We quickly switch seats and Gianna starts to drive. It’s a slow start. The uncertainty in her movements is obvious but it doesn’t take her long to figure out how to move forward.
“Find the nearest hospital,” I say. Going back to the hospital for another gunshot wound is not going to be a good look but I have no other choice. I can’t go to my old contacts in the risk that they could be compromised. Marco is still out looking for us. And now Nico will be even more angry – if he doesn’t die that is. And then there’s Enzo.
“Where was your brother?” I ask, realizing he wasn’t at the church.
“Enzo doesn’t know that Nico found me. He kept that information from my brother because he knows that Enzo will never marry me to a man as bad as Nico. But I don’t know where my brother is right now. And I have no way to contact him.”
“I have my cell phone.”
“I can’t remember his number,” she admits. “I never needed to remember it before and I just… don’t know it.”
“Do you think Enzo will listen to you? Honestly?”
She slams on the brakes when she comes to a red light.
“Easy,” I murmur.
“Sorry,” she squeaks. After a moment, she sighs. “I have to hope he’ll listen to me. But there’s a chance my aunt and Nico will get to him first. They’ll twist the story. Say you kidnapped me again. I don’t know what to do.”
“Just drive. That’s all you can do right now.”
She nods.
We arrive at the nearest hospital – thankfully it’s a different one from the one where I got my arm stitched up. Gianna places my unhurt arm around her shoulders and helps me walk inside.
“My legs still work,” I tell her.
“I know. I just want to help.”
A nurse sees me bleeding and immediately gets me into a private room where Gianna isn’t allowed to follow. A doctor sees to my shoulder and tells me that I was lucky. The bullet went in and out. A few inches over and I could have been shot in the heart.
Relief courses through me. I’m not dead yet.
But I know not everything is over. I may have saved Gianna from Nico today but we’ll have to keep fighting to be together. I need to let her go. For her own safety.
I need to get her back to her brother. It’s the only way she’ll find an ounce of happiness. And I have to come to terms with the fact that I may not get to be in her life. As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters to me.
I can no longer be selfish. It’s time to be a selfless man my mom would be proud of.
Gianna
I pace back and forth in the hall, watching doctors and nurses pass me by. I keep glancing at the ER doors, worrying that Nico or Marco will find me. That I’ll be forced to marry one of them.
After an hour, Will comes out of the private room and approaches me. “I’m all right. They stitched up my wound and gave me some pain meds.”
With a cry of relief, I throw my arms around him. He winces. “Sorry,” I squeak.
“It’s not a problem.” He pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. Never have I felt more safe than in this moment.
I know, right now, that I never want to leave Will’s arms again. “I want to be with you. There’s no one else.”
He gazes down into my eyes with an expression I can’t decipher. Both pain and happiness and… regret. “I care for you, Gianna. I wouldn’t have risked my life if I didn’t. But it’s time I get you back to your brother. We can’t keep running. Bad people will only find us and one of those times, your life will be taken from you. Not because you’ll be dead. But because you’ll be forced to live a life you don’t want. We need to find your brother and I’ll return you to him. You can explain everything. But… there’s a good chance that he won’t agree to us being together.”
“Not if I make him see reason.”
“Gianna.” He cups my face. “Do you actually believe he’ll let you be with a hitman? A lowly hitman with enemies on top of everything?”
My heart pounds faster until it makes me lightheaded. “What are you saying?”