I sighed as I looked down at Isa, who was still unconscious on the hospital bed in front of me. Angelo was laying down in a bed beside her, still groggy from the sedatives administered during his surgery. 

Harry was in the corner of the room, staring slightly in his sleep. 

I was holding my necklace between my fingers as I covered my mouth with a fist, impatiently waiting for the doctors to finish their explanation. 

"Angelo will be okay. The bullet grazed an artery, but we were able to repair it. After a few weeks of rehab, he'll be good as new." The Italian doctor said as he flipped through his clipboard. 

"Isa had to have a few stitches on her eye. The blade penetrated from under her eyebrow down to the tip of cheek on the left side of her face. She'll have a nasty scar, but her vision won't be affected. The stab wound punctured her lung, but luckily, we were able to drain it of any fluid. She'll be fine." He explained as he flipped over another page and turned his attention towards Harry. 

"Harry, on the other hand, is a different story. He suffered many injuries, both internally and externally: broken arm, fractured ankle, 7 bruised ribs, broken collar bone, damage to the spinal cord. He might not be able to walk unassisted for the rest of his life. Maybe with extreme and consistent physical therapy, yes, but as for the next few years I'd recommend a cane." The doctor said, giving Giana a sad glance. 

"Fuck." I heard Angelo groan as he looked down at his arm, which was resting comfortably in a sling. "Now I know what you mean Rebel, sedatives are no fucking joke." He groaned as he placed a hand on his head, making me smile slightly. 

Isa began to stir, making me immediately walk over to her side. I watched as she came to, and began feeling the bandage wrapped around her face in confusion. We watched in silence as the doctor began to slowly remove the bandage, revealing the large gash that was now stitched up. 

"Well, what does it look like?" Isa said as she looked around the room curiously. Natalia grabbed a small handheld mirror from a drawer and slowly handed it to her. 

"Mhm. Looks like people are finally going to be able to tell us apart now, huh?" She said as she examined her face in the mirror before chuckling sadly. 

"Rebel." Isa said sadly before she put the mirror down. "I'm so sorry." She said as she grabbed my hand tightly, making me furrow my eyebrows. 

"They got your mom. I couldn't protect her. I-" She started to say with sadness in her voice before I shushed her. 

"I'm sorry too Rebel." Angelo said as he stared down at his lap with a pained expression on his face. "We failed." He said before pursing his lips. 

"Stop that." I said seriously as I looked at Angelo, Isa, then Harry. 

"You guys are alive right now, and that's all that matters." I said sternly as I stared at them. Pavlovski was now my burden to bare. 

They gave me small smile as silence filled the room. 

"So what now." Isa said as she stared at her brother, who was standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. 

"Simple. We find Pavlovski, then we kill him." Dante simply said as he stared at the floor. I could tell by his standoffish demeanor that his mind was elsewhere. 

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Angelo asked solemnly as he looked up at his older brother. 

"I have Stephan working on that right now." Dante said as he looked down at the floor once more. 

"Well I want to catch the bastard that fucked up my face." Isa growled as she sat up slowly. "What can I do to help?" She asked seriously before Dante clenched his jaw. 

"You three can focus on recovering." Dante said as he pushed off the wall and straightened his back. 

"But-" Angelo began before Dante cut him off by holding his hand up. 

"That's an order." He said in a cold tone before walking out of the room. I furrowed my eyebrows as I watched him walk out of the room, slamming the door behind him. 

"Rebel, will you handle your man please?" Isa said in an annoyed tone before she sighed loudly. I rolled my eyes at her before quickly opening the door to the infirmary and following Dante. 

The hallway was long and narrow, and I watched as Dante turned the corner. I swiftly followed behind him, and noticed that he was headed towards the courtyard outside. 

He reached for the handle of the glass french doors in front of him, and opened them slowly. He stepped to the side before he looked at me expectantly. I gave him a small smile before walking through the door. He followed me into the courtyard before closing the door behind him. 

He grabbed my hand slowly as he began to walk down the paved path in front of us. We walked in comfortable silence as we continued further and further into the courtyard, admiring the roses along the way. 

It was as if we were having a conversation without words, simply enjoying each others presence. It felt like a getaway from the dire situation that loomed over our consciousness.

"We can't escape him, can we?" I quietly said after a few minutes, breaking the silence and now filling the air with tension. 

"We can try." Dante said as he looked over at me as we continued down the path. 

"But will we succeed?" I asked as I stopped walking and looked at him. He sighed as his eyes met mine. My heart dropped as his gaze wandered towards the floor. His furrowed eyebrows and tense expression was all that I needed to answer my own question. 

"Dante," I began, carefully thinking over my next words. "At the safe house, I found a phone." I said slowly as I tensed up. 

"Pavlovski was watching the cameras when we found everyone. He sent me a message." I said, making Dante look at me over his shoulder. 

"Saying?" He said seriously as he put his hands into his pockets. 

"He'll kill them if I don't... give myself up willingly. Tomorrow 2am." I said seriously as I looked at him with an expressionless face.

"Rebel...Don't you even fucking think about it." He growled, his voice growing dark instantaneously. His expression was both pained and furious, a sight that made my heart split into two.

"I have to." I began as my eyes began to water. "It's the only way to save them!" I yelled. 

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" He screamed over my words, making his voice echo through the courtyard. He quickly waked over to me and grabbed my wrist tightly, causing me to pull away and hit his chest. 

"Well what can I do then, huh?"I yelled as I hit his chest. 

"Rebel-" He growled angrily as he blocked my hand.

"Do you want me to wait for him to inevitably come to finish what he started?" I yelled, tears streaming down my face in frustration.

"Fermare! Adesso!" He yelled as he grabbed one of my wrists. 

"You just want me to stand by and let your family get hurt because he wants me?" I said as I hit his chest once more. He attempted to grab my wrists in an effort to stop me.

"I'm not worth it, Dante!" I screamed as I freed my wrists and took a step back. "I'm not worth people putting their lives on line. I'm not worth people getting hurt! I'm not worth putting your family through this again! Don't you get it?! I'm not worth it!" I yelled as I threw my hands to my side. 

"YOU ARE FAMILY. YOU'RE MY FUCKING FAMILY." Dante screamed as he grabbed both of my wrists and roughly pulled me closer. 

"And you are fucking worth it. You're worth risking my own my life. You're worth dying for. You're worth it even if you're sassing the fuck out of me. You're even worth it when you drench my fucking room with the sprinkler system. Rebel, you are fucking worth it." Dante growled as he stared down at me. 

"You wanna know why you're worth it?" Dante said as his voice became a bit softer and he stared down at my tear stained face. 

"Because you fill a hole in my life that I didn't even know existed. You make me want to be a better man, for you." He said slowly as he held onto my hands.

"I want to make sure that you wake up smiling every morning, and fall asleep in my arms every night. I want to see the excitement in your eyes when you're doing the things that you love. I want to be with you on your good days, and your bad days. I want to see the crinkle in your nose when you laugh too hard. I want to see the curiosity in your eyes when you're trying something new. I want to give you the world, and then some." He said as his eyebrows began to furrow. 

"I'm in love with you, Rebel." He said just above a whisper as he cupped my face within his hands.

"Dante..." I breathed as I looked at him, placing my hand over his as I inched closer to his lips. 

"I love you too." I whispered before he pressed our lips together, inhaling deeply as we passionately kissed underneath the stars. 

It was as if time stopped, and the only thing in the world that mattered was this man in front of me. His lips were like a forbidden fruit that I finally was able to taste. It felt like a tsunami of unspoken words and repressed feelings that flooded over my mind and body until I was completely consumed. 

We gently pulled back, our lips still grazing against each other as our shaky breaths filled the air around us. We stayed like for a moment, enjoying the electricity between us. 

"Please, don't ever leave me Rebel. Promise me." Dante whispered as he ran his hand through my hair. 

"I promise." I whispered. 

"DANTE!" I heard Stephan scream from behind us. Dante quickly wrapped his arm around my waist as he turned us, placing himself in front of me as he looked at his cousin sprinting towards us. 

"What is it?" He asked seriously as he stared at him with an annoyed expression. 

"We got another death threat from Pavlovski." Stephan said as he looked at his cousin nervously while handing him a black envelope. 

Dante quickly snatched it out of his hand before impatiently ripping it open. He unfolded the piece of paper before an emotionless expression conquered his face. 

He stared at it for a moment before it slipped through his hands, gliding down onto the pavement below us as he began to walk into the house. Stephan followed closely behind him as I looked down at the paper on the floor. 

I slowly bent down and gently grabbed it before flipping it over. I felt my world stop as I read the name written in black ink. 

Dante Vino.