CHAPTER FORTY TWO
"I THOUGHT I LOST HER"

GIOVANNI CASTIGLIONE

Both the blood transfusion and operation was successful. The bullet didn’t cause a lot of damage to the artery it hit, the only thing that caused a little panic was the fact that Scarlett lost a lot of damn blood but Kallie did an amazing job to repair her leg without any complications.

Scarlett’s leg was closed up and bandaged after Kallie cleaned the leg properly, Kallie also had to stick a string of glue stitches onto Scarlett’s nose where there was a small but slightly deep cut.

Scarlett’s vitals were merely back to normal, her cheeks were pinker than it was moments before and her breathing was stabilised and stronger.

I couldn’t help but release a relieved breath, holding Scarlett’s hand in mine knowing she was going to be okay after all and that our prayers were heard.

Now all I was waiting for is for Scarlett to wake up.

The news travelled all over the mansion and the three j’s along with Vito were filled with sheer relief knowing that she was going to be okay.

But while they were relieved about her successful operation and cheering about it, I thought about all the ways I’m going to kill Vincent for ever speaking to Scarlett in the first place, and for laying his filthy hands on her.

Antonio knew it too.

“I told you our girl was strong.” Antonio says, blowing out his cheeks.

“‘Our girl’, you say? I thought I was going to get some sort of older brother speech about dating his little sister.”

“Well, when she wakes up, you’re going to get one helluva speech about it. So you better be ready.” He says, raising his eyebrows in a threatening manner.

Despite the shit going on right now, I still managed a chuckle, looking at my best friend whom I thought was dead up until yesterday.

“On a more serious note… thank you for taking care of her.” Antonio says.  “If it wasn’t for you taking her in, I don’t know where the hell she would’ve ended up… I can’t begin to imagine what would’ve happened if Vincent sunk his claws into her.”

“Are you going to kill me if I tell you that I actually didn’t want her in the mansion in the first place? Vito insisted on bringing her here so I just had to go with it.”

“She told me that you didn’t quite like her a lot when she… you know… but I’m glad you took her in anyways. Now she’s stronger than ever, and I have you to thank for that.”

“Giovanni?”

Both of our heads turn to Scarlett and we see her awake, her eyes drifting between the two of us like she can’t believe that she’s here right now.

“Scarlett! You’re awake!” Antonio cheers happily before making his way around the left side of the bed before grabbing her hand in his, careful not to take out any important IVs.

“What happened? How did we get here? Antonio—?”

I stand up from the chair and hold her hand tighter. “You shouldn’t talk a lot, Scarlett. Just know that you’re safe now.” I tell her.

“Where’s Vincent?”

“He’s not here, Scarlett. We managed to leave the mansion…” Antonio says. “You’re safe now. You just need to calm down—”

“You don’t understand!” She exclaims, sitting up in the bed but she winces when she moves the leg she got shot in.

When she realises she is not going anywhere with that leg of hers, she lies back down on the bed, resting her head high on the set of pillows.

“I think he wants me dead now more than ever. I-I saw him in my dream and he wants me dead! I—”

“He won’t touch you.” I tell her, more like promise. “You’re safe with me now. If he wants to hurt you, he needs to come through us first,” I tell her, looking between her and Antonio, “but trust me when I tell you that he won’t get through us all, and he better make sure that I’m dead before I’ll ever let him get to you again.”

Scarlett nods but she doesn’t seem convinced, so I lean down and place a kiss against her forehead. “Scarlett, I love you and I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”

“I’m just scared… what if he hurts you… or my brother… or Vito, or the three j’s… I’m scared of what he’ll do.”

“You don’t have to be scared. I’ll protect you with my life—”

“I don’t want you to get hurt because of me, Giovanni. I can’t lose you.” She says and I see tears well up in her eyes.

“That’s why we need to make sure that we win this war. Right, Antonio? Are you ready to fight beside me again?”

Antonio nods. “Count me in, brother. I’m always ready for a war when you fight beside me.”

“Good.” I tell him before I turn back to Scarlett. “And you just worry about getting better so I can take you on a real date now that your brother has accepted our relationship.”

“Hey! I didn’t accept anything yet.” Antonio says, shaking his head. “I am still preparing a speech for you, brother.”

Scarlett surprises me by laughing, it was soft, but it was a laugh nonetheless. And hell, I would give anything in the entire world to keep hearing it.

“Giovanni… can I talk to you alone about something?” She asks me and I nod.

Antonio throws his hands up into the air and starts to back away out of the infirmary. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it then, but I got my eyes on you, Gio.”

I chuckle and watch him leave the room before he shuts the door behind him.

I sit on the chair again, holding Scarlett’s hand in mine. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know if it’s the right time, but I have to tell you because it has been weighing on me for a while now and hopefully it can give you a better understanding to everything.” She says, releasing a sharp breath afterwards.

“Okay…Now I’m nervous.” I chuckle, nervously.

“It’s about your dad, Giovanni. There are some things he hasn’t been totally honest about.”

“I lied before, now I’m nervous.”

“I think your dad had something to do with your mom’s death, Giovanni… She had an affair with Vincent and Diablo’s dad… he found out about it and became angry… and then—”

“Who told you this? Vincent?” I ask her, feeling another wave of anger washing over me, but I managed to keep it from her.  I knew my dad was on another level of psycho, but this just takes the cake.

But Scarlett should recover and she doesn’t need this type of worry right now.

She shakes her head no.

“It was Diablo who told me. Giovanni… I believed him. Why would he say such a thing if it doesn’t have anything to do with the feud going on between the two gangs? Your dad’s angry at their dad, and their dad’s angry at yours…”

I chuckle humourlessly and run my fingers through my hair. “Well, it won’t surprise me if the bastard had anything to do with her death.”

“What are you going to do?” She asks me.

“Well, I’m going to have a talk with my old man about it seeing that he has a few things to explain.” I tell her honestly. “But for now I’m putting all my focus on taking down the White Pistols once and for all.”

Just focus on killing the White Pistols.

Yes. That sounds about right.

I’ll sort my dad out later.

“So you’re not mad at me for—”

“I can never be mad at you, Scarlett. And besides, it’s not something you should worry about in the first place. It’s Vito and my problem to have a talk with our dad. But I appreciate that you told me. It makes sense; actually, her death was sudden and very suspicious.”

“I’m sorry… it must’ve been so hard for you to hear that it was your dad who… who murdered her because he was angry that it was Vincent and Diablo’s dad who stole her heart and not your dad.”

I lift my shoulders in a half shrug.

“My dad doesn’t like to compete, especially when he knows he’s going to lose the fight…” I tell her. “But enough of him… for now we have to get you all rested and recovered.”

“Will you stay with me? The nightmare really shook me. I don’t want to be alone right now, just until I fall asleep… please?”

There were the puppy dog eyes I missed so damn much.

It was difficult being angry when she was around, she just knew how to calm a person down with just a look. But I think it was because I am more relieved than anything else. She was okay. She was back. She was safe.

My dad, the White Pistols and everything that comes in between doesn’t matter in this moment.

Scarlett was here and she’s all that matters in this moment.