Angela's POV

*

"Hey, it's me again."

"..."

"I- I didn't sleep at my condo, as usual. I spent the night in your place, your room. It's beautiful, you know, I've been spending the nights there since I started leaving the hospital to get some rest two days ago."

"..."

"I know, Angel, I don't want to leave you either. It's just that I had to see to some office matters. There's been some issues around the office."

"..."

"Your friends have really been supportive. They come here every single day, along with your siblings. Maddy now has a boyfriend and she made me know she was glad to tell you..but suddenly found out about the whole kidnap thing."

"..."

"Your wounds are healing. It's been three days and the doctor said you didn't hit your head. You're not in a coma. Can you wake up? Please? I-i don't know what to say Angel, please, please my love, wake up. Open your eyes. Talk to me. Where are you feeling pain?"

"..."

Sniffing. Sobbing.

Bitter, bitter manly sobbing. Agonizing sobbing.

"By the way, I brought your chocolate drink." Sniffing. "I've been dumping it for the past two days but then I thought it might upset you. I know how much you love my chocolates, though technically, I did not make them. I'll take it today. I'll drink it."

"..."

"Yes, drink it and watch you sleep."

"..."

Deep sigh. "Life is dry without your laughter and those twinkles in your eyes. Let's go to sleep again, angel. When you wake, I'll be here."

*

"Angel?"

"..."

"How is your day going so far?"

"..."

"Well mine went well, at least the attention of everyone in the family is no longer solely on me."

"..."

"Geronimo got his girlfriend pregnant. She just finished high school, can you imagine? My mom's pissed at him because he's just starting at the company. She says they're too young to be that careless." Chuckle.

"..."

"Angela..."

"..."

"Are you in pain?"

"..."

"Will this be over anytime soon? You're not unconscious, neither are you in a coma. Why are you doing this? At least let me know you're there. I just want to comfort you."

"..."

"Please."

"..."

"It's been four days. Do you hate me that much? Please wake up, please."

"..."

*

Brightness.

White light. Strong, sharp pain in my head. I hissed.

"Ohh." I groaned and slightly shook my head. My left eye felt too heavy to be moved. Tying to force it open made me gasp in shock as pain rippled through me.

"Angel?"

That voice. My body came alive, burning with intense fire. Hope seared through me and I tried to smile but my face was stiff and it felt somehow weird.

I sucked in a harsh, needed breath. It was dry and rough and very painful.

"I'm alive. Thank you God." I moaned.

"Angel. Can you hear me baby?" He asked. I could detect the relief and alight fear mixed in his voice.

"Eros..." I whispered in recognition.

My opened eye went shut again. Trying to open the other one proved futile. Fear gripped me as I realized I was struggling to open one eye.

Why couldn't I open my eye? Was I blind? My mind wracked through what could've occured but I came up blank.

"Angel, thank God you're awake, finally. I'll get the doctor." Eros was slowly patting my hair as he spoke.

"Eros..." I called weakly. He brought his face back to mine and I sucked in a deep breath as I took him in. His hazel eyes, his nose, his eyebrows. Everything about him made me glad for this moment. Relief washed over me as I breathed in his Cologne.

He touched me, my stomach. My cheeks, my breasts, my arms. The act scared me and also comforted me. This was real.

I could feel his touches. His burning touches. This wasn't a dream. But why is he here?

And he mentioned doctor, meaning I was at a hospital. This was very real. I was free.

"Eros...don't go. Stay with me." I groaned as he turned towards the door.

"I'll be back soon baby, I promise." He looked down at me with a doting expression, his gaze softening. "Better still, I'll buzz for a nurse. Here, I'll keep holding you, baby. You're safe."

My eyes stung. I'd missed his use of endearments. His doting touches and gentle caresses. He was touching my stomach now, gently tracing his hand up to my breasts and back down.

Even though my body felt strange and light, I was very much aware of his roaming hand.

After buzzing for a nurse, he pulled the chair impossibly closer to me. He pecked my forehead. Then my nose and my lips. My tongue darted to wet my lips.

They were dry and felt weird.

My whole body felt weird.

A nurse walked in and graced me a warm smile.

"Welcome back, miss." She told me and I smiled.

She started asking me some questions and told me to give signs if I couldn't answer her fully, which was a relief because my throat felt scratchy.

"How do you feel?"

"Weird." I finally murmured.

"Yes you'll feel that way for a few hours because you just woke up. But soon, you'll be back to your usual self."

"Water." I demanded and felt Eros stretch beside me, still holding my hand and now tracing random patterns on it.

Picking a cup from somewhere I couldn't crane my neck to see, she helped me pass a straw and I slowly sucked the water. It brought relief to my throat and my mouth. I sighed in contentment when she finally pulled the cup away.

"My eye, I can't-"

She turned around and cut me off. "Yes, we had to patch you up there due to the cut you had but you're healing fast and soon you'll be fixing threads in needles. It'll heal slowly."

"Oh. Okay."

Her smile was back. "I'll leave you for now and then the doctor will be with you shortly."

"Thanks, nurse Mara." Eros replied lowly and the nurse smiled before leaving.

I dragged my face back to him. All I wanted to do at the moment, was rub my hands all over his face and feel his every breath against my palms. To assure myself that he was here and that I wasn't in the custody of that man anymore.

"Thank God you're awake Angel. I was beginning to get worried." He told me gloomily.

"Pedro-"

"He's still in custody. My grandma will deal with him and his family for not keeping him on a leash and I'd appreciate it a lot if you refrain from mentioning him!" Eros stated harshly and I flinched, tensing at the cold tone.

My eyes widened at him and my breath slowed down.

Why did I just have that reaction? This was Eros, he would never lay his hands on me like Pearson did and he would never try to make me do what he wanted.

Eros stopped talking and then shook his head, cradling it in his hands. "Shit baby, I shouldn't have used that tone with you, not after everything you've been through. I'm so fucking sorry. Just, please don't talk about him. I'm sorry for allowing you go through this Angela, believe me."

"It's okay." My opened eye twitched.

"No it's not. We could've done better. What if he'd done worse than whatever he did to you or worse, killed you? I would never forgive myself if you'd died in that man's arms."

"I'm here now." My opened eye burned.

"You know what happened right? How serious it was? You jumped off a fucking building, Angel. No, you fell like a sponge case from a twenty something storey building. Thank goodness the floor you were on wasn't really high up there." He further rambled. I noticed something was shaking on my stomach.

His hands.

They were trembling.

"Eros..." I choked out and started weeping as my eyes stung. He dragged his face back to mine, eyes red. "You tried your best, though you feel it wasn't enough."

The tears finally came in full force even though he was still gritting his jaws, groaning and wiping his eyes as his face flushed. "We searched everywhere. Searched hospitals, abandoned houses and airports all over the country. Footage of you before we left my condo was all we found. After that time he took you, it's like you just vanished from the face of the earth and everything related to you was wiped out from every surveillance camera in the whole of Italy. It was so frustrating, Angel, it was like Pedro Denaro was walking like a free man but he covered his tracks so well that we couldn't find a trace of him anywhere. I went to his parents house but they weren't there. We had to go in search of them, I and Luca."

"Oh." I breathed. "He took me home. To our place."

"Can you imagine?" Eros scoffed.

"My parents, Stephano-"

"Oh. I should call them." He brought out his phone and tapped rapidly on it. "Stephano? She's awake. Hmm. Just now. Yes. Okay."

"I'm not feeling any pain apart from my shut eye." I complained, unable to keep it in. It was a miracle that I was still alive so I knew I should be in pain. How many hours was I gone out?

"You were given some substances. They'll kill the pain. I didn't want you going through pain but...the pressure on your eyelid is what's probably causing the pain. Ww didn't want anything affecting your eye."

"Oh. Tell Maddy and Rocky I'm awake. How long was I out for?"

"Five days? Six?"

"Oh."

I watched him call Maddy. From the squealing on the phone, she was more than excited. I desperately wished I could talk to her but I knew that couldn't happen now so I kept my cool. Not that I could do any jumping around even if I wanted it, considering the situation I was currently in.

"How do you feel Angel? Is there anything you want to tell me?" Eros asked after a while.

"No. I'm just glad to be out of there. How is Luca? And your grandma?" I asked slowly.

He chuckled. "Let's worry about you, baby. The nurse would've found a way to make word reach my Nana after she attended to you. She has postponed several meetings for the past few days just to constantly visit you."

My heart warmed. I was grateful for those that were around me. Most importantly, I wanted to go home.

"When did the doctor say I'd be able to move around?"

Eros shook his head. "At least not anytime soon, baby."

I pouted and Eros chuckled, kissing my lips.

"You're too cute."

"I'm not cute." I breathed, remembering the first time he'd said I was cute and anticipating his response.

"If your man says you're cute, then you are." He replied just as he'd done that night when he revealed to me that he wasn't Donovan but instead he was Eros Del Peiro.

My eye burned again as nostalgia hit me hard. "Oh, Eros. I was so scared."

"Shh, he's been put away. He won't come near you again baby. I promise, you're safe now."

"He hit me. He hit me Eros. I was scared." I repeated, struggling to block out the disturbing images.

Eros's jaws clenched again. "Fuck."

"H-he has six other personalities. I didn't get to meet them all. There was Toby, the childhood part of him that I fell in love with and there was Pearson..." I said slowly, remembering how Toby had ducked his head shyly and how he'd told me about his childhood house mistress who usually abused him then.

Eros on the other hand had tensed. "You fell in love with him? With Pedro..." He asked slowly, panic evident in his tone.

If I could shake my head right now, I'd be shaking them frantically. "No Eros. That was his..maybe his seven year old self. He was abused as a child." I explained.

Eros shut his eyes and exhaled deeply, nodding.

Just then, someone came in. His cologne engulfed me. Stephano.

"Stephano." I breathed, trying to smile wider than I could.

"Lily, how are you, baby girl? Do you feel pain anywhere? Do you want to eat? We should get you a therapist after everything that happened with that man. When did-"

"Alfonsi, calm down. She's too weak to answer all these questions." Eros quickly cut him off while I just tried to catch the side of his face since I couldn't turn my head as he loomed over me.

I licked my lips as Stephano muttered an 'oh' and pecked my hand, the same one Eros had been caressing.

"How come you're here so fast?" Eros asked him.

"I was in the neighborhood and said I should stop by when your call came through."

"How's Kara?" I asked my brother softly and he smiled.

"She's fine. She'll hurry here the moment she knows you're awake. I just called mom and she'll be here soon, probably with Giuliano."

I smiled. I hadn't seen that man that called himself my brother in several months. He was always busy. "That's great."

He nodded at Eros, pecking the back of my hand again. "I'll see the doctor."

"Okay. Do that." Eros told him and once again, we were left alone.

I took a deep, grateful breath that I was alive.

The worse had been avoided.

*

She's finally awake. What do you think about this chappie?