POV: LUCA
“She can’t die, not now, not while Luca’s alive.” Cruz pushed Rick aside and placed himself in front of her.
“What are you doing?” Rickard asked, but he didn’t reply and picked out his knife and pulled down Katherina’s shirt.
“Cruz, she’s gone” Rick’s voice trembled.
“No, she isn’t. The bullet didn’t hit her heart,” Cruz said.
I looked closer at the wound.
“It’s the exact spot where Luca was hit,” he said.
He slid the knife in carefully as I watched. It’s not that easy to take out a hollow point bullet, and if it has split into pieces, there is no way a person survives, especially not where she is shot.
Cruz has always been an expert in knives, and I watched him take out the bullet skillfully. When the bloody bullet came out, he examined it.
“It hasn’t split into pieces.” My voice was a mere whisper.
“Dammit! Move aside!” Rick pushed Cruz away and blew into Katherina’s mouth, giving her chest compressions.
“Baby, come on. Come back to me.”
Edward and the others came by now.
“She’s still warm,” Sabastine said, touching her feet.
“Check for a pulse,” Rick said.
I quickly held her wrist, my fingers probing everywhere to feel her pulse.
“Come on, Katherina,” Edward kept chanting.
“I called the ambulance,” Becky said.
“Baby, please, wake up. You were right. I’m such a fucking asshole. Wake up, my feisty woman, I can’t…live without you.” I kept talking to her.
“She’s going cold,” Sabastine said.
“Rub her feet,” Rick commanded, and Sabastine got to work immediately.
Rick started to pump harder, not caring about the blood that kept oozing through her wound. I cupped the side of her face and moved closer. A tear slipped from my eye and fell on her cheek.
“Please, wake up. I need you.” My voice was trembling, and my breathing was uneven. I kept staring at her angelic face.
“You come on, Katherina! You don’t die on me, on us!” Rick screamed.
“Come back to me, angel.”
Her eyes and mouth opened simultaneously as she jerked forward, taking in volumes of air through her mouth.
“God!” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me.
She started coughing on my shoulder, her feeble hands wrapping around me.
“I thought I lost you, baby.” I looked at her
“My chest…Luca, it hurts.” She buried her face in my chest.
“You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.”
Sirens alerted us. Carefully lifting her up in my arms, I got to my feet. The stretcher was pushed out, and I placed her on it before getting inside the ambulance with her.
I held her hand in mine, my eyes not leaving her.
“Look at me. Keep your eyes on me,” I said, scared she might close them, and I’d never see them open again.
She turned her head to me, her pupils dilating—so warm, so beautiful. An oxygen mask was put on, and her dress was cut down as the nurses worked on her wound.
“She’ll be fine, right?” I asked Kimberly.
“Yes, but she has lost a lot of blood, Luca,” she replied.
When we reached the hospital, I quickly helped out, pushing the stretcher to the operation room. I saw Edward, Parker, Cruz, and Rick already there.
When we went to the operation room, I was pushed out as they took Katherina in. Kimberly let Rickard inside, and the door closed.
I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“She’s going to be all right, mate,” said Cruz
“I thought I lost her,” I murmured, looking through the small mirror on the door.
“But you didn’t. She’s a strong chick,” Cruz said softly.
“I need Karen alive,” I said, looking at him with so much aggression.
“Sure,” He replied.
“I need Bill too. I’m done playing police and thief with him,” I hissed in anger.
“He’s dead,” Edward replied, coming to us.
“What?’
“Rickard killed him,” he said.
“What happened to our men?” I asked quickly.
“Injured. We lost a few, though. Everything’s taken care of here and in Italy. I’ll send Becky to get the flight ready and Sabastine to bring Karen.
“Victor has gone to Katherina’s place to check out the situation,” Edward explained and went to Becky.
I ran my fingers through my sweaty locks as I took deep breaths.
“Everything’s taken care of,” came Cruz’s voice.
I shook my head.
“No. I don’t think so. We need to leave this town,” I said.
“We’ll leave when she’s stable,” he said
I slumped in the nearby seat. Cruz left to deal with other matters while I dealt with my thoughts that were everywhere but pointing only toward her.
I can never forget the fear when I felt no heartbeat in her.
I tortured her and kept her captive, and she fell in love with me. I don’t understand why she would fall in love with a man like me.
When I started to have emotions for her, I pushed her away from me and tried to inflict pain on her, but I couldn’t. The more I hurt her, the more it hurt me.
I turned into a puddle of emotions and was hanging on a thin thread trying to figure out what I actually felt for her and what she really meant to me.
I fell for her a long time ago. It was not love at first sight, no, not at all. As the days passed by with her, I fell in love with her, but my love for her was twisted.
I wanted her not to leave me. I wanted her not to be my weakness and to keep her to myself always. I was starting to fear that I might lose her.
As I tried to work on my feelings, she worked on escaping me right under my nose. I was so into her that I didn’t see it coming.
When she left me, I felt like she ripped my heart out and broke it into a million pieces before stamping on it. I was angry, but I did promise her that I would free her if she submitted to me.
Submission wasn’t enough by then. She gave in to me because the situation demanded it. She was torn apart that I would literally kill her family then, but I wouldn’t have done anything like that.
I tried to live without her, forget her like she was nothing but a beautiful dream, but I just couldn’t.
My demons were thirsty for her, and I grew restless until I became a madman and started to hunt her down.
When I found out where she was through her best friends, I was going to come for her, but she surprised me by coming back by herself.
Fate has a cunning way of playing with our lives. I can’t have her. I can’t love her. I don’t deserve to love her. My world is different from hers.
If I’d known that I would fall in love with her in the future, I would have never taken her.
Every day I woke up with no fear of dying, though I knew I’d knock on death’s door a decent number of times before bed.
Now I’m scared of dying because I won’t be able to live without her. I’m scared I’ll lose her like I almost did tonight.
It was almost midnight when Victor and Sabastine came over.
“Situation has become worse. Cops are surrounding her place. We really need to leave, boss,” said Victor.
“And the woman escaped,” Said Sabastine.
“What about our men?” I asked.
“Cruz sent them back to Italy with Parker and Edward,” Sabastine replied.
I sighed, covering my face with my palms.
“You can leave.” I dismissed them.
I stood up, pacing in the hallway, my eyes often going drifting to the operation room door. When the door finally opened and Rick walked out, I glanced at Katherina’s sleeping form and relaxed.
“She’s fine.”
“I wanna see her” I tried to move past him, but he stopped me.
“No, you can’t,” he said, removing the mask from his chin. “She’ll be kept in the ICU now. She’s still unconscious and won’t wake up until morning, probably,” he explained.
“How is she?” Cruz hurried to us
“Alive. Unconscious,” Rick replied.
“What are we waiting for then? Let’s take her and go home.”
“We can’t. She needs rest and should be under observation,” came Rick’s reply.
“The cops are piling up. There’s press everywhere, and the whole town is in chaos. The more time we spend here, the greater the chance of inviting the cops right here.
“Kimberly can’t hold on for long if the cops should want to search the hospital. We can’t stay here.’
I agreed with Cruz. “He’s right. We need to leave, Rick.”
Rick let out a sigh. “Fine. I’ll just take everything we’ll need for her.”
“I’ll get the car. You bring her,” said Cruz before leaving.
I walked toward the operation room, my hands trembling as I opened the door and slipped in.
Even though she was asleep, her pain was evident.
The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, along with the monitor beeping, were like music to my ears.
The nurses removed all the tubes and electrodes that were fitted to her, and I kissed her earlobe before lifting her up and carrying her out of the hospital effortlessly.
Cruz opened the door of the car, and I moved in with her, and we took off once Rickard got in and fixed Katherina back on her drip.
Cruz avoided the main roads due to the cops and took the roads in the woods, keeping the headlights low.
I looked down at Katherina, who was sleeping peacefully, and took her hand in mine. It was warm and soft, just like I remember.
“She won’t wake up,” said Rick. “I’ve already informed Leo, and he’ll get everything ready to admit her once we land in Italy. She’s out of danger for now.’
“How bad was the wound?” asked Cruz.
“The bullet didn’t split into pieces and didn’t penetrate close to her heart. She lost a lot of blood and had a transfusion. Her recovery will be difficult. She needs to be taken care of.”
When Cruz stopped at the airport, Victor and Sabastine helped me to pick her up carefully.
Becky got everything ready on the plane, and I laid her down carefully. The flight took off, and I don’t remember when I fell asleep while waiting for her to open her eyes.
***
I was woken up by Rickard in the morning, and my eyes went to Katherina, who was still sleeping peacefully.
“How’s she doing? When will she regain consciousness?” I asked.
“She was on an IV drip the whole night, and her pulse rate is normal. She might wake up any moment or before noon,” said Rick.
I carried her out to the car that was waiting for our arrival, and Cruz took off to the hospital.
Leo was waiting for us when we arrived, and he took Katherina to the ICU to keep her under observation.
Cruz left to rescue Emmalyn since the cops were unstable after Bill’s death, and I sent Rickard and Edward along with him.
Becky went to get my hotel back while Parker and Romero went to free the casino.
Now that Bill is dead, the cops will be furious, but they are also scared.
It’s going to take some time for them to hit us back, and I will use that time to come up with something to keep them from breaking into another war.
The Underground is safe now. Boss must be happy, and he would’ve joined forces with the other gangs to make us more powerful. My men are celebrating the victory.
But here I am, waiting for my lady love to open her beautiful eyes.
My loyalty toward my boss remained unshaken, and Katherina’s family was safe.