault. She enticed him somehow.”
“Oh for god fucking sake,” Enzo grumbles, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ve had enough of you bad mouthing Kira. She is my wife and you will show her respect. Kira did not entice Matteo. He was just someone who couldn’t keep his hands to himself and he suffered the consequences for it. And good riddance. He was never my friend. Not how he betrayed me. So stop talking nice of him. He and Kira did not have an affair.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I trust my wife. Simple as that.”
Enzo’s words make me gasp. My father, once he found out I would sneak out to parties, never gave me his trust again. But Enzo is now. He’s the first one to ever do it.
“You can’t mean that,” Francesca says.
“But I do. And you have to accept it. I will not let you get between me and my wife. Not now. Not after she saved my life.”
All the color leaves Francesca’s face. “She… did what?”
“She saved my life. She’s the reason I’m alive right now and standing before you.” Enzo doesn’t tell Francesca that it was my father who tried to kill him. That would only make Francesca distrust me more even though my father’s actions do not speak for me.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say ‘thank you.’ To Kira.”
Slowly, Francesca turns to me and looks me dead in the eye with her scary intense expression. “You saved my nephew’s life?”
“I did.”
“Then… thank you.” She pinches her lips, hating herself for having to say it, I’m sure. I try not to smirk, knowing that would only make things worse. “I guess… you’re not as bad as I thought. I still don’t like you. I still don’t like that you belong to the Bratva.”
“I’m married to a Mafia man now. That’s all that matters.”
Francesca huffs but she doesn’t argue any more. “Well… just don’t kidnapped my niece ever again.”
“Gianna is a grown woman,” I say. “Twenty. She can make her own decisions. Stop controlling her life.”